Werner Herzog and Leonardo DiCaprio are among those bringing nature-themed documentaries to the Toronto International Film Festival in 2016, with subjects ranging from volcanoes, elephants, and rats through to surfing off the Gaza strip and strategies for reversing global climate change.
- Into the Inferno -
Acclaimed filmmaker Werner Herzog ("Fitzcarraldo," "Grizzly Man") accompanies volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer on a journey to see and understand some of the world's most mythical volcanoes, but also the people that study them as well as those that live near them.
- The Turning Point -
Leonardo DiCaprio, an Oscar winner with "The Revenant" and well known as an environmentalist, especially since the acceptance speech he gave, works with Fisher Stevens, Oscar winner on "The Cove," conducting interviews and coming up with an action plan to keep the world's vital ecosystems functioning.
- The Ivory Game -
Focusing on the ivory trade, Academy Award-nominated for "Open Heart," Kief Davidson co-directs with collaborator and cinematographer Richard Ladkani to examine how activists and park rangers try to disrupt the business of poachers and ivory exporters. Like "Into the Inferno," Netflix is distributing.
- Gaza Surf Club -
There's something about the sea that keeps these despite tumultuous conditions about them; some dream of experiencing the surf on some of the world's best-known beach destinations, others go against the grain of cultural expectations.
- Rats -
Morgan Spurlock of fast food investigation "Super Size Me," popular economics adaptation "Freakonomics," and social experiment series "30 Days" returns to ask how different cultures deal with the ratty rodents that live alongside them. New York City, New Orleans, the UK, Cambodia and Vietnam provide contrasting tales.
