German writer-director Werner Herzog, who’s latest documentary Grizzly Man was touted as the cream of the crop at the Sundance Film Festival this year, was shot during an interview with the BBC’s Mark Kermode by a sniper with an air rifle.
We had an smidgen of an idea that the Real to Reel section might be especially strong this year, but with the likes of Frederick Wiseman, Rithy Panh, Jonathan Demme, Werner Herzog, Jessica Yu, Alex Gibney, Joe Berlinger, Ron Fricke, Nick Broomfield and Michael Glawogger, we're now beginning to think that Thom Powers' section has not only outclassed Toronto's sister event Hot Docs, but just about any other doc-related film festival.
In a box office edition of “freaky friday,” the highest grossing studio debut was released in 2-D while the Indie market’s biggest debut was released in 3-D. Werner Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams only needed five locations to gross $127,000 in its first weekend (making this film Mr. Herzog’s most successful debut of his career).
Doc programmer Thom Powers has assembled what appears to be a vintage offering this year, literally a who's who from the documentary field with world preems from Naomi Kawase, Errol Morris (see pic), Ondi Timoner, Alex Gibney, Kim Longinotto and Werner Herzog, while adding to the mix a foursome of must see documentaries from Cannes with Charles Ferguson's Inside Job, Patricio Guzmán's Nostalgia for the Light, Janus Metz's Armadillo and Frederick Wiseman's Boxing Gym.