Hot Docs

Interview: Liz Marshall

We sit down with The Ghosts in Our Machine director Liz Marshall to talk about documenting her friend Jo-Anne McArthur's efforts to advocate for animals caught up in the machine of modern life, how the two friend's stories paralleled each other, steeling herself to look at animal abuse, and why you don't need to be a vegan to help in the lives of animals.

The Manor Review

The Guelph, Ontario strip club set documentary The Manor is an alternately amusing and heartbreaking look at a barely functional family that could have only made by someone who truly loves and cares for his subjects.

A Place at the Table Review

A thought provoking, if somewhat purposefully disheartening, look at hunger in America, A Place at the Table works wonders by focusing on the personal lives affected by political decisions.

Hot Docs 2013 Line-Up Announced

The line-up for the 2013 - and 20th anniversary of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival came out this morning and here are some things to look forward to across the 205 selected films when it all gets underway on Thursday, April 25th through Friday, May 5th.

Trouble in the Peace Review

This month's Hot Docs Doc Soup entry The Trouble in the Peace certainly paints a pretty and swift moving picture of gas pipeline corruption in the Peace River section of B.C. and Alberta, but while it doesn't lack heart, it's definitely lacking in substance. Also, strangely enough, it comes with a tie-in video game that might deliver the message better than the film can.

Tchoupitoulas Review

Pitched somewhere between a documentary and a fever dream, Bill and Turner Ross’ Tchoupitoulas is one of those rare cinematic experiences: a true original. Pushing the boundaries of what qualifies as a documentary while still staying true to the purest form of fly-on-the-wall cinema verite, the film is a wholly unique experience. At once an abstract art piece and childish flight of whimsy, it’s a movie that begs to be soaked up and adored by any film lover.

Only the Young Review

As raw and real as being a teenager could possibly without resorting to forced theatrics or pigeonholing its characters, the documentary Only the Young is one of the best 2012 documentaries you didn't get to see last year. You should probably rectify this when it screens three times at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema in Toronto this coming week.

Interview: Bart Layton

We talk to director Bart Layton about his intense and mysterious new documentary The Imposter and the challenges of finding truth in a bunch of liars.

Detropia Review

Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing's documentary Detropia crafts a stunning portrait of the city of Detroit at its lowest point, but while the film is haunting, it isn't without hope or merely a document of a once great city now ravaged by poverty.

Hell and Back Again Review

An apolitical look at one man’s struggle to readapt to civilian life following a harrowing, life altering experience in Afghanistan, director Danfung Dennis' documentary Hell and Back Again has an uncomfortable and visceral impact on the viewer that will leave them stunned and in awe of what they’ve just witnessed.

Interview: Kirby Dick

We talk to documentarian Kirby Dick about his latest incendiary work, The Invisible War, which looks at the American military's desire to cover up the in service rape of thousands of men and women.

Interview: Lauren Greenfield

We talk to documentarian and photographer Lauren Greenfield about her latest project, The Queen of Versailles, and the challenges of making extremely rich Americans sympathetic.

Interview: Between The Lines and Rob Ford’s War on Graffiti

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford has made many confusing policy choices during the first two years of his tenure. But for the filmmakers behind the new doc Between The Lines, it was his ‘war of graffiti’ that made the least sense. In a city with so many other problems, why was the most powerful mayor in Canada declaring war on ‘kids with paint and anger’? Brian Crosby spoke with producer James Meers about the doc (part of the Hot Docs' Docignite Project), graffiti as art, and getting Mayor Ford involved in the film.