Michael Moore’s ‘Where To Invade Next’ Gets Standing Ovation At TIFF Premiere

Michael Moore was the talk of the Toronto International Film Festival Thursday night with the world premiere of his newest documentary, Where to Invade Next.

Michael Moore Premieres New Documentary Where To Invade Next

Where to Invade Next marks Moore’s first documentary since the 2009 release of Capitalism: A Love Story, and, true to form, it falls perfectly in Moore’s cannon of political films. The film follows Moore on a quest through Europe to learn how various countries measure up to the U.S.A. in areas like healthcare, education and paid leave.

“I’m not going to say anything about this movie. We haven’t said anything about it the whole time we were making it. We’ve been digging for something else in this movie and it is called the American soul,” Moore said as he introduced the film.

After the screening, Moore took part in an audience Q&A, where he expanded on the optimistic tone of the film — a contrast to his previous hits Bowling for Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11. Moore wanted to make a film that could inspire audiences to advocate for change, rather than stir up anger. “You don’t need another documentary to tell you how f—ked up this or that thing is. We need to get up off our asses and do something, and get inspired by what we can be,” Moore told the audience.

Shot entirely abroad, Where to Invade Next was also made completely independently from studio money — virtually no distributors had seen the film before its Toronto premiere. Where to Invade Next was received with a standing ovation, and has emerged as an early hit at the festival. So far, the film remains without a distributor, but it’s likely that will change very soon.