Stars boost edgy documentaries at Toronto fest

(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-01 10:01

Cast member Don Cheadle attends the screening of 'Talk to Me' at the Mann Village theatre during the opening night of the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival, June 21, 2007.[Reuters]

Don Cheadle, Woody Allen, Liam Neeson and Michael Douglas will lend star wattage to some politically charged documentaries at the Toronto International Film Festival (September 6-15), organizers said Tuesday.

Unveiling its Real to Reel documentary program, comprised entirely of world premieres, Toronto said it has booked Ted Braun's "Darfur Now," a film in which Cheadle and five others issue a call to action to help stop the genocide in the war-torn region of Sudan.

Also Toronto-bound is Peter Askin's "Trumbo," which uses spoken-word performances from Neeson, Douglas, Donald Sutherland and Joan Allen to recount the life of blacklisted Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo; and Nina Davenport's "Operation Filmmaker," in which Liev Schreiber invites a young Iraqi film student to intern on the film shoot for the Holocaust-themed feature "Everything Is Illuminated."

Other world premieres include Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue's "Body of War," a film about a severely wounded American soldier back from Iraq, and "Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts," a biopic on minimalist composer Philip Glass that features musical collaborations with Chuck Close, Ravi Shankar and Woody Allen.

Other documentaries joining the Real to Reel party include Werner Herzog's "Encounters at the End of the World"; Kevin Macdonald's "My Enemy's Enemy"; Algerian filmmaker Jean-Pierre Lledo's "Algerie, histoires a ne pas dire"; Dutch director Klaartje Quirijns' "The Dictator Hunter"; and "Dinner With the President: A Nation's Journey" from Pakistan's Sabiha Sumar and Sachithanandam Sathananthan.

Also booked are U.S. director Arthur Dong's "Hollywood Chinese"; "Iron Ladies of Liberia," from American filmmakers Siatta Scott Johnson and Daniel Junge; Variety film critic Todd McCarthy's "Man of Cinema: Pierre Rissient"; and Parvez Sharma's "A Jihad For Love," an investigation into Islam and homosexuality.

Rounding out the Real to Reel lineup is "My Kid Could Paint That" from American filmmaker Amir Bar-Lev; Neil Ortenberg and Daniel O'Connor's "Obscene"; Chinese filmmaker Weijun Chen's "Please Vote for Me"; Doug Pray's "Surfwise"; French director Barbet Schroeder's "Terror's Advocate"; and David Schisgall's "Very Young Girls," a film about teenage prostitution in New York City.