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Toronto’s Hot Docs will open with film about comic Tig Notaro
Tuesday March 24th 2015Tig, about Los Angeles comedian Tig Notaro’s career-changing decision to make her breast cancer diagnosis the opening line of her standup set, opens the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival April 23.
Notaro is among a lengthy list of doc subjects and filmmakers expected in Toronto to interact with audiences for the 22nd edition of North America’s largest documentary film festival, which runs until May 3.
The full slate of titles and programs were unveiled at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. Director of programming Charlotte Cook says not only will the fest feature 102 world and international premieres, it marks two milestones: a record 210 films screening, 40 per cent of which were made by female filmmakers.
An estimated 200,000 people are expected attend Hot Docs.
Among the films are several world premieres from Canadian directors including Rama Rau’s No Place to Hide: The Rehtaeh Parsons Story and Toronto filmmaker Shelley Saywell’s Lowdown Tracks, about five transients who are also street musicians.
Saywell was inspired to make the film after seeing Toronto musician and filmmaker Lorraine Segato of The Parachute Club invite homeless people onstage to perform with her at a concert some years ago.
“It blew me away and I wanted to know what their stories were,” said Saywell.
“We’re trying to reframe the way we see and house homeless people. Everybody does have a story,” said Segato, who narrates much of the doc and interacts with the subjects onscreen.
“Their songs are the mantras they use for themselves to survive everyday,” she said. “You see music and you see their stories in a completely different way.”
Also making its world bow is Being Canadian, Calgary-born Hollywood TV comedy writer (The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory) Robert Cohen’s exploration of our how our Canuck sense of humour helped create our national identity — even if some Americans aren’t sure who we are. It features Mike Myers, Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara and the members of Rush, among others.
“We wanted to make one concise document that helps explain us to people,” said Cohen, who was the visual inspiration for The Simpsons’ Milhouse Van Houten.
Hot Docs is keeping the laughs coming, devoting a program to comedians and comedy including Saturday Night Live history, Live From New York!, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and Monty Python: The Meaning of Live, a backstage look at the troupe’s 2014 reunion shows in London.
A full slate of international films explores such diverse topics as international superstar food bloggers (Foodies), a real-life horror doc (The Nightmare) tha Cook called “the scariest documentary I have ever seen in my life,” the lives of same-sex parents (Gayby Baby), the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East (Speed Sisters), a trip to rarely experienced behind-the-scenes worlds (Above and Below), what happens with a man playing Jesus in Holy City, Oklahoma’s long-running passion play has a deep secret (Jesus Town USA), Afghan photojournalists trying to build a free press (Frame By Frame) and romance authors, including Nora Roberts, confronting sexism and stereotyping in Love Between the Covers.
Hot Docs will also give audiences a chance to step into the future of cinema with a free interactive virtual reality exhibit at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Visitors can try immersive 3D viewing headsets to watch four short films, including opera star Measha Brueggergosman’s concert film, Songs of Freedom.
There will also be a one-night interactive performance digital doc Highrise: Universe Within, Live, which allows the audience to explore the lives of highrise dwellers in Brooklyn, Mumbai and Guangzhou.
Source: Toronto Star
Headline, Industry News
Toronto’s Hot Docs will open with film about comic Tig Notaro
Tuesday March 24th 2015Tig, about Los Angeles comedian Tig Notaro’s career-changing decision to make her breast cancer diagnosis the opening line of her standup set, opens the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival April 23.
Notaro is among a lengthy list of doc subjects and filmmakers expected in Toronto to interact with audiences for the 22nd edition of North America’s largest documentary film festival, which runs until May 3.
The full slate of titles and programs were unveiled at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. Director of programming Charlotte Cook says not only will the fest feature 102 world and international premieres, it marks two milestones: a record 210 films screening, 40 per cent of which were made by female filmmakers.
An estimated 200,000 people are expected attend Hot Docs.
Among the films are several world premieres from Canadian directors including Rama Rau’s No Place to Hide: The Rehtaeh Parsons Story and Toronto filmmaker Shelley Saywell’s Lowdown Tracks, about five transients who are also street musicians.
Saywell was inspired to make the film after seeing Toronto musician and filmmaker Lorraine Segato of The Parachute Club invite homeless people onstage to perform with her at a concert some years ago.
“It blew me away and I wanted to know what their stories were,” said Saywell.
“We’re trying to reframe the way we see and house homeless people. Everybody does have a story,” said Segato, who narrates much of the doc and interacts with the subjects onscreen.
“Their songs are the mantras they use for themselves to survive everyday,” she said. “You see music and you see their stories in a completely different way.”
Also making its world bow is Being Canadian, Calgary-born Hollywood TV comedy writer (The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory) Robert Cohen’s exploration of our how our Canuck sense of humour helped create our national identity — even if some Americans aren’t sure who we are. It features Mike Myers, Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara and the members of Rush, among others.
