TIFF adds documentaries about Aretha Franklin, Arcade Fire, Yo Yo Ma

TORONTO (AP)_ Documentaries about Aretha Franklin and Arcade Fire and a tense drama with James Franco and Rachel McAdams have been added to the lineup at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Festival organizers have announced a slew of music-themed documentaries including “Amazing Grace,” a look at Franklin’s recording of her bestselling album. Footage was captured by the late Sydney Pollack in Los Angeles in 1972.

Meanwhile, “The Music of Strangers: Yo-Yo Ma and the Silk Road Ensemble” profiles the legendary cellist; “The Reflektor Tapes” looks at the making of the Arcade Fire album “Reflektor”; “Janis: Little Girl Blue” delves into the life of late rock legend Janis Joplin; and “Miss Sharon Jones!” from Oscar-winner Barbara Kopple follows the R&B queen during her battle with cancer.

TIFF award winner and Midnight Madness favourite Sean Byrne returns with “The Devil’s Candy,” about a family that buys their dream house only to discover a former tenant wants to return. Takashi Miike’s “Yakuza Apocalypse” features vampires, gangsters, monsters, martial arts and a yakuza knitting circle.

The Masters program includes Wim Wenders’s drama “Every Thing Will Be Fine,” starring Franco and McAdams in a story about a writer who accidentally kills a boy in a road accident.

The 40th Toronto International Film Festival runs Sept. 10 to 20.

Other titles announced Tuesday include:

-“Je Suis Charlie,” an account of the attacks on the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo;

-“He Named Me Malala,” in which acclaimed filmmaker Davis Guggenheim profiles Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teenager who survived a Taliban assassination attempt to become an outspoken, globally recognized advocate for girls’ rights;

-“Sherpa” from Jennifer Peedom, which captures the 2014 Everest tragedy in which an avalanche struck, killing 16 Sherpas;

-Jeremy Saulnier’s “Green Room,” starring Anton Yelchin, Imogen Poots, Alia Shawkat, and Patrick Stewart in a tale about a young rock band who stumble upon something they weren’t supposed to witness;

-the Russia/USA film “Hardcore,” which is all shot from the first-person perspective as it follows a cyborg and his ally, played by Sharlto Copley, as they fight through Moscow looking for a kidnapped woman.

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