Revenge of the Electric Car

A month after the hoopla of the Toronto International Film Festival has subsided, another Toronto film festival begins, this one entirely focused on films with an environmental angle. 

Kicking off with the gala film opening, Revenge of the Electric Car, and closing with the gala screening of The Whale, the 12^th annual Planet In Focus Environmental Film Festival runs from Oct. 12 to 16 and features screenings, panels, workshops and pitch sessions. There is also a free children’s film fest component.

Revenge of the Electric Car is director Chris Paine’s followup to his 2006 documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car?, which exposed how thousands of electric cars were purposely destroyed in 2003 by the very manufacturer that built them. For the new film, narrated by actor/director/producer Tim Robbins, Paine goes behind closed doors of Nissan, GM, and Silicon Valley start-up Tesla Motors to chronicle the global resurgence of the electric car.  The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York this year on Earth Day (April 22).

The Whale, directed by Suzanne Chisholm and David Parfit, tells the true-life story of Luna, a baby orca who gets separated from his family and starts to make friends with humans on the rugged West Coast of Vancouver Island. The documentary was executive produced by Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and his wife, actress Scarlett Johannson and is narrated by Reynolds.