U2 documentary opens film festival

A U2 documentary has premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.

From the Sky Down follows the Irish band making their 1991 album Achtung Baby. Frontman Bono attended the screening on Thursday and revealed he was thrilled the documentary had been chosen to open the prestigious event.

"I think it shows that the festival still isn't ready to be all commercial, that they would put on this night a documentary film about an obscure album from a hopefully not so obscure band," he said.

From the Sky Down is the first documentary to ever open the festival.

Bono and guitarist The Edge addressed an audience at the event, and admitted it was a new and nerve-wracking experience.

"We are very protective of our privacy, particularly the creative process, not just because we are precious, which we are," Bono told the crowd, before revealing the band were afraid of letting people see them struggle to make music. "If you knew what went into the sausage, you wouldn't eat it."

The Edge revealed he found it "shocking" to see the footage from 20 years ago. He was also surprised to be reminded of "how close our band came to disintegrating at that particular moment".

Achtung Baby was seen as the band's daring attempt to reinvent themselves after failing to impress with their 1988 album Rattle and Hum. The record featured the hit singles One and Mysterious Ways.

"We see the impasse that they had," director Davis Guggenheim explained. "We see how they pulled themselves out of it through writing this one song."

The Toronto International Film Festival will show 268 movies this year.

Last year's opener was The King's Speech ' which went on to win the festival's top prize.

Other music acts to feature in documentaries during the 11-day event include Pearl Jam and Neil Young.

Hollywood stars include Robert DeNiro, George Clooney, Nicolas Cage, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Nicole Kidman and Tilda Swinton all have movies showing at the festival.

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