On my last day at Hot Docs this past May, I had the pleasure of seeing Carlota Nelson‘s ‘Eyes of the Soul: Cristina García Rodero’ (La Mirada Oculta). The film follows the life and work of world-renowned photographer Cristina García Rodero.
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Hot Docs has announced the winning documentaries from this year’s official competition, along with recognizing outstanding Canadian and international filmmakers through additional awards. The]awards were revealed at the Hot Docs 2024 Awards Presentation, held at the Centre for Social Innovation – Annex and hosted by arts journalist and co-founder of Media Girlfriends, Garvia Bailey.
A total of 15 awards were handed out, including 11 awards for Festival films in competition—of which 9 were won by female filmmakers—and CAD 75,000 in cash and prizes were awarded.
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In the 1950s, legendary high school basketball coach Lofton Greene led the recently racially integrated River Rouge High School Panthers to a record number of state championships in a league of otherwise segregated schools. Now, almost 70 years later, LaMonta Stone, a former Panther himself, has returned to the struggling industrial town of River Rouge, Michigan, to help the Panthers chase the school’s 15th State Championship.
In Rouge, Stone and four of his student-athletes, including Seniors Brent Darby Jr. and Ahmoni Weston, and junior Legend Geeter strive on their quest to fulfill generations worth of work on and off the court by preparing for their next chapter of life.
READ MOREIt is the first weekend at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. Many films already had their premiere; nonetheless, many of these films will have a second, or perhaps a third, screening.
If you took a peek at my initial suggestions, you will know there are close to 200 documentaries to choose from. Here, I give you a few more recommendations of documentary films to see at Hot Docs.
READ MOREHot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (Hot Docs) returns to Toronto this week, from April 25 to May 5, 2024. From 2800 film submissions, this year’s slate will present 168 documentaries representing 64 countries across 16 diverse programs and will feature 51 world and 32 international premieres.
Fellow arts & culture writer Sammy Younan, of the My Summer Lair podcast, and I recently sat down to discuss our initial Hot Docs picks, as well as, some tips on attending the festival.
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The COVID-19 pandemic brought to light many deficiencies in social supports for all but most importantly for those living with limited means, including lack of housing.
In Someone Lives Here, director Zack Russell follows carpenter Khaleel Seivwright who decides to take action to help unhoused people, living outside in Toronto during the winter of the pandemic, by building ‘tiny shelters’.
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It is often said religion and politics should not mix. However, this is easier said than done.
Praying for Armageddon is a political thriller that reveals the power and influence of United States fundamentalist Evangelicals, as they aim to fulfill the Armageddon prophecy.
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In 1992, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the American soap opera Santa Barbara became a window into the western way of life for ordinary Russians. The show became hugely popular with the entire nation.
Thirty years later, director Gaukur Úlfarsson takes us along with Icelandic contemporary artist, Ragnar Kjartansson to Moscow as he brings the series to life as a living sculpture set to open an oligarch’s private museum.
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El Equipo, the fifth feature film by two-time Emmy® nominated director Bernardo Ruiz (The Infinite Race), will have its world premiere at Hot Docs Canadian this week.
Working with an array of archival materials that span forty years in part procedural, part true crime thriller, El Equipo tells the history-making collaboration between Dr. Clyde Snow, a legendary forensic scientist originally from Texas, and a group of Argentine university students.
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Here are more of my personal picks and recommendations of films screening at this year’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival.
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