TIFF unveils doc lineup, including Canada’s Mr. Dressup and Summer Qamp

By Andrew Jeffrey, Playback

The lineup offers 22 films from 12 countries, with Copa 71 leading the opening night.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) wasted no time following up on its Gala and Special Presentations lineup announcement on Monday, revealing the full TIFF Docs program for the 2023 festival.

Three Canadian films will make their world premiere in the 2023 TIFF Docs program, including Robert McCallum’s Amazon Original documentary Mr. Dressup: The Magic of Make-Believe (pictured), about the beloved Canadian children’s TV star. The doc is produced by marblemedia in association with CBC, Hawkeye Pictures, and Pyre Productions

Boil Alert from Stevie Salas and James Burns is a Canada-U.S. copro in which activist Layla Staats explores the Indigenous people’s relationship to water and her own identity as a Mohawk woman.

Finally, in Summer Qamp, from Cineflix Productions, Hello Friend Media and Bright West Entertainment, filmmaker Jen Markowitz examines a LGBTQIA2S+ summer camp near the Canadian Rockies.

The program’s 2023 opening night film is the world premiere of Copa 71, co-directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine (This Is Football). Also screening in this year’s program is the world premiere of Silver Dollar Road, the latest doc from celebrated filmmaker Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro).

Oscar-winning director Roger Ross Williams (Life, Animated) will also premiere his latest doc at TIFF, Stamped from the Beginning, an exploration of the history of anti-Black racism in the U.S. that is based on the best-selling book by historian Ibram X. Kendi.

A notable international premiere at the festival is the latest from lauded filmmaker Errol Morris, The Pigeon Tunnel, a portrait of spy novelist and former British intelligence officer David Cornwell, better known as John Le Carré. The doc will screen at the festival ahead of its streaming premiere on Apple TV+.

The TIFF Docs titles join four docs that were previously announced for the festival’s Galas and Special Presentations programs: Leigh Brooks’ Hate to Love: Nickelback, Alex Gibney’s In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, Kaouther Ben Hania’s Four Daughters as well as Chelsea McMullan’s Swan Song.

A version of this story originally appeared in Realscreen

Photo courtesy TIFF