This week's batch of docs at The Bloor includes looks at one of the world's most powerful artists in Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case, one of the world's most influential jazz critics and divisive libertarian pundits in The Pleasures of Being Out of Step, and one of rock's most infamous and inspiring cultural catastrophes in Rock and Roll's Greatest Failure: Otway the Movie.
We talk with Andreas Johnsen, the Danish director of the documentary Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case about chronicling the post prison life of one of the world's most revered and influential artists, being allowed into Ai Weiwei’s inner circle, the various ways the artist tested his resolve as a filmmaker, and what he learned about Weiwei and his current situation.
Our first batch of reviews for Hot Docs 2012 are in! Today we have a look at opening night film Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, The Invisible War, Wildness, Smoke Traders, Playing the Fool, Jeff, The Mystery of Mazo de la Roche, Inocente, The Great Liberty, and James Franco's Francophrenia (Or: Don't Kill Me, I Know Where the Baby Is).
Just after opening their brand new flagship theatre, the Hot Docs International Documentary Festival used the new/old building to announce their slate of 189 films for their 2012 festival. This year's festival, running from April 26th to May 6th features documentaries in 11 different programs from over 50 countries.
