Though the festival still runs for one more day, I have to get back to real life and to work, which means missing Sunday screenings for the sake of laundry, cleaning, grocery shopping and all the other things I’ve neglected while hopping from film to film over the past 10 days. I rearranged the docs …
The weather forecast for Friday was not promising: rain and extreme winds. Not the kind of weather you want to find yourself in when you’re standing in line outside, which was the case for my first two films of the day. Thankfully, the first batch of rain passed through before I arrived at the Bader, …
Hot Docs 2018 #13: Predictions, Puppies and Poets Read More »
The weather forecast for Thursday was grim: rain. I was seriously considering skipping my first film of the day because it was at Hart House, meaning an outdoor lineup. Thankfully, I decided to take my chances and Mother Nature very graciously held off until after we were let into the theater (though I do think …
Hot Docs 2018 #12: Fandom, Friendship and Fighting Corruption Read More »
It’s usually around this time during the festival – i.e., just after the halfway point – that I start to hit the wall. Days of lineups and donuts for dinner and hotfooting it from theater to theater and writing reviews in the wee/late hours start to catch up with me, and I find it increasingly …
Hot Docs 2018 #11: Encounters, Earth and Editing Read More »
Okay, now that my anti-smartphone rant is done, I can get back to the business at hand: recapping my festivalgoing and sharing more new reviews. I’ll admit that I really wasn’t familiar with the work of the subject of my first film of the day, Mr. Fish: Cartooning from the Deep End (6/8), before sitting …
May I take a moment to rant about smartphones in theaters, please? They a bane on every single Hot Docs screening where, more and more, people are “discreetly” (read: YOU ARE NOT DISCREET – EVERYONE CAN SEE YOUR PHONE!) taking out their devices to email, text, scroll through Facebook, check out Instagram and the like …
Hot Docs 2018 #9: For the love of cinema, please TURN OFF YOUR PHONES! Read More »
One of the “problems” of loving documentaries and attending Hot Docs is trying to figure out what you’re going to see. With so many great options in a given day, it takes a while to craft a schedule and, even then, I find myself second-guessing my choices… sometimes right up until the last possible moment. …
As the fest goes on and I rack up more screenings, I’m noting that many of the films I’ve selected at this year’s Hot Docs are winding up thematically linked on any given day… which wasn’t always intentional. And I’m really digging this happy accident! First on today’s agenda was reuniting with my film-fest pals, …
I’ve been film festival-ing for many years, but as I get older I’m finding it less and less appealing to schedule myself for four- or five-screening days – I like my sleep, and I like eating proper meals at reasonable intervals. That said, I still try to squeeze in at least one four-film day at …
Day one of official filmgoing started off a little bumpy thanks to the TTC – my bus never arrived, so I had to change routes and hustle a bit to pick up my media pass (thanks for the bookbag, Hot Docs! :-D) and get to the Lightbox in time for my first doc of the …