Here are the best docs that I saw at Hot Docs 2005:

Street Fight
When I studied American history, a prof I had suggested that we were likely in a watershed period in race relations.  Now, its not about being Black or White but being rich or poor.  George Bush cares about Black people Kayne, he doesn't care about poor people.  Street Fight examines some of these issues as it follows the mayoral race in Newark, New Jersey.  The two candidates - Sharpe James, - conservative, 4-time incumbent, self-made 65 year old Black man, the other Cory Booker, a liberal, Harvard grad, 32 year old Black man.  Street Fight really tries to look at these assumptions around race relations and entitlement in many US (and a few Canadian cities).

A Decent Factory
How is your cell phone made?  The Nokia social responsibility division travels to China to find out and brings a documentary film maker with them.  The factory conditions are not great but not terrible.  The film shows the reality that it is not great to work in a factory, the work is boring and repetitive. But in China, workers (who come from the farmlands all over the country) have to board at the factory and pay to live there!  The most interesting aspect of this documentary are the standard social conditions of working at a Chinese factory.  How sustainable are they?

Napoleon For A While
Ah Wolfgang.  An Arbeitsloser.  Wolfgang once did a 15 mm. movie about Napoleon.  He never married, never had kids or moved out of his mother's house.  He got laid off from his job at a factory.  Napoleon For A While follows the story of Wolfgang.  He is incredibly like able and this documentary follows the story of someone who doesn't quite get into a regular pattern of life and tries to be famous.  This was one of my most favourite docs at Hot Docs.


Grizzly Man
Directed by Werner Herzog, this is an excellent documentary but very disturbing.  It follows the story of Timothy Treadwell who lived for years amongst the bears of Alaska and was killed in a bear attack.  What is our relationship to wild animals?  Do we give them the respect and distance they need?  Or have we Disneyfied them to the point that we don't know how to protect ourselves?

I created a Hot Docs category.

Hot Docs is coming and this year I fully intend to blog it!  In the spirit of retro-active blogging, I have posted on the best docs I saw at 2005.  I am pretty much relying on memory so these are the films that really stood out for me.

If you know me, you've heard me talk about volunteering with HotDocs.  I truly recommend it.  It was an excellent experience for me.  Arts events like Hot Docs cannot happen without the volunteers.  And the Hot Docs staff is incredibly pleasant, approachable and appreciative of volunteer efforts.

HotDocs is important to me because the documentaries shown at HotDocs tell stories that traditional Hollywood film makers would not tell.  It is important to get these stories out, it makes a difference, it educates and it entertains.

Want to volunteer, go here.