Toronto International Film Festival director Cameron Bailey revealed in an interview with the Toronto Star that Will and Jada Pinkett Smith will be attending this year's festival, specifically to present Shola Lynch's Angela Davis documentary, Free Angela & All Political Prisoners.
This is good news for Lynch and her film; apparently Will & Jada are/have been supporters of the documentary; although Bailey doesn't say how exactly – just that they're supporting it.
They aren't listed as producers; but maybe this sentence from the film's TIFF page, under the "Programmer's Note" section, fills in holes:
Few American lives encapsulate the tumult and triumph of the civil rights movement as much as that of author, educator and radical activist Angela Davis. Her wide range of admirers extends to include Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith.
But no matter, as I said, it's a good thing for the film's awareness; the celebrity couples' presence there should have some impact on attendance, and even help raise the film's festival and overall profile.
Free Angela & All Political Prisoners is described as:
… a feature-length documentary about Angela Davis and the high stakes crime, political movement, and trial that catapults the 26 year-old newly appointed philosophy professor at the University of California at Los Angeles into a seventies revolutionary political icon. Nearly forty years later, and for the first time, Angela Davis speaks frankly about the actions that branded her as a terrorist and simultaneously spurred a worldwide political movement for her freedom.
Most recently, that specific trial was covered briefly in last year's acclaimed doc The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975; although it was only a portion of that film's focus. I certainly expect Lynch's project, given that Angela Davis will be its primary concentration, will be far more extensive in scope.
Per a tweek from Shola Lynch 2 days ago, the film's first trailer should arrive any day now. Looking forward to it!