The opening night film will be the Sundance hit The Greatest Movie Ever Sold by Morgan Spurlock. Appropriately for a film about branding and product placement, it has been re-branded POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold.
The Canadian Spectrum program will feature 26 titles including 19 features and 15 world premieres. They include films about porn stars (Inside Lara Roxx), poker players (Grinders) and a Montreal neighbourhood (St-Henri, The 26th of August).
The Focus On Retrospective honouree Alan Zweig spoke at the launch and discussed his work. The 2011 festival screens five features and three short films by Zweig.
This year, they will be expanding their screening venues to include theatres in the Beaches, Davisville and Roncesvalles neighbourhoods. This is an interesting move that might help to broaden the audience base within the city and help expose visitors to Toronto's diversity. But it could also pose a problem for passholders who may have to travel farther between screenings. We'll find out soon enough how the audiences respond.
Hot Docs' Director of Programming Sean Farnel said that they received over 2,146 film submissions this year. Of the festival's 199+ titles, there are 33 world premieres, 46 international premieres, 37 North American premieres and 41 Canadian premieres.
Hot Docs is the largest documentary film festival and market in North America. After the Toronto International Film Festival, it is the largest of the many film festivals in Toronto.
Hot Docs 2011 takes place from April 28 to May 8.
http://www.hotdocs.ca/
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[UPDATE] Here is the full press release, followed by the complete list of films for Hot Docs 2011.
HOT DOCS CELEBRATES ITS EIGHTEENTH YEAR WITH MORE
FILMS ON MORE SCREENS THAN EVER BEFORE
APRIL 28 TO MAY 8, 2011
Toronto, March 22,
2011 – Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, North
America's largest documentary festival, conference and market, proudly returns
for its 18th annual edition from April 28 to May 8, 2011. Showcasing the best
Canadian and international documentaries, Hot Docs is set to welcome delegates,
filmmakers and audiences to Toronto
for this 11-day event. This year, Hot Docs will screen over 200 documentaries
from 43 countries on 16 different screens across Toronto's downtown core and in neighbourhoods
outside of the traditional Festival village.
"This year is
something of a game-changer for Hot Docs," says executive director Chris
McDonald. "We are expanding the number of film presentations by one third,
we are screening in new neighbourhoods across the city, and we will be providing
more direct financial support to filmmakers. The doc-making marketplace has
changed dramatically, and so has our role within it. We are not just screening
great work, we are helping to finance and distribute films in a meaningful way.
Stay tuned for the announcement of a major new international initiative in the
coming weeks. Until then, we look forward to sharing a staggering array of
quality docs with our unbeatable Toronto
audiences at this year's Festival."
This year's Festival
will feature 199 official selections and retrospective titles in ten programs,
as well as eight films by young filmmakers aged 14 to 18 screening in this year's
Doc It! showcase, and films selected as finalists in the International
Documentary Challenge. Official selections were chosen form a total 2146 films
submitted to the Festival.
"Every year we
start with the goal of showing everything documentary can do," says
director of programming Sean Farnel. "Yet, more so than ever, what
documentary is doing is re-inventing itself, expanding our notions of its
capacity to communicate contemporary stories and ideas. So let's call 2011 the
year that docs broke wide open."
Hot Docs will open
with the Canadian premiere of Morgan Spurlock's POM WONDERFUL PRESENTS: THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER SOLD (USA,
90 min), a "doc-buster" financed entirely by product placement,
marketing and advertising.
A high-profile collection of world and
international premieres, award-winners from the recent international festival
circuit, and works by master filmmakers, and featuring some star subjects, the Festival's Special Presentations program offers 27 feature film selections.
World premieres include Dani Menkin
and Yonatan Nir's Dolphin Boy (Israel, 70 min), the inspiring tale of a boy being healed
by dolphin-assisted therapy; Dylan Nelson and Dan Sturman's THE
Hollywood Complex (USA, 85 min),
a look at the spring migration of thousands of hopeful child actors who flock
to Hollywood for TV's pilot season; and THE National
Parks Project (Canada, 127
min), a stunning exploration of our country's rugged wilderness by fifty-two
filmmakers and musicians. International premieres include actor Michael
Rapaport's directorial debut Beats, Rhymes
& Life: The Travels of a Tribe Called Quest (USA, 98 min),
charting the band's triumphant and turbulent 20-year career; Fenton Bailey and Randy
Barbato's Becoming Chaz (USA, 85 min), a revealing look at Chaz (formerly
Chastity) Bono's journey through gender reassignment; Constance Marks's BEING
ELMO: A Puppeteer's Journey (USA, 76 min), sneaking behind the scenes at Sesame Street
to reveal the inspirational story of a shy puppeteer; Lee Hirsch's THE
Bully Project (USA, 94 min),
a shocking year on the front lines of America's bullying epidemic; Dori
Berinstein's Carol Channing: Larger Than Life (USA, 87 min), profiling the expansive career
of the iconic Broadway powerhouse; Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein's FIGHTVILLE (USA, 85 min), which reveals the raw power
behind some of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's fierce competitors; and Britta Wauer's In Heaven,
Underground. The Jewish Cemetery in Berlin-WeiSSensee (Germany, 90 min), an enchanting
portrait of a 130-year-old Jewish cemetery.
