Top 20 Alternative Picks for TIFF 2013: Errol Morris’ The Unknown Known

The Unknown Known – Errol Morris

Section: TIFF Docs
Dates: Sunday 8th, Tuesday 10th

Buzz: Following the Telluride-Venice-Toronto trajectory, it’s perhaps the turn-off subject of the film which would be the reason why we’d consider this as an alternative pick – but make no mistake about it, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris, ranked seventh by The Guardian on the list of the world’s 40 best active directors and in the top 3 docu-helmers in our books takes on the equally fascinating former US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld in The Unknown Known. Anything from Morris is buzzworthy (the guy even got Werner Herzog to publicly eat his shoe in ’78), but the use of his signature “Interrotron” (a Teleprompter-like machine that allows for direct eye contact with the camera) will likely intensify an already severe dialogue surrounding the invasion of Iraq, accusations of torture and shameful Abu Ghraib revelations. Distributor RADiUS-TWC is already set to release the film later this year, but we will see how the feature-length interview is received at TIFF.

The Gist: This is about the life of former U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, directed by filmmaker Errol Morris.