9/11 weaves into international films at Toronto festival

Five years after the Sept.11 attacks, a growing number of films referencing the day or its aftermath are premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival.

"There's no question at all that the events of the last five years — and just the uncertainty in the world right now — have led to a desire on the part of filmmakers I think to engage with the world," festival director Piers Handling told CBC News.

At this year's festival, Sept. 11 has slowly woven its way into many films that initially appear to have nothing to do with that day.

Images of Ground Zero in New York, for instance, open several different films, including Shortbus, a drama about a group of New Yorkers who attend an underground sexual salon, as well as Primo Levi's Journey, a documentary retracing the writer and Holocaust survivor's return home to Turin, Italy after the liberation of Auschwitz.

Another film at the festival, Death of a President, depicts the fictional assassination of U.S. President George W. Bush several years after the attacks.

Prior to this year'sfestival, two major U.S. films specifically dealing with the hijacked planesthat crashed in New York and Pennsylvania had already hit the silver screen: Oliver Stone's World Trade Center and Paul Greengrass's United 93.

Firstmovie filmedin Afghanistan after 9/11

The festival is also presenting Kabul Express, the first international movie shot in Afghanistan after Sept. 11, 2001. Based on theexperiences of director Kabir Khan, the Indian-made film is about two journalists from India trying to get interviews with the Taliban.

At times, the armed soldiers the Afghan government provided to protect the production outnumbered the actual film crew members.

"My attempt was to do an antiwar film against the backdrop of this war," Khan said.

Despite receiving death threats from the Taliban during production, Khan forged ahead with Kabul Express, which is scheduled for its world premiere in Toronto on Friday.