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#HotDocs15

Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi’ and ‘Raiders!’

May 6, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi (DIR. Neil Broffman) By: Shannon Page If you own a computer, have a Facebook account, frequent Twitter, or read the news – basically, if you interact with information and technology at all – you should watch Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi.  The emotional and thoughtful film, directed by Neil Broffman, tells the story of a Brown University student who went missing one month prior to the Boston Marathon bombings and…

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Reviews

Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck

May 3, 2015Addison Wylie3 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Many associate angst with Kurt Cobain.  The feeling is riddled throughout his musical work and how he presented Nirvana to the world.  With Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck, documentarian Brett Morgen (The Kid Stays in the Picture) has peeled back the musician’s enigmatic career to find the origin behind his hurt and disassociation. Cobain is respectfully represented as someone who was robbed out of an upbringing he wished he had growing up…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ’Live From New York!’ and ‘The Queen of Silence’

May 2, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

Live From New York! (DIR. Bao Nguyen) By: Trevor Jeffery How do you describe a forty-year “New York institution” in 90 minutes?  Live From New York! explores both the mythos and the cultural significance of the longest running sketch comedy series, Saturday Night Live (SNL). The documentary covers a lot of ground: the rise (and fall and rise);  behind the scenes;  cultural impact;  and the ongoing issues with race and gender dynamics.  While each topic…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: ‘Monty Python: The Meaning of Life’

April 26, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

Monty Python: The Meaning of Life (DIR. Roger Graef, James Rogan) By: Addison Wylie If Monty Python Live (Mostly) was the comedy troupe’s last hurrah, Monty Python: The Meaning of Life is their congratulatory curtain call and encore. It goes without saying that Roger Graef and James Rogan’s film is essential viewing for any Monty Python fan, or anyone who caught their live show.  This documentary provides audiences with alternate angles, exclusive behind-the-scenes tomfoolery, and…

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Reviews

Hot Docs 2015: Being Canadian

April 25, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

Being Canadian (DIR. Robert Cohen) By: Addison Wylie Comedy writer Robert Cohen hits the road to Vancouver with a documentary crew in Being Canadian, a humorous look at Canadiana.  Cohen’s goal is to reclaim Canada’s identity and deconstruct the stereotypes that have long followed Canucks;  including igloo assumptions, shabby television programming, adamant politeness, and the country’s overflowing supply of comedy legends. Cohen’s dry wit and bewildered fascination drives this labour of love (no pun intended) in…

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Festival Coverage

Hot Docs 2015: A One-On-One With Committed’s Vic Cohen

April 24, 2015Addison Wylie4 Comments

By: Addison Wylie Where there’s a Howie Mandel production, Vic Cohen is most likely close by.  It’s quite obvious the two comedians are close supportive friends, however audiences are seeing that connection run deeper in the documentary Committed. For twelve years, Mandel has recorded Cohen with a video camera and chronicled his budding career as a comic and as an outrageous, fearless performer.  The documentary has been also been shaped by co-directors Reed Grinsell and Steve…

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Festival Coverage

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

April 23, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

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. …

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Festival Coverage

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

April 22, 2015Addison Wylie3 Comments

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…

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Festival Coverage

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

April 20, 2015Addison Wylie1 Comment

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…

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Festival Coverage

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

April 19, 2015Addison Wylie2 Comments

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…

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