Anthony Kaufman writes with great commitment and insight about docs - and film in general - for the Wall Street Journal on-line, Indiewire, and his own blog. Last year he moderated one of TIFF's Doc Talks. Here he picks three doc titles that jump off the 2007 TIFF list. Make no mistake: cineastes love their Herzog (pictured).

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD Werner Herzog's resurgence in the annals of filmmaking -- and documentary-making -- is a wonder to behold. Prolific, as if there might be no tomorrow (and with Herzog, there might not be one), Herzog's recurrent themes and visually stunning cinematography continue to take nonfiction to places that few other filmmakers would dare to. Are you kidding? I can't wait to see his vision of Antarctica.

MY ENEMY'S ENEMY With so many docs about nefarious men, it's hard to  choose, but I'm sticking with Kevin Macdonald's portrait of Klaus Barbie  based on the filmmaker's past work (Last King of Scotland, Touching the  Void) and the fascinating subject matter, which seems to reveal Barbie's
American alliances and what I assume will be telling relevances with today's
fascistic impulses.

OPERATION FILMMAKER  I admit I haven't seen Davenport's previous work, but I  hear it's top-notch. And there's something that appeals to me here about  failed idealism: a kind of bitter irony that resonates with the U.S.'s  misguided mission in Iraq. If even Liev Schreiber can't make things right by  hiring a young Iraqi film student on his film, can any of us?