Compelling homegrown
stories and perspectives are showcased in this year's Canadian Spectrum, a competitive program of 26 films, including
the world premieres of Rohan Fernando's The Chocolate
Farmer (Canada, 70
min), the story of a Belizean cocoa plantation
farmer following in the footsteps of his Mayan ancestors; Trish Dolman's Eco Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson (Canada, 110 min), about the founder
of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and co-founder of Greenpeace; Matt
Gallagher's Grinders (Canada, 75 min), a high-stakes journey
through the bizarre world of professional poker; Thomas Selim Wallner's The Guantanamo
Trap (Germany,
Canada, Switzerland, 90 min), following four lives forever changed by the
infamous U.S. detention camp; Jaret Belliveau's Highway Gospel (Canada, 97 min), racing down mountain
highways alongside B.C. renegades on customized longboards; Igal Hecht's The Hilltops (Canada, 58 min), an astute observation of the
challenges to achieving Middle East peace; Mia Donovan's Inside
Lara Roxx (Canada, 81
min), in which a Montrealer makes sesnsational headlines for being the first
female porn star to contract HIV while on the job; Joel Heath's People
of a Feather (Canada, 90
min), a stunning look at the Inuit of the Belcher Islands and their dependance
on a species of duck now suffering mass die-offs; Matvei Zhivov, Roger Singh,
Andrew Moniz, and Rock Baijnauth's The Pirate
Tapes (Canada, 72 min), the riveting
tale a Somali-Canadian journalist who risks his life to infiltrate a Somali
pirate cell; and Shannon Walsh's St-Henri, The
26th of August (Canada, 85
min), in which a new generation of Quebec filmmakers revisits the storied
neighborhood.
Thirty-four
thought-provoking stories from around the world are shared in the competitive International Spectrum program. World premieres include Jet Homoet
and Sharog Heshmat Manesh's DAUGHTERS OF MALAKEH (Netherlands, 85 min), about a blushing Iranian bride of
45 navigating the public expectations of a traditional Sharia marriage; Tanaz
Eshaghian's LOVE CRIMES OF KABUL (USA, 72
min), a look at Afghanistan's Badam Bagh women's
prison; and Matt Boyd's A RUBBERBAND IS AN UNLIKELY INSTRUMENT (USA, 135
min), the astute observation of a struggling Brooklyn musician and occasional
rubber-band busker. International premieres include Tristan Patterson's DRAGONSLAYER (USA, 74 min), following Californian skate-punk Skreech as
he stretches out his adolescence; Bulmaro Osornio's FLY (Mexico, 97 min), a stirring story of unconditional love from the streets of
Mexico City; Lotte Stoops's GRANDE HOTEL (Belgium, 70 min), a last look at the decay of Mozambique's
once glorious monument to colonialism; Danfung Dennis's HELL AND BACK AGAIN (UK, USA; 88 min), a visually arresting and
intimately powerful story of soldiers in Afghanistan and at home; Peter D.
Richardson's HOW TO DIE IN OREGON (USA, 108
min), the immensely moving Sundance winner which sees terminally ill patients
courageously seize control of their lives and deaths; Thomas A Østbye's IMAGINING EMANUEL (Norway, 52 min), in which a refugee claimant in Norway finds
himself at the centre of an embarrassing bureaucratic scandal; Steve James's THE INTERRUPTERS (USA, 142 min), the inspirational story of three brave and
compassionate "violence interrupters" working to put an end to gang
warfare in their Chicago neighbourhood; and Limor Pinhasov's MELISSA–MOM AND ME (Israel, 52 min), the reunion of an American girl and an
Israeli girl discovering the heartbreakingly divergent paths their lives have
taken.
