When Death of a President opens across North America on Oct. 27, Canadian and American audiences will be exposed to decidedly different marketing strategies.

Both distributors, Maple Pictures in Canada and Newmarket Films in the U.S., are looking to open the controversial mock doc soon after its buzz-making premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. The U.K. film by Gabriel Range depicts the fictional assassination of George W. Bush.

But while Newmarket is reluctant to discuss its plans, Maple stepped right into the political firestorm last month by running teaser print ads that looked strikingly like death announcements – stating simply ‘George W. Bush: July 6, 1946 – October 19, 2007.’

John Bain, SVP of distribution at Maple, says the campaign was flatly rejected by some media outlets, most notably the National Post, which said it was ‘in bad taste.’ The Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star asked for alterations, while weekly newspapers ran the ad with no questions asked, he says.

Left-leaning political docs and mock docs tend to play better in Canada than in the U.S.

‘Bush has higher disapproval ratings here, there isn’t such a division about him. Films like Fahrenheit 9/11 and An Inconvenient Truth – documentaries that are critical of Bush and his policies – have tended to do much better up here,’ says Bain.

Maple has not finalized its plans for the release, but Bain says that he’d never quite seen an audience react to a film quite the way they did to Death of a President at TIFF, where Maple closed its deal.

‘There’s always a danger with a film that’s a hit at a festival that that enthusiasm might not carry over into the cinemas. But I think this is a buzz that will last. This is a very strong film,’ he says.

A source at Newmarket confirms that the U.S. campaign will be far less brazen, but offered few details.

But Newmarket might not need many ads, brazen or otherwise. DOAP has already scored ample publicity, with items appearing everywhere from Variety to Entertainment Tonight. The film also now enjoys the mixed blessing of being censored. Regal Entertainment Group, America’s largest theater chain, has decided not to screen the film, citing its controversial subject matter. Texas-based Cinemark USA and California-based Century Theatres are also passing on Death of a President.