A clip from  Ben Proudfoot’s “The Eyes of Ghana" 

 Ben Proudfoot’s “The Eyes of Ghana,” Executive Produced by the Obamas, to Open TIFF Docs Section

Oscar-winning filmmaker Ben Proudfoot will open this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Docs program with The Eyes of Ghana, a feature-length documentary executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama.

Proudfoot, a Nova Scotia native now based in Los Angeles, has previously won two Academy Awards for his short documentaries The Queen of Basketball and The Last Repair Shop, both celebrated for their lyrical storytelling and refined cinematic technique. His latest work marks a shift to feature-length nonfiction, guided in part by the involvement of the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions and Oscar-nominated filmmaker Moses Bwayo.

The Eyes of Ghana centers on Chris Hesse, personal cinematographer to Ghanaian revolutionary and first president Kwame Nkrumah. In the film, Hesse unveils a previously unseen archive of footage documenting Nkrumah’s rise, leadership, and eventual overthrow in the 1966 coup d’état. The documentary offers a rare, first-person window into one of Africa’s most consequential political figures, capturing a library of films long thought lost to history.

TIFF organizers announced the film’s opening night slot in the documentary sidebar on Wednesday, though it remains unclear whether the Obamas will attend the Toronto premiere. The former first couple won an Academy Award in 2020 for American Factory, a documentary produced by Higher Ground and directed by Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar.

This year’s TIFF Docs program features 23 titles in total, with 16 receiving world premieres.

Among them:

• The Balloonists, directed by John Dower, follows global adventurers attempting to circle the Earth in a balloon.

• A Life Illuminated, from Tasha Van Zandt, focuses on marine biologist Dr. Edie Widder and her work exploring the ocean’s depths.

• Whistle, directed by Christopher Nelius, examines a global competition for whistling champions.

• Nuns vs. the Vatican, from Lorena Luciano and executive producer Mariska Hargitay, investigates the abuse of nuns by Catholic clergy.

Several buzzy titles are also set for first looks, including Canceled: The Paula Deen Story, from director Billy Corben, which explores the celebrity chef’s fall from grace after workplace accusations involving racial slurs. Nicole Bazuin’s Modern Whore provides a candid look at the sex industry through the lens of writer and former sex worker Andrea Werhun. Filmmaking duo Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, known for Free Solo and Nyad, return with LOVE+WAR, their latest collaboration amid news of their real-life separation. Also debuting is Still Single, co-directed by Jamal Burger and Jukan Tateisi.

TIFF’s Docs slate will also host several North American premieres, including:

• Orwell: 2+2=5, Raoul Peck’s portrait of George Orwell, which debuted at Cannes.

• Nuestra Tierra, from Lucrecia Martel, examining land ownership and Indigenous resistance in Latin America, also bound for Venice.

• A Simple Soldier, co-directed by Juan Camilo Cruz and Artem Ryzhykov, in which Ryzhykov, a Ukrainian filmmaker, appears on screen as a frontline soldier in the war against Russia.

• Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk, by Sepideh Farsi, follows Palestinian photojournalist Fatma Hassona in Gaza. Hassona was killed by Israeli Defense Forces just days before the film’s Cannes debut.

• The Tale of Silyan, directed by Tamara Kotevska, also bows in Venice.

Additional 2025 TIFF Docs titles include:

• Cover-Up, directed by Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus, a Venice-bound film on investigative journalist Seymour Hersh.

• True North, by Michele Stephenson.

• Powwow People, by Sky Hopinka.

• Flana, by Zahraa Ghandour.

• Aki, from filmmaker Darlene Naponse.

• Ni-Naadamaadiz: Red Power Rising, directed by Shane Belcourt.

• There Are No Words, a personal exploration by Min Sook Lee into her mother’s suicide 40 years ago, produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

• While the Green Grass Grows: A Diary in Seven Parts, from Canadian director Peter Mettler.

TIFF 2025 runs [insert official festival dates here], with additional programming announcements expected in the weeks ahead.