In his latest documentary Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5, Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro, Exterminate All the Brutes) explores George Orwell’s life, legacy, writing and its haunting relevance to our current times. The film features the voice of Damian Lewis as Orwell.
The documentary premiered at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival where it was nominated for the prestigious L’Œil d’or. It will screen at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival, then open in U.S. theaters beginning October 3, 2025 via Neon.
George Orwell was one of the most visionary authors of the 20th Century, whose novels 1984 and Animal Farm foretold a chilling, all-to-believable authoritarian future.
Acclaimed director Raoul Peck, working in collaboration with the Orwell Estate, seamlessly interweaves historical clips, readings from Orwell’s diary, cinematic references, and dynamic modern day footage to craft not only a definitive portrait of the writer himself, but an entirely fresh take on how remarkably relevant and prophetic his work has become.
In their review, Deadline described the film as, ” … an urgent, indispensable film for our times.” Matthew Carey wrote, “Raoul Peck’s vital documentary Orwell: 2 + 2 = 5, … makes it startlingly clear the degree to which we are living in Orwellian times. The parallels between the nightmare of 1984 – where Big Brother dictates every facet of life – and Trump’s America have not been properly acknowledged.”
Watch the official trailer above.
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