A scene from 'Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey'. Courtesy Hot Docs.
“This year is something of a game-changer for Hot Docs.” – Executive Director Chris McDonald.
The 18th annual edition of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival comes to Toronto April 28 to May 8, 2011.
This year, the film presentations have been expanded by one third, documentaries will be screened in new neighborhoods across the city, and the festival will be providing more direct financial support to the filmmakers.
“We are not just screening great work, we are helping to finance and distribute films in a meaningful way…we look forward to sharing a staggering array of quality docs with our unbeatable Toronto audiences at this year’s Festival,” commented executive director Chris McDonald.
Showcasing the best Canadian and international documentaries, this 11-day event will screen over 200 documentaries from 43 different countries on 16 different screens across Toronto’s downtown core. The official selections were chosen from a pool of 2,146 films submitted to the festival.
Hot Docs opens with the Canadian premiere of Super Size Me director Morgan Spurlock’s latest: Pom Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold. It’s a “doc-buster” financed entirely by product
placement, marketing, and advertising.
Notable films of the festival include The National Parks Project (Canada, 127min), a stunning exploration of our country’s rugged wilderness by – count ‘em – fifty-two filmmakers and musicians; Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey (USA, 76min), a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the inspirational story of a shy puppeteer; and Grinders (Canada, 75min) a high-stakes journey through the world of professional poker.
Hot Docs has other incredible features exploring Ultimate Fighting Championship competitors (Fightville), America’s shocking bullying epidemic (The Bully Project), a journalist who risks his life to infiltrate a Somali pirate cell (The Pirate Tapes), three men known as “violence interrupters” who try and put and end to gang warfare in Chicago (The Interrupters), and a jaw-dropping account of that infamous McDonald’s “hot coffee” lawsuit (titled – what else – Hot Coffee).
Whoever said documentary films were boring was wrong.
The Hot Docs documentary box office, located at 131 Bloor Street West, is open for advance ticket and pass sales. Tickets can be purchased in person, online at hotdocs.ca, or by phone at 416-637-5150. Single tickets to a screening are $14 each, although late night screenings offer reduced prices and senior citizens (60+) and students with valid photo I.D. can get free tickets the day of a screening before 6 p.m.
For more information about the schedule, screenings, and ticket prices visit hotdocs.ca.
Fraser Turnbull is a Toronto-based blogger.
Pingback: Toronto Jewish Film Festival ups the ante with 2011 lineup | Criticize This!