Skip to Content

‘Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You’ pays Homage to a Legend

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 …

Read More about ‘Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You’ pays Homage to a Legend

Hot Docs 2013: ‘Teenage’ strikes a blow for demography

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2013: ‘Teenage’ strikes a blow for demography

Hot Docs 2013: ‘The Last Black Sea Pirates’ drops anchor in the uncharted waters between hope and despair

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2013: ‘The Last Black Sea Pirates’ drops anchor in the uncharted waters between hope and despair

Hot Docs 2013: ‘Blackfish’ plunges into the abyss of marine mammal exploitation

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2013: ‘Blackfish’ plunges into the abyss of marine mammal exploitation

Hot Docs 2013: ‘The Punk Singer’ presents an intimate and insightful take on Kathleen Hanna

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2013: ‘The Punk Singer’ presents an intimate and insightful take on Kathleen Hanna

Hot Docs 2012: ‘Meet the Fokkens’ offers a charming, unusual personal narrative

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2012: ‘Meet the Fokkens’ offers a charming, unusual personal narrative

Hot Docs 2012: ‘The Ambassador’ a brave, darkly funny exposé

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2012: ‘The Ambassador’ a brave, darkly funny exposé

Hot Docs 2012: ‘Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry’ overshadowed by its subject

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2012: ‘Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry’ overshadowed by its subject

Hot Docs 2012: ‘The Invisible War’ is eloquent, bold, and devastating

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2012: ‘The Invisible War’ is eloquent, bold, and devastating

‘The World Before Her’ Movie Review – is essential viewing at this year’s festival

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, …

Read More about ‘The World Before Her’ Movie Review – is essential viewing at this year’s festival

Hot Docs 2011: Knuckle

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2011: Knuckle

Hot Docs 2011: Hollywood Complex

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, …

Read More about Hot Docs 2011: Hollywood Complex

Hot Docs 2011: ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop’ – the personal odyssey of a terribly funny man

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 …

Read More about Hot Docs 2011: ‘Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop’ – the personal odyssey of a terribly funny man

Hot Docs 2011: ‘Kumaré’

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, …

Read More about Hot Docs 2011: ‘Kumaré’