“We wanted to make one concise document that helps explain us to people,” said Cohen, who was the visual inspiration for The Simpsons’ Milhouse Van Houten.
Hot Docs is keeping the laughs coming, devoting a program to comedians and comedy including Saturday Night Live history, Live From New York!, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and Monty Python: The Meaning of Live, a backstage look at the troupe’s 2014 reunion shows in London.
A full slate of international films explores such diverse topics as international superstar food bloggers (Foodies), a real-life horror doc (The Nightmare) tha Cook called “the scariest documentary I have ever seen in my life,” the lives of same-sex parents (Gayby Baby), the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East (Speed Sisters), a trip to rarely experienced behind-the-scenes worlds (Above and Below), what happens with a man playing Jesus in Holy City, Oklahoma’s long-running passion play has a deep secret (Jesus Town USA), Afghan photojournalists trying to build a free press (Frame By Frame) and romance authors, including Nora Roberts, confronting sexism and stereotyping in Love Between the Covers.
Hot Docs will also give audiences a chance to step into the future of cinema with a free interactive virtual reality exhibit at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Visitors can try immersive 3D viewing headsets to watch four short films, including opera star Measha Brueggergosman’s concert film, Songs of Freedom.
There will also be a one-night interactive performance digital doc Highrise: Universe Within, Live, which allows the audience to explore the lives of highrise dwellers in Brooklyn, Mumbai and Guangzhou.
Source: Toronto Star
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Headline, Industry News
Toronto’s Hot Docs will open with film about comic Tig Notaro
Tuesday March 24th 2015Tig, about Los Angeles comedian Tig Notaro’s career-changing decision to make her breast cancer diagnosis the opening line of her standup set, opens the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival April 23.
Notaro is among a lengthy list of doc subjects and filmmakers expected in Toronto to interact with audiences for the 22nd edition of North America’s largest documentary film festival, which runs until May 3.
The full slate of titles and programs were unveiled at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. Director of programming Charlotte Cook says not only will the fest feature 102 world and international premieres, it marks two milestones: a record 210 films screening, 40 per cent of which were made by female filmmakers.
An estimated 200,000 people are expected attend Hot Docs.
Among the films are several world premieres from Canadian directors including Rama Rau’s No Place to Hide: The Rehtaeh Parsons Story and Toronto filmmaker Shelley Saywell’s Lowdown Tracks, about five transients who are also street musicians.
Saywell was inspired to make the film after seeing Toronto musician and filmmaker Lorraine Segato of The Parachute Club invite homeless people onstage to perform with her at a concert some years ago.
“It blew me away and I wanted to know what their stories were,” said Saywell.
“We’re trying to reframe the way we see and house homeless people. Everybody does have a story,” said Segato, who narrates much of the doc and interacts with the subjects onscreen.
“Their songs are the mantras they use for themselves to survive everyday,” she said. “You see music and you see their stories in a completely different way.”
Also making its world bow is Being Canadian, Calgary-born Hollywood TV comedy writer (The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory) Robert Cohen’s exploration of our how our Canuck sense of humour helped create our national identity — even if some Americans aren’t sure who we are. It features Mike Myers, Seth Rogen, Catherine O’Hara and the members of Rush, among others.
“We wanted to make one concise document that helps explain us to people,” said Cohen, who was the visual inspiration for The Simpsons’ Milhouse Van Houten.
Hot Docs is keeping the laughs coming, devoting a program to comedians and comedy including Saturday Night Live history, Live From New York!, Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon and Monty Python: The Meaning of Live, a backstage look at the troupe’s 2014 reunion shows in London.
A full slate of international films explores such diverse topics as international superstar food bloggers (Foodies), a real-life horror doc (The Nightmare) tha Cook called “the scariest documentary I have ever seen in my life,” the lives of same-sex parents (Gayby Baby), the first all-women race car driving team in the Middle East (Speed Sisters), a trip to rarely experienced behind-the-scenes worlds (Above and Below), what happens with a man playing Jesus in Holy City, Oklahoma’s long-running passion play has a deep secret (Jesus Town USA), Afghan photojournalists trying to build a free press (Frame By Frame) and romance authors, including Nora Roberts, confronting sexism and stereotyping in Love Between the Covers.
Hot Docs will also give audiences a chance to step into the future of cinema with a free interactive virtual reality exhibit at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Visitors can try immersive 3D viewing headsets to watch four short films, including opera star Measha Brueggergosman’s concert film, Songs of Freedom.
There will also be a one-night interactive performance digital doc Highrise: Universe Within, Live, which allows the audience to explore the lives of highrise dwellers in Brooklyn, Mumbai and Guangzhou.
Source: Toronto Star
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