I think at some point in the next few days, I’m going to devote an entire entry to the inexplicable phenomenon of audience members STILL using their smartphones during festival screenings. It’s astoun…
Hot Docs 2014 is a wrap, and the numbers are all in: audiences totaled somewhere in the 192,000 range. There were more than 450 public screenings, 197 films, 176 visiting filmmakers and some 2,300+ in…
Here’s the funny thing about Hot Docs: sometimes, you stumble upon a gem completely by accident. This morning, I’d planned to go see A Dangerous Game at the Bader. I checked the bus schedule (again, b…
When I woke up on the second-last day of Hot Docs, I felt like I was hitting the festival wall – sort of like what I imagine a marathon runner feels as he or she reaches the final mile and his or her …
It seems that every year, I manage to pick a film that I regret almost from frame one and, this year, that honor goes to Focus on Infinity (N/A), which sounded fascinating in its official program-book…
At last, a day where I didn’t have to take out my umbrella! After a morning catching up on reviews and emails, I headed out to the Bader for my first of three screenings. And, even though I arrived an…
Some days at Hot Docs are better than others. They’re all pretty great, but some are weirdly extra-wonderful. That was today.
Though the weather was once again grey, wet and dismal, I headed out early…
Here’s (one of the many reasons) why I love Hot Docs: even on a Tuesday afternoon in April, when it’s windy and cold and POURING and generally miserable, weather-wise, screenings are packed-to-the-raf…
Today, I did something that I’ve never before done in my 20+ years of festival-going: I forgot my press pass at home.
I make a point of never taking it out of my bag during a festival, so that I’m alw…
Today was a day of rampant indecision. I couldn’t decide what to see. Screening times conflicted, and there wasn’t enough time between certain films to grab something to eat... or arrive at the next v…
Ah, I love a day filled with awesome documentaries! And, happily, today was just such a day.
After some commuting hiccups (I’ve moved to a new place since last year’s fest, so I haven’t quite nailed t…
Hooray! Time to finally start seeing some documentaries! My work schedule this spring has been such that attending any pre-festival screenings was impossible (which pained me greatly, because I missed…
