Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You Directed by Rachel Grady & Heidi Ewing USA, 2016 Legend is a term that gets thrown around a lot in Hollywood. Any actor/actress with a charming smile, a great head of hair, who can survive in Hollywood’s shark infested waters long enough, will eventually get slapped with the term …
Where is Rocky II? works both as an engaging documentary and a unique cinematic hybrid.
What makes How to Build a Time Machine such a great documentary is that isn’t just interested in watching Niosi and Mallett chase after their eccentric goals. Cheel really keys in on the nature of fixation.
Does edgy humor uplift the downtrodden, or use their misery as a crutch for easy jokes? The Last Laugh may not offer any definitive answers but it does provide enough well thought out arguments, sharp insights, to spark conversations.
Hot Docs 2016 features over 200 films from Canada and around the world, here is a preview of must-see movies and events.
Well, the festival is over and the docs are flying south (and west, and east – and maybe even north) for the summer – hopefully to a cinema near you.
Teenage Directed by Matt Wolf Written by Matt Wolf & John Savage USA, 2013 Adolescence was the greatest demographic discovery and invention of the mid-20th century. Armed with adult-sized interests and freed by a child’s leisurely schedule to explore them to the fullest, teenagers have been dictating pop culture policy since the advent of rock and …
The Last Black Sea Pirates Directed by Svetoslav Stoyanov Written by Vanya Rainova Bulgaria, 2013 The sea has always provided the last refuge (or final resting place) for those who can see no future for themselves on dry land. Always in flux, but more permanent than anything that has ever dared to poke its head …
Blackfish Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite USA, 2013 Forty-nine years ago, agents of the Vancouver Aquarium harpooned a 15-foot long orca (later dubbed “Moby Doll”) and dragged the suffering animal back to a public display pen at the Burrard Dry Dock company. The traumatized whale lasted less than three months in captivity, after refusing to eat …
The Punk Singer Directed by Sini Anderson USA, 2013 One of the most energetic and iconoclastic aesthetic/political movements in the history of popular expression, 1970s punk nevertheless left many long-entrenched attitudes virtually undisturbed by its vitriolic passage. In some ways, the arrival of the hyper-aggressive “mosh pit” during the 1980s may even have exacerbated certain …
Meet the Fokkens Written by Gabrielle Provaas and Rob Schröder Directed by Gabrielle Provaas Netherlands, 2011 There is a long tradition in documentary film of personalizing unusual individuals. In fact the entire genre of first-person narrative documentary has largely revolved around finding people and stories that are unusual, even openly odd, and seeking to provide …
The Ambassador Written by Mads Brügger and Maja Jul Larsen Directed by Mads Brügger Denmark, 2011 As strange as it might sound to some people, documentary filmmakers are often exceptionally brave individuals. They are people who are at least willing to ask honest, probing questions of their subjects and at most are willing to do …
Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry Written by Alison Klayman Directed by Alison Klayman USA, 2012 A good documentary requires a good subject but can sometimes be overwhelmed by a great one. Such is the blessing and problem facing Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry. The film follows Weiwei, an acclaimed counter-cultural Chinese artist, as well known for his …
The Invisible War Directed by Kirby Dick 2012, USA, 93 minutes Kirby Dick’s latest investigative documentary begins with a simple title card stating that all statistics used in The Invisible War come from the US government. The move is bold, effective, and sets a sharp tone. So clear is the crime, so large is the …
The World Before Her Directed by Nisha Pahuja 2012, Canada, 90 minutes Consider director Nisha Pahuja a master of the loaded title. ‘The World’ is India, a billon strong, chaotically democratic, and torn between modernity and tradition. ‘Before’ is the most ambiguous word of the title—is it that the world exists prior to her, …
No Entry No Exit Directed by Marelle Klein and Julie Kreuzer 2011, Germany, 82 mins. This is the trouble with fairness: nobody can agree exactly on what is fair. This is the disagreement at the crux of No Entry No Exit. German authorities release convicted rapist Karl D into the custody of his brother, Helmut, …
Knuckle Directed by Ian Palmer 2011, Ireland/UK, 97 mins. Knuckle did not start begin life as a documentary. Rather, director Ian Palmer met a bare-knuckle fighter at an Irish Traveller wedding in the mid-nineties and agreed to film an upcoming bout, in part to ensure that fair play was followed, but also to make some …
Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles Directed by Jon Foy 2011, USA, 88 mins. “Toynbee idea / in Kubrick’s 2001 / resurrect dead / on planet Jupiter” – this message, appearing in colourful tiles sunk into asphalt, has appeared in cities across the US and in several in South American. Toynbee tiles have …
Hollywood Complex Directed by Dan Sturman and Dylan Nelson 2011, USA, 85 mins. For every face we see in a film, TV show, or commercial, there are thousands of others who auditioned. Thousands. They say that Hollywood is the only place where you can be encouraged to death – actors take professional pictures, hire agents, …
Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop Directed by Rodman Flender 2011, USA, 89 mins. Conan O’Brien doesn’t just turn lemons into lemonade; he turns bile into ambrosia. Accordingly, this isn’t a documentary about his very public firing – although it does contain the briefest of recaps. Rather, it is about the months between shows, which he spent …
Mothers of Bedford Directed by Jenifer McShane 2011, USA, 93 mins. The title Mothers of Bedford belies the emotional expanse covered by the film. Though it is indeed mothers who are locked up in Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women, this film is just as much about their children and their own mothers outside of …
Kumaré Directed by Vikram Gandhi 2011, USA, 84 mins. After watching Kumaré, an old aphorism comes to mind: the best way to learn is to teach. When Vikram Gandhi set out to teach people that gurus and other religious teachers are unnecessary by growing out his hair and beard, putting on an exaggerated Indian accent, …
Fightville Directed by Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein 2011, USA, 85 mins. I am not a fan of mixed martial arts. It is not something that I know much about, nor something to which I have devoted much thought. Yet, despite my ambivalence towards a sport that is taking bars and gyms by storm, I …