05/09/2008

The 33rd Toronto International Film Festival (September 4-13) is presenting Juan José Lozano’s Témoin indésirable (“Undesirable Witness”) in the Real to Reel section. Awarded in April at the end of its premiere screening at the Nyon Visions du Réel Festival, the documentary produced by Intermezzo Films (Geneva) describes the struggle of television journalist Hollman Morris for freedom of expression in Colombia. The last bastion against the misinformation in a country torn by a civil war without images, his weekly programme “Contravia” won him as many awards abroad as it did death threats against him and his family. Beyond the usual views on heroism war reporter heroism, Témoin indésirable explores a man torn between his fears and beliefs.

The Discovery section is also hosting a screening of Kazakh director Sergei Dvortsevoy’s feature Tulpan [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile], a Cobra Film (Zurich) co-production. The film has already received three awards at Cannes, where it was shown as a world screening, and another at Karlovy Vary.

(Translated from French)