TIFF spotlight: Avi Lewis and ‘This Changes Everything’

TORONTO – The Toronto International Film Festival is in full swing with hundreds of movies set to unspool through Sept. 20. Here’s a look at a Canadian project trying to break through at the 11-day movie marathon:

Director: Avi Lewis

Hometown: Toronto

Film: “This Changes Everything”

Synopsis: Inspired by the non-fiction bestseller by Naomi Klein, who is Lewis’s partner, the documentary profiles seven communities on the front lines of climate change.

Genesis of film: Lewis started working on the doc just a few months after Klein began writing the book. He travelled to nine countries and five continents for footage. Lewis says there was a “huge surge of climate activism around the world” while making both the book and the film.

Fun fact: There are several star executive producers on the doc, including filmmaker Alfonso Cuaron, “Family Guy” creator Seth MacFarlane, and actor Danny Glover.

Cuaron, director of films including “Gravity” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” “really helped creatively,” says Lewis.

“He watched every cut and he gave us notes and we did long Skypes together. As a director, to be mentored by a director like that was an unbelievable blessing and advantage.”