Though we're not on the ground in Toronto this year for the 34th Toronto International Film Festival, we'll do our best to cover from afar and bring you doc news and tidbits throughout the fest. 

A great place to start: the Fest's Doc Blog. 

For real time updates, follow TIFF updates on Twitter by searching for posts with the hashtag #tiff09 or #tiff. 

Tuesday, September 22

As reported in indieWire, Rainbow Media acquired Don Argott's The Art of the Steal on behalf of Sundance Selects, the VOD/theatrical hybrid platform. The film tells the long, strange saga of the Barnes Collection, a formidable assemblage of Post-Impressionist and Modern masters that had been bequeathed to Pennsylvania-based Lincoln University, with the odd stipulation that the works have limited exposure to the public. Political imbroglios ensued between the Philadelphia art cognoscenti and the trustees of Lincoln University over how and where to showcase these great works.

Other TIFF docs that got some ink included Reel Injun by Neil Diamond (no, not that one), sort of a Native American answer to Hollywood Chinese, The Celluloid Closet and The Bronze Screen . Here's an article from RealScreen.com.

Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein returned to Toronto this year with How to Fold a Flag, the concluding work of a loosely connected Iraq tetralogy that included Gunner Palace, The Prisoner: Or How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair and Bulletproof Salesman. With How to Fold a Flag, Tucker and Epperlein follow four of the characters from Gunner Palace as they adjust to life back in America, where the groundswell of adulation for Obama belies a near-indifference to the war in Iraq. AJ Schnack aggregated several assessments of the film in his blog.

The Topp Twins: Untouchable Girls (Dir.: Leanne Pooley; Prod.: Arani Cuthbert) took the Cadillac People's Choice Award for Documentary at TIFF, with the runner-up going to Michael Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story. The New Zealand-based Topp Twins enjoy a cult following in Kiwiland as a zany pair of lesbian comedians/musicians/activists. John Anderson of Variety calls the film "pure fun, very musical and a can of mixed nuts,"while Movieline's S.T. Vanairsdale speculates on an Anvil-type outpouring for the twins. Here's a trailer from the film:

Erik Gandini's Videocracy, which topped the indieWire critics/bloggers' poll for Best Documentary, draws a parallel between Italian Prime Minster Silvio Berlusconi's 30-year hold on power and his roots as a television impresario. Karina Longworth writes in Spout.com, "I couldn't get enough of Gandini's gorgeously grainy, creepily surreal video reveries." Here's a trailer:

Monday, September 21

The Informant!, Steven Soderbergh's latest feature film, which just opened in theaters following its premiere at Toronto, tells the story of Mark Whitacre, who, in the 1990s, blew the whistle on his employer, Archer Daniels Midland, over its price-fixing scandal.  Whiteacre and ADM are also the subjects of David Donnenfield and Kevin White's Fair Fight in the Marketplace, which takes a broader at anti-trust laws in America. Read more about the film at The Video Project website.

Speaking of Steven Soderbergh, here's an interview with him from Toronto outlet FirstShowing.net, about his upcoming documentary about the late monologist/theater artist Spaulding Gray, who committed suicide in 2004. 

Friday, September 18

Women Make Movies has found Min-Sook Lee's My Toxic Baby anything but! WMM has acquired the film, in which new mother Lee searches for safe, sane, and affordable ways to raise her baby daughter Song Ji in an environment that has become increasingly full of toxic threats. Here's a peek at the film:

Monday, September 14

In The New York Times, Michael Cieply covers TIFF panel “Honest Truths: Documentary Filmmakers on Ethical Challenges in Their Work," a discussion about a new report from the Center for Social Media at American University. 

The report found that documentarians, while they generally aspire to act honorably, often operate under ad hoc ethical codes. The craft tends to see itself as being bound less by the need to be accurate and fair than by a desire for social justice, to level the playing field between those who are perceived to be powerful and those who are not.

Read more on the report in documentary.org's coverage here, and download the full report on the Center's site. 

Oh, Michael Moore. The Capitalism: A Love Story filmmaker takes some time at TIFF to blast U.S. newspapers for totally blowing it.

Barry Walsh's piece in Real Screen offers a succinct summation of the five sessions of the Doc Conference, which included the keynote from Liesl Copland (William Morris Endeavor Entertainment Global Finance and Distribution Group), talks about hybrid distribution, funding and new media, in addition to the "Honest Truths" session mentioned above.  The day ended with an informal chat  with director Jonathan Demme. 

Sunday, September 13

A few things caught my eye over the weekend...

indieWire lists all the films for sale in their Buyer's Guide, including production co and sales agent when available. They also highlight out some of the hot titles, including docs The Art of the Steal, How To Hold a Flag, and Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel.

Variety's review of How to Fold A Flag is a bit lukewarm....there's praise for filmmakers Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein for polished production values, but a bit of disappointement that, "Tucker and Epperlein are unable to sustain the tight focus that "Prisoner" and "Salesman" so gripping." Flag is an account of four U.S. Army vets readjusting to civilian life.

Wondering how last year's TIFF docs fared at the box office?  AJ Schnack takes a look back at the TIFF titles that dominated during 2008 in the theater.

Missed Liesl Copland's keynote address at the inaugural Toronto Film Festival Documentary Conference? You're in luck. Read the whole thing right here.

Saturday, September 12

As The September Issue continues to prove quite fashionable at the box office, Marc Levin's Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags shows a very different side of the garment industry. Director Levin, who blurred the line between fact and fiction in his 1998 feature debut Slam, explores the rise and fall the "rags" business in this Toronto premiere. You can read his Director's statement on the TIFF blog here.
I've been a fan of Levin's ever since I saw Slam at the Sundance Film Festival over a decade ago, and my grandfather worked as a furrier on the Lower East Side, so I'm particularly curious about this doc (no PETA comments, please...this was a loooong time ago). 

Friday, September 11

The New York Times spotlights the female directors featured at TIFF this year, including a mention of Leanne Pooley, director of The Topp Twins. The film is about indentical New Zealand twin sisters Lynda and Jools Topp, a beloved music comedy pair who have performed around the world for more than 25 years. You can follow news from the filmmakers about their Toronto adventures on their blog.