Marianne & Actuality: The Life of Allan King
Ryerson graduates know the importance of a good hot dog vendor.  Marianne is about another in the trade and her stand is in front of Mount Sinai hospital.  This 7 min. doc by a York student was an excellent vignette of a hot dog stand operator who daily has a positive impact on that neighbourhood.  Highly recommended.

Actuality: The Life of Allan King
Allan King has an incredible body of work over the years including the documentaries Dying at Grace and Memory for Max, Clare and Ida.  This doc covers the life of Allan King but also the documentaries made by a Canadian film maker that reflect our national history.  I wasn't sure what to expect here but I was surprised by how interesting this doc turned out to be.

Iraq in Fragments
The programmer for this doc described it in her intro as visually arresting and I cannot think of a better description.  The film maker spent a year in Iraq, got to know people and documented their day to day life.  The doc was recorded with a single camera but it was processed to appear like a cinematic film.  At times, it was easy to forget that we were watching a documentary and not a scripted film.  It was an excellent portrayal of the people of Iraq.  It is visually beautiful without forgetting the horrors of war that occur there.  Look for it in wide release.  Highly recommended.

F*ck
When the HotDocs box office worker handed me my tickets for this film and said 2 for F*ck, I told her, "There's no need to swear.".
F*ck is a word we have all used, some more frequently than others.  This doc explores the history of the word and its controversy.  It had excellent interviews including those for the use of the word like rapper Ice-T and leader of the official opposition, Pat Boone.  F*ck was hilarious and really enjoyable to watch.  Highly recommended.  This will go wide release so watch for it!

Another volunteer shift today.  This time in the Doc Shop.  What is the Doc Shop you ask?
Every film submitted to the HotDocs festival is catalogued and reviewed for official screening.  If it is not chosen to be screened during the festival, it is put in the Doc Shop catalogue. 

Isabel Bader Theatre


During the festival, all of the docs submitted are put in a doc 'library' at Old Vic.  Industry participants at the festival can book a viewing station and ask to see any of the docs in the DocShop.  This way a film maker who was not screened during the festival has the opportunity to get their film in front of a programmer.

All morning I helped to find the docs that various industry delegates asked for.  Many of the industry delegates are programmers for television or other media outlets around the world.  It is incredible to see the number of docs submitted to the festival.  It was encouraging to see how many media programmers came by to review docs.  The official selections were frequently requested but many other docs were requested as well.  Every time someone requested a film that I liked, I was happy for the film maker.  It was encouraging to see people request to see Our Own Private Bin Laden or Arctic Son.  Both have an important message for a wider audience.

In the evening I saw

Fatherland
A well made, emotional documentary.  Born after the war, the film maker Manfred Baecker emigrated from Germany to Canada and started a family here.  Like all Canadians, his son considers himself half German - Canadian.  The film maker wanted his son to understand that part of Germany's heritage is its legacy during WW II.  Manfred visits his father, a German WWII veteran, to discuss the role he played in the war.  What his father knew and did not know about the Holocaust.  This doc was well made and had an interesting topic.  It gave this topic the depth of discussion that it deserved.  My only criticism is that in a few points it felt a bit scripted, especially when Manfred's son and friends were on screen.  But it did not detract too much from the doc.  Highly recommended.  Watch for it on the History channel.


Waiting in line at the Isabel Bader theatre


Uganda Rising: When Elephants Fight
The Hon. Lloyd Axworthy challenged a group of film makers to go to Uganda and document the humanitarian disaster that is occurring there.  The film makers did so and when they interviewed Ugandans, they asked the film makers to tell their story, to not let the world forget about them.  And they kept their promise.  Uganda Rising is a powerful documentary, difficult to watch and accept the scale of disaster that is occurring.  Most disturbing is the routine use of child soldiers in Uganda to fight a bloody civil war.  The doc does a good job of providing some context for the conflict.  However, the style of the doc with an unseen narrator was hard to follow at times.  I would have preferred a more personal narration.  See this doc.  It is saddening to think that after all the reflection on the humanitarian disaster that occurred during WWII (see above), we all still allow these disasters to occur in the world.

Raised to Be Heros & They Chose China
Two excellent docs from Canadian film makers.
They Chose China was about a group of American soldiers who were taken as POWs by China during the Korean war and chose to settle in China rather than be repatriated.  This is a really fascinating story since at the time China was almost completely closed off from Westerners.  The doc told the story extremely well.

Raised to Be Heros was the story of a growing group of Israeli reservists who have refused to serve in the Occupied Territories (Palestine) and been sent to jail.  The doc also brings out their story extremely well.  This was not an easy decision for these men, most of whom, were officers.  They declared they would willing die to defend Israel but that the activities in the Occupied Territories is not moral.  The doc did an excellent job of exploring this debate while providing context on the needs and expectations of military service in Israel.  Both of these docs are highly recommended.



