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 astounding, not to mention rude and inconsiderate in terms of both the offender’s fellow filmgoers, but also for the filmmakers themselves, who are …
Hot Docs 2015 #5: Determination and Disappointment Read More »
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+ industry delegates taking part in the festival’s special industry programming. What was once a quaint little event has exploded into a …
Hot Docs 2014 #11: Award Winners and Final Thoughts Read More »
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, being newly a little farther from the downtown core means I need to carefully plan my commute), stood at my …
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 body konks out. I was pooped, the weather was grey and I …
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 description, but turned out to be epically S-L-O-W, meandering and, for me, incredibly boring. Though it does boast spectacularly …
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 hour before showtime, there was already a big rush line – this was going to …
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 to get in line at the Bader. My first film of the day was The Case Against 8 (8/8), and …
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-rafters full. Every film I attended yesterday was sold out – even the ones that required lining up outdoors in that soak-you-through-and-through rain. Warms …
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 always assured it’ll be with me when I need it, but – in what I …
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 venue without having had to perform wind sprints along University Avenue. I think I must have changed my schedule at least …