OPERATION FILMMAKER 

Friday, August 31--------While the big ticket Galas sometimes seem to dominate the press coverage of the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, which opens next Thursday, the program is, in fact, a diverse one that showcases a mix of auteur cinema and prolific film genres. The documentary section is among the choicest, with many films benefitting from the Toronto exposure to find mainstream theatrical careers as good, if not better, than any feature film title.

One of the most anticipated non-fiction works this year is OPERATION FILMMAKER, the latest film from award-winning documentarian Nina Davenport. The film combines a healthy interest in international politics with a sometimes hilarious behind the scenes look at the challenges of mounting a film. The film in question is the adaptation of the best-selling novel EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, a film project that marked the directorial debut of award-winning stage and film actor Liev Schrieber.

In the film, what begins as a seemingly feel-good human interest story spirals into something far more revealing and strange. Muthana Mohmed is a young Iraqi film student, whose dreams of a film career are crushed following the bombing of Baghdad’s main film school. As an act of charity and solidarity, actor-turned-director Liev Schreiber invites him to intern on the production of EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, adapted from Jonathan Saffron's semi-autobiographical best-seller. However, in an alarmingly short time, frustrated expectations and cross-cultural misunderstandings bubble over, complicating the relationship between Muthana and his American benefactors.

Eventually, the good intentions of all involve devolve into a case of bad vibes. Brought in to document Muthana’s experience, filmmaker Nina Davenport (the acclaimed documentary director of PARALLEL LINES and ALWAYS A BRIDESMAID), becomes increasingly entangled in the young Iraqi’s life as his visa is set to expire and a return to Baghdad looms. Her camera gamely following Muthana everywhere from a refugee way station to an incongruous on-set friendship with action star The Rock, the film defies easy assumptions. What develops is a richly layered, provocative parable of intentions and projections thwarted, be they for the sake of charity, documentary film, or regime change. The film, in its own way, is another corollary in the ways that the American invasion (some would say, occupation) have changed the face of Iraqi society for a generation. The film, which currently does not have a distributor, is already high on the list of acquisition execs heading north in the coming days. 

Sandy Mandelberger, Toronto FF Dailies Editor