TIFF: Michael Moore says "We need a generation of action"

22:12 PDT 06/09/2018

by

Etan Vlessing

The director has issued a call for action before the next mid-term elections in the United States at a world premiere at TIFF.

Michael Moore insists on his documentary Fahrenheit 11/9, which compares Donald Trump's presidency to that of Adolf Hitler in Germany, is a call to action.

"I'm against hope," Moore said during a hearing at the Toronto Film Festival on Thursday night, as his latest world-premiering documentary revealed he was not impressed by the film. former President Barack Obama.

"We need a generation of action," he added, as Moore brought three students from Parkland High and a whistleblower from Flint, Michigan on stage after Fahrenheit 11/9 completed the screening at Ryerson Theater in Toronto. "Who is ready to save America?" Parkland survivor David Hogg asked two other students at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida.

"I know the change is coming," Hogg added, as Moore nodded. The controversial filmmaker said that the activism shown by Parkland students following the shooting in their school, including their March for Our Lives, helped elect Florida Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum.

Moore then urged Americans to go out and vote in the upcoming mid-term elections. His optimistic tone during the film's Q & A contrasted with a lot of Fahrenheit 11/9, who, in his first third, recounts Trump's unexpected election to the White House, before the second third pointed to the efforts of radical Democrats and their more progressive agenda to shake the current leadership of the Democratic Party in Washington for their complicity with rival Republicans.

The last third of the film includes many comparisons between Trump the demagogue and Adolf Hitler, as well as the far-right supporters of the American president and the German Nazis. At some point during Fahrenheit 11/9, Moore has comically interpreted Trumps' voice at one of his campaign rallies in a black and white excerpt of Hitler making a speech at a Nazi rally.

Moore, not losing his brand sense of humor in Toronto, also revealed that he was audited for the first time by the IRS. "They were charged against me," he said, following his appearance in June 2018 on the The late show with Stephen Colbert to reveal the upcoming release of Fahrenheit 11/9.

But unlike Trump, Moore assured the Canadian audience that he would release his tax returns once the audit is complete. "I paid too much, they will have to pay me back, with interest," said the filmmaker, insisting that he had paid his taxes over the years.

The Toronto Film Festival, which gets underway this weekend, runs until September 16th.