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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Elephant’s Dream’ and ‘Milk’

Elephant’s Dream (DIR. Kristof Bilsen) By: Addison Wylie As Kinshasa’s struggling economy heals after the civil war in the DRC, its population waits for stable change.  People try to march on with their community through unfortunate situations with limited resources, but it’s achingly hard.  A sequence featuring a reckless fire burning downtown shows the audience how dire Kinshasa’s firefighting team is. Supreme danger spirals out of control, the help is flustered, and panicked pedestrians criticize. …

Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Nuestro Monte Luna’ and ‘Welcome to Leith’

Nuestro Monte Luna (DIR. Pablo Alvarez-Mesa) By: Trevor Jeffery Nuestro Monte Luna is a story of a bullfighting school, and the teenage boys who attend to train in a well-hated tradition. Nuestro Monte Luna’s narrative starts strong.  It manages to immediately set up the scenario – you’re not just watching people in Choachi, but you are experiencing the little Colombian town through the camera.  However, as the movie trails on, interest wanes and clarity takes a…

Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘The Circus Dynasty’ and ‘The Messenger’

The Circus Dynasty (DIR. Anders Riis-Hansen) By: Gregory Breen The Circus Dynasty’s opening caption prepares the audience for the doc’s concept – a grand dynamic between two of Europe’s greatest circus families. The Berdino family (one of Europe’s largest families of artists) and the Casselly family (the world’s most award-winning artist family) have been delighting audiences all across Europe with the joint circus Arena for 21 years.  A special relationship has developed with the two clans creating…

Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘The Amina Profile’ and ‘Seth’s Dominion’

The Amina Profile (DIR. Sophie Deraspe) By: Trevor Jeffery The Amina Profile is three stories in one: a three-part politically charged long-distance romance with a twist;  a bit of Going the Distance meets a bit of Milk, with a lot of Catfish. It’s a story of civil unrest under a dictatorship told through a somber love story: two women meant for each other, with half a world between them – Sandra in Montreal and Amina in Damascus.  Six…

Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Lowdown Tracks’ and ‘Orion: The Man Who Would Be King’

Lowdown Tracks (DIR. Shelly Saywell) By: Gregory Breen If you have ever stopped to smell the roses and listen to a busker, chances are Lowdown Tracks will bring a tear to your eye.  In this heartfelt and engrossing film, activist and musician Lorraine Segato seeks to meet Toronto’s street musicians and record some of the wonderful tunes they play. Segato meets Woody Cormier, Anthony Van Zant, Maryann Epp, Bruce Bathgate and Katt Burr – five very special,…

Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Committed’ and ‘Hadwin’s Judgement’

Committed (DIR. Howie Mandel, Reed Grinsell, Steve Sunshine) By: Addison Wylie Vic Cohen was a faithful writer on The Howie Mandel Show, but had the presence of someone who was weak.  Mandel (who is naturally attracted to peculiar, desperate people) wanted to learn more about him, and decided to keep a camera rolling on the pair;  documenting their collaborations as well as Cohen’s growth as a confident performer. By capturing twelve years of footage, Committed…

Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Shoulder the Lion’ and ‘The Wolfpack’

Shoulder the Lion (DIR. Erinnisse Rebisz, Patryk Rebisz) By: Trevor Jeffery If the subject matter about artists isn’t clear enough the art-house-meets-documentary style Shoulder The Lion boasts should certainly make the viewer aware that the filmmakers really, really like art.  A lot. In front of the camera are three inspiring figures: Graham Sharpe, a musician living with a constant ringing in his ear, reminding him that his tinnitus will eventually take his hearing, and with it, the…

Festival Coverage

Wylie Writes @ Hot Docs 2015

By: Gesilayefa Azorbo Each year, the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival seems to be getting bigger and better.  Considering the press conference at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema on March 18 announcing the 2015 edition, the festival shows no signs of slowing down. Hot Docs ’15 offers 210 films in total (the largest offering of films in the festival’s history to date) and 102 world premieres.  Not to mention projected attendance figures of 200,000 – the…

Reviews

The Backward Class

By: Addison Wylie The Backward Class is yet another documentary where an intrepid filmmaker tracks students through semesters as they prepare for life-defining exams.  After knock outs such as Fame High and I Learn America and the derivative dud School of Babel, this is a day-in-the-life structure that has firmly rooted itself in the documentary genre.  It’s up to the filmmaker to have their topic inspire the audience.  And, that’s exactly what The Backward Class…

Reviews

112 Weddings

By: Addison Wylie Doug Block started shooting wedding videos because it was a good opportunity to earn some extra dough.  But as his filmography grew, so did his fascination with different couples and the dynamics he caught on camera. The question that’s been rattling around in his head is: what happens years after the wedding and the honeymoon?  Can these giddy newlyweds keep up their love once reality settles in and kids enter the picture?…