At the Toronto International Film Festival, you can feel anxiety in the air — and on the screen

Greg Barker had his film, The Final Year, released at the Toronto Film Festival this month. It was reviewed by the Washington Post:

Those values were celebrated in another TIFF premiere: “The Final Year,” Greg Barker’s fly-on-the-wall documentary about President Barack Obama’s foreign policy team during his last months in office. Focusing mostly on adviser Ben Rhodes and U.N. Ambassador Samantha Power, the film starts out with them preparing the ground for the Clinton administration they clearly believe will continue their work. In the film, Rhodes and Power look stricken on election night, but by Saturday, when “The Final Year” received a standing ovation, their grief had morphed into wistful nostalgia, tinged with still-raw disappointment.

“You remember what a unique opportunity and privilege it is to be able to turn up at places and represent the United States and try to make a difference every day,” said Rhodes after the screening. “And I have to say that it does make me upset that I don’t think the government representing my country is doing that anymore.”