On Toronto’s film list: controversy

This column explores the intersection of celebrity and politics.

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Noah Cowan, co-director of the Toronto International Film Festival, makes no apologies: The festival, which started Thursday, will be one of the most controversial in its 31-year history.

And that’s the way Cowan believes it should be.

“We’re in a period now in American cinema when I think the aftermath of Sept. 11 and the Iraq war are being digested, and that’s creating some very sophisticated cinema,” said Cowan, who has been fielding calls since the festival announced last week that it would screen “Death of a President,” a mock documentary that depicts the fictional assassination of President George W. Bush.

To be sure, the 10-day event will be packed with films on weighty topics -- war, corruption, murder. Several take an unsentimental look at the state of America under Bush in the wake of 9/11, while others turn their attention to problems in China, India and Iran. (See related story on Page 14.)

Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore will show parts of his upcoming release “Sicko,” a documentary that takes aim at the U.S. healthcare system. He will also show portions of another documentary he’s working on: “The Great ’04 Slacker Uprising,” filmed on the road during the 2004 presidential election.

Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck will screen their movie “Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing,” which focuses on the fallout of Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines’ criticism of Bush at a concert in London in 2003, when she told the crowd: “We’re embarrassed that the president is from Texas.” (Detractors responded with radio boycotts, CD burnings -- even a death threat.)

The documentary “... So Goes the Nation” looks at the tight race in Ohio between Bush and Sen. John Kerry in 2004. Each party accused the other of dirty tricks: Democrats claimed that Republicans tried to suppress voter turnout; Republicans said Democrats were registering fake voters. The documentary, by Adam Del Deo and James D. Stern, follows both sides through the process.

And Gabriel Range, the director of “Death of a President,” will be looking for a distributor to show his movie in the U.S. Britain’s television station, More4, announced last week that it would air the film in October, prompting criticism in the U.S. from conservative groups who say the topic is morbid and in poor taste. (The White House, meanwhile, continues to stand behind a blunt “no comment.”)

Cowan’s office was inundated with angry calls and demands that he pull it from the lineup after the festival announced that it would screen the movie. He says he’s standing firm: “It’s a substantial work of art.”

He noted that the U.S. politics is not the only topic of concern. In the French film “Mon Colonel” (The Colonel), director Laurent Herbiet examines France’s war in Algeria 45 years ago. “Parallels can inevitably be drawn with Iraq -- and perhaps lessons learned,” he said.

Another film getting a lot of attention is “Summer Palace,” which depicts the social changes undertaking China in the wake of the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre.

(Chinese authorities barred the film’s director, Lou Ye, from making movies in the country for the next five years after he submitted the movie to this year’s Cannes Film Festival without official approval.)

Meanwhile, director Nader Takmil Homayoun traces the evolution of Iranian film and its relations to the country’s political and social problems in the movie “Iran: Une Revolution Cinematographique.”

Cowan said he hopes the films will serve as inspiration: If you don’t like what’s happening in politics -- do something to change it.

“The moving image is extremely powerful,” he said. “Our job is to look at the social and political issues through the prism of cinematic innovation.”

Cause Celebre appears Fridays in Calendar. Comments can be sent to tina.daunt@ latimes.com.