Punch lines: Pranksters dash from would-be consumers in the winning Czech Dream.

As Vit Klusák and Filip Remunda's documentary Czech Dream proves, it doesn't really matter what the ad copy says, just as long as it's said at top volume. In 2003 the duo blitzed Prague with the promise of Czech Dream, a fake "hypermarket" invented for the purposes of their film. With cameras rolling, the directors huddle with execs at a top Prague ad agency (who are in on the ruse) and meet with focus groups (who aren't). It all leads up to Czech Dream's "unveiling" – really just a facade in a grassy field – which draws a crowd, most of whom are unamused at being punch lines. Massive Czech media coverage follows, and since the stunt makes light of the country's post-Communism embrace of consumerism, plenty of political nerves are also tweaked.

Czech Dream's comedic take on large-scale deception is counterbalanced in the festival by a slew of docs that take a more sober view of the subject. The Fall of Fujimori and A Social Genocide both rip into world leaders whose corrupt colors emerged soon after they took office.

Ellen Perry's Fujimori takes on deposed Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori, now a fugitive from Interpol enjoying the good life in Japan. Two years after Fujimori came to power in 1990, he staged a "self-coup" so he'd be able to pass the kind of tyrannical laws he felt were necessary to wipe out Peru's rebel factions. These questionable methods, combined with of other scandals, sullied the president's reputation. He fled in 2000. Perry's film contrasts incriminating footage (including bribe-taking caught on tape) with a remarkable interview. The biggest bomb he drops is his plan to run for Peru's presidency in 2006.

There's no such privileged access in A Social Genocide, Fernando E. Solanas's detailed exploration of Argentina's ongoing economic emergency. Dense with history and financial analysis, Solanas's film incorporates memorable footage of the country's 2001 uprising against then-president Fernando de la Rúa, as well as a look at the far-reaching effects of privatizing Argentina's major industries – effects that include, most shockingly, thousands of malnourished children. The doc blames ex-president Carlos Menem, elected on a false platform he later betrayed, for the country's current crisis.

Even more incendiary is The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear, a three-part BBC series by Adam Curtis (The Century of the Self) that traces the parallel histories of the Islamic fundamentalist and American neoconservative movements. The thesis? Al-Qaeda is a fantasy enemy created by George W. Bush and company, who, on the basis of their political philosophy, always need to be engaged in a battle of "good versus evil" (personified by the cold war, the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, and now the war on terror). Curtis allows himself a fair amount of Michael Moore-style dot-connecting, and there is some repetition over the three hours. But Nightmares is thought-provoking, to say the least. It also adds poignancy to brothers Brent and Craig Renaud's Off to War, a revealing look at exactly who is fighting that war on terror: unrefined but patriotic "citizen soldiers" (in this case, Arkansas National Guardsmen) who leave their farms and families behind to serve.

Still don't feel sufficiently hoodwinked? Settle in for Alex Gibney's Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room. Pop-culture references (the company is likened to the Titanic multiple times) provide entrée for viewers who don't know jack about the stock market; audio tapes of Enron traders snickering about California's energy crisis will reignite the rage of anyone who sweated through a rolling blackout. Unlike the pranksters behind Czech Dream (but not unlike a cabal of dictators), Enron's top brass gambled with thousands of jobs and billions of dollars – creating what the doc colorfully dubs "a house of cards built over a pool of gasoline."

Cheryl Eddy

'Czech Dream' (2004) plays April 29, 7:15 p.m., Kabuki; May 2, 12:30 p.m., Kabuki; May 4, 3:15 p.m., Kabuki.

'Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room' (2005) plays Sun/24, 3:45 p.m., Kabuki; Tues/26, 9:15 p.m., Kabuki.

'The Fall of Fujimori' (2005) plays Fri/22, 9:45 p.m., Kabuki; Mon/25, 3:30 p.m., Kabuki.

'Off to War' (2004) plays Tues/26, 3 p.m., Kabuki; May 3, 5:15 p.m., Kabuki.

'The Power of Nightmares: The Rise of the Politics of Fear' (2004) plays April 30, 3:25 p.m., PFA; May 1, 2 p.m., Kabuki.

'A Social Genocide' (2004) plays April 28, 8:45 p.m., Kabuki; May 1, 3:40 p.m., PFA.