Besides bringing us great films, TIFF also puts together some great events like those in the Mavericks series.  Sunday night a large crowd at the Isabel Bader theatre was greeted by Howard Zinn, Anthony Arnove, director Chris Moore, Matt Damon, Viggo Mortensen, Josh Brolin and Marisa Tomei who all came to present us a preview of the documentary The People Speak as well as discuss how this project came to be.

After another standing ovation and having the trailer for the film, Zinn started the conversation by saying "I hadn't learned history from the standpoint of black people, native people, ... we need to tell history from the view of the people who been left out."  The crowd applauded.  The idea for a film version of Zinn and Arnoves's anthology Voices of a People's History of the United States since 1998.  They first sold it to FOX network but the deal didn't work out... anyone want to guess why?  Regardless, they moved on and created the performances so that actors can embody and give voice to those whose stories are not well known.

Mavericks' programmer Thom Powers asked each of the actors why and how they got involved with the film.  Brolin joked at first, "I got to meet Viggo and Matt... but to be honest.. I'm very proud of the film.  It's very empowering to me... even [the crowd] watching the trailer here is empowering."   Mortensen spoke of his experience working on this project; "it's fun besides it being an honour."  He continued by explaining that "as a kid I was drawn to adults who treated me differently; not just like a kid.  As an adult, I'm drawn to peole like Howard Zinn who encourage others to speak truth; to be honest with themselves.  In lots of places in the world, why people don't say how they really feel can be due to peer pressure, fear of sounding stupid, fear of being liberal... if you can't get [what you want to say] completely right, you'd best [stay quiet].  It's best to get it off your chest and get going."  Mortensen is quite passionate about being open about all issues affecting all parts of the world today and this became more apparent as the conversation continued.

Tomei mentioned she got involved in the project a while back through Arnove, whom she already knew.  "It's hard for me to speak in public but this kind of thing lets me do it."  She expressed she's proud to represent the voice of many women who made changes in US culture one way or another.

Halfway through the discussion, we got to see about twenty minutes of the film.  Afterwards, the conversation moved on to issues like the "Vietnam Syndrome," as Zinn called it; regarding the media and how they "all joined the bandwagoon of war and supported the deceptions that were put over the American people.... It's a subservient media."  Zinn believes their "movement [telling the real history] will grow" and that national inclinations of people will turn things around.

Arnove brought the topic back to the actors' perfomances.  He said, "some of these voices feel so current; so urgent... They can cross time."  Director Chris Moore explained how the emotion the actor brings to the words and the collective experience with the audience and through the process of staging, they found  series of pieces that can be part of this documentary.  "These are the real people... those things really happened... it's their real voices, just performed very well... when you look at that you ask what's the history that's happening now."

Other artists involved in the project include Benjamin Bratt, singer John Legend, David Straithearn.  As well, sitting in the audience were actors Danny Glover, Tim Robbins and Michael Ealy; to name a few.  It was a great discussion; stimulating on several levels.  It will definitely create a buzz and have people talking for a long time.  The documentary itself will hopefully be released in the near future.