Roméo Dallaire greeted his admirers, signed autographs and posed for pictures on the red carpet this weekend at the Toronto International Film Festival, as he attended the world premiere of Shake Hands with the Devil.

That's fine by the movie's producers, Michael Donovan and Laszlo Barna. They're betting the retired Lt-General -- with his piercing eyes and movie star looks -- has enough humanitarian rock star appeal to generate a box office hit for the film, starring Roy Dupuis and due in theaters nationally from Sept. 28.

"I'm Roy Dupuis' body double," joked a relaxed and amiable Dallaire at a pre-premiere bash Saturday night at swanky restaurant Jamie Kennedy at the Gardiner. Dallaire led an ill-fated UN mission during Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

"I'd like to thank Roméo Dalliare for being our beacon and inspiration. You have inspired us, you have challenged us with your words and actions, and worked tirelessly to ensure it [genocide] never, ever happens again," an emotional Barna told reporters, with Dallaire at his side.

A day later at the world premiere, it was the turn of director Roger Spottiswoode to reach for the superlatives when introducing cast and crew to a packed Elgin Theatre.

The editor-turned-director recounted meeting Dallaire 15 months ago, for the first time, and being asked by the former UN commander in Rwanda to, first, make a factual film based on his recently published memoirs and, second, not to make heroes out of Dallaire and his troops.

"We tried to make a factual film, but we did fail to fulfill the general's other request. We could not tell the story of the blue berets in Rwanda under Dallaire's command and portray them as anything other than heroes," Spottiswoode said.

Much has been made about getting the record right in Shake Hands with the Devil on the events of 1994 Rwanda -- of creating a visual account of that country's intricate tragedy so genocide cannot reappear or continue in Darfur or anywhere else.

"I've felt an overwhelming responsibility to get it right," Donovan said ahead of the film's premiere Sunday afternoon as part of TIFF's Special Presentations sidebar.

The film's producers are hoping to generate media attention and foreign sales for Shake Hands in Toronto ahead of a theatrical release and an afterlife on television, DVD and other platforms.

Whether that afterlife is long and full depends on a successful theatrical release, starting in Canada with Seville Pictures releasing Shake Hands on around 100 screens.

The film's producers are targeting the Quebec media by promoting Dallaire and Dupuis, both local boys. For English Canada, Shake Hands with the Devil is being touted as a thriller depicting Dallaire torn between duty and conscience as he witnesses hell on earth during Rwanda's 1994 genocide.

Hal Sadoff, head of ICM's international and indie film division, is shopping Shake Hands in Toronto to U.S. buyers.

The producer credits on Shake Hands with the Devil are with Halifax Films and Barna-Alper Productions.