The Beach Boys
From this doc I learnt that Beach Bums around the world sit on the beach, chase women and repeat racial stereotypes.  Even in Israel.  This doc was made by Honi Hamegal from his 800 hours of footage filming his 'beach friends' in Tel Aviv over 20 years.  In my opinion, this doc was really family movies edited together to create a 1.5 hour film.  It was edited extremely well but the content is not much beyond family movies.  The film producer said that she felt this film portrayed an Israel we are not used to seeing here in North America.  True, most representations of Israel we see in North American are highly politicized (see above) but that still did not bring much value to this doc for me.  Honi's friends are not that interesting and to see 40 year old men chasing after 20 year old women was painful.  Not everyone shares my opinion.  This film screened in an Israeli festival and on Israeli television.  The women sitting behind me yelled 'Bravo' at the end.  So perhaps I don't 'get it'. 

Today, I had no volunteer shift but I went to a few docs.

American Fugitive
An interesting doc about Hassan, an African American, who assassinated an Iranian official of the Shah's regime just after the Iranian revolution and then fled to Iran.  The doc looks at the political theories that the US government started to cooperate with the Revolutionary Iranian government in secret to secure the freedom of the American hostages in Tehran the day of Reagan's swearing in ceremony.  An interesting aspect of this doc is that it looks at what the Islamic revolution of Iran would have meant for African Americans who had joined the Nation of Islam.  This documentary was one of the best that I have seen at HotDocs in terms of its editing, presentation and story.  The film maker was Jean-Daniel Lafonde, husband of our current Governor General.

Alimentation General
Ali runs a small grocery store in an apartment block in suburban Paris.  Alimentation General presents life in Ali's shop to us over the days.  We meet all the children, who Ali greets by name, as they buy his penny candy and the elderly women who sit and have coffee with Ali.  He then sends his assistant with them to carry their groceries home.  Alimentation General really illustrates how a small commercial centre is critical to creating a sense of community.  This doc was timely to watch with the riots that happened in Paris last November.  I really enjoy this style of documentary.  The film maker took 60 hours of footage and reduced it to 1.5 hours of a doc.  She filmed conversations rather than directing a series of interviews.




Bombay Calling
Bombay Calling was an almost sold out show at the Bloor.  The film makers were there and seemed to have brought an extra large group of guests because about six rows were reserved.  It was initially hard to find a seat!
I thought I would really enjoy this doc as the topic material is interesting.  Call Centres are huge business in Bombay as young Indian graduates get good jobs with the only requirement being the ability to speak English.  The doc focused on one call centre and we got to know a few of its employees.  The film makers showed some scenes of Bombay in an attempt to contrast its poverty with its small but growing middle class.  I think the doc should have had a stronger contrast or should have followed fewer call centre employees to have a stronger focus.  This was a great material but the film makers needed to have tighter editing to create a great doc.

Today, I did a volunteer shift again at HotDocs.  I was the 'usher' for latecomers so I got to watch both movies.  Plus I had bought tickets for an evening show.

During my shift I saw ...
How Many Roads & Glenn Gould Hereafter.
How Many Roads is about Bob Dylan and Glenn Gould Hereafter is about, you guessed it, Glenn Gould.  How Many Roads looks at the importance of the music of Bob Dylan to a variety of people from a hip hop spoken word artist to a teacher in her 50's who drives to every Dylan concerts she can make.  Dylan himself never appears in the film and it is not biographical.  It really looks at Dylan, the icon, and how his music and writing affected such a wide range of people.  Beautifully shot and edited.  Look for this on PBS, I'm sure it will get picked up by them.

Glenn Gould Hereafter
Glenn Gould is probably the most mythical and mystic Canadian musician.  The film maker uses old footage of Gould (and was he filmed alot!) combined with interviews with people who were moved by Gould's music.  Similar to How Many Roads, the film maker chose to interview people who were not 'experts' on the music but rather were emotionally close to it.  I didn't think I would watch this entire film but I found it quite interesting.  It had some beautiful shots but the editing could have been a bit tighter.  The film maker was from France but went to lengths to give Goulds lifelong home, Toronto, a role in the film.

During my shift, I also met Harvey, who volunteers at every single Toronto film festival including HotDocs.  Soon there is going to be a documentary made about Harvey (really, they start shooting next month).

Our Own Private Bin Laden and Ghosts of Mardin
The Ghosts of Mardin was a short piece about the film makers' family who fled their Armenian village in Turkey to Eygpt then left Eygpt for Montreal.  Using music and pictures we travelled back in time to show a common story amongst Canadians, how people have to leave their homes due to war and conflict.  It was a beautiful tribute to his family.

Our Own Private Bin Laden was an investigative doc that centred not on who is Bin Laden but on what many Americans asked after 9/11 'why does he hate us?'.  The film traces back the history of conflict in Afghanistan to the Soviet invasion and the eventual rise of Muslim fundamentalism.  The film makers' main goal was to show how after 9/11 Bin Laden became almost a mirror for all of the deepest fears in America and she wanted to understand the history with the hope of overcoming the fear. 

This was an interesting doc, challenging to follow at times but the film maker did a good job of handling the confusion by using narration to admit that the more she learned, the more confused she became.  By the end of the doc, it is clear that Bin Laden and 9/11 are really a product of a intricate web of geo-political events that occurred over the last 30 years.  It is a far more complex story than we see in most media outlets. 

There was a very interesting Q&A after in which the film maker said that no American festival, even ones that asked her to submit her piece, were after viewing it, willing to screen this documentary.  This should be screened on PBS but may be too controversial for that network.  Perhaps it will get aired on The View From Here?