Category
Hot Docs
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04.30.11Some Quick Hot Docs SuggestionsWe're already at day three of the 2011 Hot Docs Film Festival but some people are still trying to put together a schedule of films to check out. Below I've collected some trailers along with links to ticket info to help this process along. There are a ton of great films at the festival this year and these are just a few that immediately come to mind. Otherwise, it's always fun to discover those hidden gems within festivals so be sure to scan the official programming schedule for yourself and see what stands out. Here are a few trailers to ...
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03.22.112011 Hot Docs Line-up announced & 20 tips for the festivalThe lineup for the 2011 Hot Docs film festival has been announced, and I have no problem in being utterly shameless and giving a huge congratulations to The Documentary Blog editor Jay Cheel's first feature film Beauty Day for being included. There will be two screenings at the Isabel Bader Theatre and a third on a rooftop! Details of the screenings and how to buy tickets are below. Hot Docs has a mammoth programme but always manages to avoid quantity over quality and the selection this year is absolutely superb. We will be covering the festival in a big way, so ...
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07.22.10Canwest-Hot Docs Fund Recipients AnnouncedToday the recipients for this year's Canwest-Hot Docs funding were announced and what makes this especially exciting is that the Documentary Blog's own head honcho Jay Cheel's first feature documentary Beauty Day was among those chosen. For those that don't know about the film yet the synopsis is below: Before there was Tom Green…before there was Jackass…there was Ralph Zavadil. His cable access television show, The Cap’n Video Show, ran from 1990 to 1995, spawning a small but loyal cult following. Each week, Ralph performed a series of idiotic and occasionally dangerous stunts, challenging the sensibilities of Southern Ontario audiences for five seasons. ...
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05.20.10The Documentary Blog’s Hot Docs 2010 RecapHot Docs 2010 is officially over! Okay, so it's been over for two weeks now. Better late than never though! We did manage to get a few reviews up while attending the festival, but as some of you may know, it's tough to manage your time between seeing films and writing up reviews. How do the pros do it? Oh, right...money. Well we here at The Documentary Blog do it for the love of film! Having said that, there's lots of love below the jump where you'll find a shit load of capsule reviews from myself, Sean and Charlotte. But ...
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05.19.10Hot Docs: The People vs. George Lucas ReviewOver the past decade or so, we have been subject to a never ending wave of documentaries about fans and fan culture, largely produced by fans themselves. The majority of them are ultimately self-serving and shoddily produced, but every now and then one of them manages to rise above the rest and prove itself to be something more. The People vs. George Lucas is not one of those films. Don’t get me wrong — a lot of people will definitely be entertained on a surface level, but but as an insightful look at the lasting appeal of Star Wars, the ...
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05.08.10Interview with Nicolas Rossier, co-director of American RadicalAmerican Radical: The Trials of Norman Finkelstein is one of those great films that really frustrates you as it forces you to change your opinion constantly throughout, never really being able to tell how you feel about this controversial character. I came into this documentary with no knowledge of Norman Finkelstein as a figure and left having seen one of my favourite documentaries of the year. Finkelstein is fascinating and the filmmakers allow you to see beyond his public persona and take the story beyond the politics to his experience of speaking his mind about a very volatile subject matter ...