The dramatic rise and fall of two of Canada's biggest newsmakers will be splashed across the big screen at the Toronto International Film Festival this September, with documentaries about fallen theatre mogul Garth Drabinsky and disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson each premièring at the fest.
Programmers announced a swath of additions to an already star-studded lineup on Tuesday, including provocative new offerings from Oscar-winner Alex Gibney and film giant Ken Burns in the TIFF Docs slate.
In Show Stopper: The Theatrical Life of Garth Drabinsky, filmmakerBarry Avrich examines the blind ambition that drove Drabinsky to the top of the film and theatre worlds, only to come crashing down amid fraud convictions.
"We don't have a lot of great Canadian entertainment moguls, you could name very few of them," Avrich says of his interest in the jailed former boss of defunct Livent Inc.
"It was a story that had to be told."
The project includes actors who loved Drabinsky such as Chita Rivera as well as industry players who battled him (including former MCA Universal president Sid Sheinberg).