Twenty-three films
make up the Next program,
which celebrates the arts, creativity and pop culture. Titles include Marie
Losier's THE BALLAD OF GENESIS AND LADY JAYE (USA, 72
min), the incredible love story – and "pandrogyne" art project
– of Genesis P-Orridge and Lady Jaye; Keirda Bahruth's BOB AND THE MONSTER (USA, 86 min), in which Bob Forrest,
cool-headed counsellor on Celebrity Rehab, revisits his heyday as an indie band
frontman; Mila Turajlic's CINEMA KOMUNISTO (Serbia,
101 min), a quirky doc that cracks open the vaults of a deserted state-owned Yugoslavian
film studio; Jakob Boeskov's EMPIRE NORTH (Denmark, 58 min), a genre-crushing work in which the
filmmaker, assuming a cynical neo-liberal alter ego, embarks on a controversial
art project; Gary Burns and Jim Brown's THE FUTURE IS NOW! (Canada, 92 min), a documentary-drama hybrid
in which a young journalist leads Everyman on a quest for knowledge; Brent
Green's GRAVITY WAS EVERYWHERE BACK THEN (USA, 72 min), the story of a Louisville man who builds
his home into a healing machine to try to save his wife; Jörg Adolph and Gereon
Wetzel's HOW TO MAKE A BOOK WITH STEIDL (Germany,
90 min), a glimpse into the private spaces and inspired collaborations between
the world's most brilliant art book publisher and such artists as Robert Frank,
Karl Lagerfeld and Jeff Wall; and Whitney Dow's WHEN THE DRUM IS BEATING (USA, 85 min), exploring Haiti's complex past
and challenging present through the music of its most beloved band, Orchestre
Septentrional.
International labour
issues are explored in the 15 titles screening in this year's themed program, Workers of the World!, which features titles such as Vít Klusák's ALL FOR THE GOOD OF THE WORLD
AND NOSOVICE (Czech Republic, 82 min), a look at a Czech
farming village's war against Hyundai; Jeff Myers's BECOMING SANTA (USA, 90 min), the story of a Santa school
graduate donning the famous white beard to recapture his Christmas spirit; Verena
Paravel and J.P. Sniadecki's FOREIGN PARTS (USA, 82 min), which retreats behind the New York Mets's
stadium to uncover a hidden enclave of junkyards and salvage shops; Stéphanie
Lanthier's THE LUMBERFROS (Canada, 71
min), exposing a new breed of lumberjack in Quebec's boreal forest; and Abner
Benaim's MAIDS & BOSSES (Panama, 64 min), in which rich Panamanians and
their long-suffering domestic workers take turns describing their shared
tensions and conflicts.
Our annual survey of
the documentary new wave, Ripping Reality this year
sees festival programmers picking their "b-sides," films from the
past decade they wish they had programmed or feel have been overlooked. Titles
screening in this program include Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross's 45365 (USA, 90 min); Jessica
Oreck's BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO (USA, 90 min); Stefan Kolbe and Chris Wright's THE BLOCK (Germany, 75 min); John Maringouin's RUNNING STUMBLED (USA, 85 min); and James Marsh's WISCONSIN DEATH TRIP (UK, USA).
Made
In Italy includes nine
previously announced films that
champion the renewed strength and artistry of Italy's documentary film community, and the Outstanding Achievement Award and Focus On retrospective
programs will revisit the works of influential Canadian filmmaker Terence Macartney-Filgate and local doc hero Alan Zweig, respectively.
Many of Hot Docs'
official selections are world, international or North American premieres and
the majority of filmmakers will be in attendance to participate in
post-screening discussions, as well as other Festival events.
In addition to
screenings, international buyers and industry professionals will attend the
Festival to participate in a full slate of conference and market events. These
events include the world-renowned Hot Docs Forum and a vast number of other
market and networking opportunities.
-30-
Hot Docs is North America's largest documentary festival, conference
and market. From April 28 to May 8, 2011, Hot Docs will present an outstanding
selection of over 190 documentaries from Canada
and around the world to Toronto
audiences and international delegates. Hot Docs will also mount a full roster
of conference sessions, market events and services for documentary
practitioners, including the renowned Hot Docs Forum, May 4 and 5, and The Doc
Shop.
The Hot Docs documentary Box Office, newly located at 131 Bloor Street West,
is open for advance ticket and pass sales. Tickets can be purchased in person,
online at www.hotdocs.ca, or by phone at 416-637-5150. Single tickets to
screenings are $14 each. Late night screenings (after 11 p.m.) are $5 each or
$10 for an All-You-Can-Eat Late Night Pass (one ticket to each screening). A
Festival Pass (10 tickets) is $98, a Bloor Cinema All Access Pass is $120, a
Premium Pass (one ticket to every screening, excluding those running
concurrently) is $190, and a Premium Pass for Two is $300. Free tickets for all screenings before 6 p.m.
are available for seniors (60+) and students with valid photo I.D. at the venue
box offices on the day of the screening (subject to availability).
---Complete list of films for Hot Docs 2011
| Title | Program | |
|---|---|---|
|
Zelal |
World Showcase |
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