Doc Royalty Alex Gibney, Errol Morris and Raoul Peck Discuss the Importance of Film Festivals

variety.com:

Addie Morfoot Contributor When it comes to documentary filmmakers, Alex Gibney, Errol Morris and Raoul Peck are at the top of their game.

Along with tremendous talent, each helmer possesses what every successful documentarian needs — business savvy — which in turn has allowed them to experience continued success over many years.

The trio also has what most documentarians desire — clout and final cut.But despite their respective success and power, Gibney, Morris and Peck agree that the film festivals where they first found success are still as important to their respective careers as ever before.This year, Gibney’s “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,” Morris’ “The Pigeon Tunnel” and Peck’s “Silver Dollar Road” will all screen at TIFF.“The celebratory nature of festivals is awesome,” says Gibney. “It’s one of the reasons you make movies.”Gibney spent three years making “In Restless Dreams,” a 209-minute film about Simon’s six-decade career and the making of his new album, “Seven Psalms.” The director has worked with every major platform on multiple occasions, and most likely could have found a distributor for the doc prior to TIFF, but ultimately decided to wait and sell the film out of the festival in spite of the dismal marketplace for documentary films.“We felt confident that [the project] would find a home when we got to the moment where we needed to and wanted to sell it,” says Gibney.“Coming out of COVID, the question is, who is going to the festivals?,” he says. “Are people going to go to the festivals?

I hope they do, and I hope buyers go. But it remains to be seen how festivals are going to work in the future as a market.”Apple TV+ will distribute Morris’ “The Pigeon Tunnel,” a portrait of the.