CBC-TV'S NATURE OF THINGS FEATURE DOCUMENTARY "CYBERMAN" TO PLAY TORONTO FILM FESTIVAL

The critically acclaimed CBC Television NATURE OF THINGS feature-length documentary Cyberman has been selected for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Directed by Peter Lynch and produced by Michael Allder, Cyberman explores the alternative universe of Steve Mann - inventor, activist and cyborg.

He sports sunglasses equipped with information-reception devices. Laser-powered cameras imprint images on his eyeballs. On his body, he wears computers and recording devices. His objective: to share his visions in a way that the audience not just sees his world but also experiences it with him. "To be me, not see me" is his mantra. To Mann, the camera and computer are an extension of self.

Director Lynch observed, "Mann sees the externalities of the modern world as a form of prison, a Big Brother-inspired monolith dominated by advertising and propaganda, a monolith that constantly intrudes and corrupts his personal space. Only by arming himself electronically, with a piece of the monster, can he fight back."

Producer Allder commented, "Cyberman is set not in some distant, unrealized world, but in the present. Steve lives in a universe where information is mainlined into memory, where he daily records his encounters with the outer world, his students, even his wife. He believes he is the face of the future, but it is a future that many will find unsettling."

Cyberman had its European premiere at the Rotterdam International Film Festival, where Globe and Mail correspondent Mark Peranson wrote, "the most excitement comes with today's world premiere of Cyberman…ambitious, compelling..." It was also recently previewed in the film magazine P.O.V., where filmmaker and critic Peter Wintonnick commented, "the most important Canadian film this year…a film that stands at the crossroads of form at the intersection of old and new."

Cyberman reunites the team that created the award-winning National Film Board cult-hit feature, Project Grizzly - director Lynch and producer Allder (who is also executive producer of THE NATURE OF THINGS with David Suzuki), editor Caroline Christie and composer Ken Myhr. Cinematography is by Rudy Blahacek and sound recording by Sanjay Mehta.