Geoff Bowie (Canada)
It's probably best to see this as a companion piece to Peter Watkins's La Commune (Paris, 1871), which the TIFF is also playing, in all its glorious 345 minutes. The Watkins is a detailed "documentary drama," rather in the style of his 1964 classic Culloden, about the 11 ill-fated weeks of the Paris Commune. The Bowie is about the making of La Commune, which was shot on a huge Paris soundstage in Paris in 2000 using more than 250 non-professionals. Intercut with this footage are fascinating interviews with some of the actors, and visits to MIP, the big annual international TV convention in Cannes where Watkins's methods and aesthetic - "Making a film is a social act, a political act, a human act of work, love and communication" - are anathema. The title comes from a Discovery Channel executive who speaks of his efforts to convince the world's TV directors to make their one-hour features 47 minutes, 30 seconds long to make room for commercials and station breaks. - J.A.

(Fri., Sept. 7, 9:15 p.m., Cumberland 3; Sat. Sept. 15, 6:30 p.m., ROM)