Open the trailer floodgates! With just a few days left until the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival begins, we can already get our first look at many of the films premiering there.
One such film is Canadian director Sarah Polley’s documentary “Stories We Tell,” a deeply personal exploration of her own family history, told through home videos and the stories of relatives and friends. The Toronto-born filmmaker has received international critical acclaim (and even an Oscar nomination for the former) for her films “Away From Her” and “Take This Waltz,” but “Stories We Tell” is the actress-director’s first foray into documentary territory.
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The Hollywood Reporter released the trailer for Polley’s new documentary this morning, and the film seems to be in line with her previous work – funny, honest and bittersweet. Watch the trailer for “Stories We Tell” below.
Every family has secrets in the past, but very rarely does the audience get to see someone else’s dirty laundry on screen. Polley’s decision to put her own family’s complicated history on display for all to see is a pretty bold move, but how genuine and honest the film’s portrayal ends up being remains to be seen. Given the closeness of the subject matter, the director also has to walk a fine line to prevent Stories We Tell from becoming too complacent. Then again, perhaps complacency and catharsis is the point of the film. We’ll have to wait and see.
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Polley’s last film, the emotional romance drama “Take This Waltz,” premiered at TIFF last year but has only just been released in theaters in the U.S. “Stories We Tell” does not yet have a release date on either side of the border, but will have its world premiere this Friday at the Venice Film Festival and will be presented to Canadian audiences at TIFF on September 7.
