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Today’s Hot Docs query: the crowd-funding of the Audience Award. I understand the point of the program – namely, to boost the dollar figure given to the winning filmmaker, and to spread some of that wealth to the second- and third-place finishers – but why would I donate money...
It was a sunny, warm, film-filled day! First up was Menstrual Man (7/8), which surprised me (in a good way) before it even began – the screening (10:30am at the ROM on a Wednesday) was PACKED! To be honest, I’d selected the film because it was the only one...
Let me begin with a quick open letter to the Scotiabank Theatre: Perhaps, in future, it would be nice if you would notify filmgoers that your water has been shut off – and, thus, all of the washrooms are closed and unusable – BEFORE they get tickets and head...
Today was interesting. Films that I thought would be awesome were meh, films that I chose just because they fit into gaps in my schedule turned out to be quite good, and the best film I saw all day was only 11 minutes long. First up was Dragon Girls...
Sometimes, the fest doles out harsh realities to its filmgoers on screen. And, sometimes, it happens at the box office. Such was the case today for my mom, who wanted to join me for my 4pm screening but who found out – upon arriving at the box office first...
Two days into the festival and I am reminded again why I love Hot Docs so much – the films, the people, the conversation, the camaraderie and the energy. Every venue is literally buzzing! Speaking of venues, my new favourite fest staffer is the bespectacled English woman wrangling lines...
First day of official Hot Docs film-going and I am hobbled by a foot injury! Good times. The doctor says I need to take it easy for a couple of days, so I’ll be heading to fewer screenings over the weekend in the hopes of helping my troublesome tendons...
With the potentially rich and colorful backdrop of New York City’s gay scene in the late-1960s through the ‘70s, I thought Continental (4/8) was going to be a lot more interesting a film experience than it was. But the key problem with this documentary about the legendary bathhouse –...
One of the perils of seeing a large volume of films at Hot Docs is the inevitable emotional exhaustion that can set in, especially if you find yourself seeing one sad story after another. Garden of Eden (5/8) is sort of a microcosm of that phenomenon because it literally...
Once in a while, you stumble upon a seemingly simple documentary that surprises you with its quiet strength and unexpected depths. For me, We Always Lie to Strangers (8/8) is one such film, and I was literally sobbing in my seat by the time it was over. Its subject...
Sometimes, I see a documentary that leaves me squirming in my seat out of sheer frustration, and that was certainly the case with The Manor (2/8), a purported slice-of-life of documentary that feels like an exploitative product of the Here Comes Honey Boo Boo School of Entertainment. Director Shawney...
A number of films were screened for the media before the festival, and I was lucky enough to catch a bunch of them. Who Is Dayani Cristal? (5/8) is a very stylish, often moving but somewhat disjointed look at the plight of undocumented South- and Central-American immigrants to America...
