Hot Docs - Canadian International Documentary Festival
April 28 - May 8, 2011
Toronto / Canada
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 199 documentaries from 43 countries on 16 different screens across Toronto.
Hot Docs 2011 will overwhelm audiences in the following programmes: World Showcase / International Spectrum / Special Presentations / Canadian Spectrum / Next / Ripping Reality / Made in Italy / Outstanding Achievement Award Retrospective / Focus on Alan Zweig / Workers of the World / Doc Talks
Hot Docs Forum 2011 - international documentary market / pitching event - May 4 - 5, 2011
The Doc Shop - digital on-demand video library
Six documentaries were submitted to Hot Docs via the East Silver Caravan. Read more details here.
INTERNATIONAL SPECTRUM
A curated competition of a diverse range of works from around the world.
Abendland
Director: Geyrhalter Nikolaus
Production company: Nikolaus Geyrhalter Filmproduktion GmbH
Austria, 2010, 100 min, 35 mm, HD, Creative, Society
Darkness can help us see things more clearly. In Abendland, Nikolaus Geyrhalter undertakes a long associative journey across nighttime Europe. Pulsating service economy and affluent society, the wall of security and exclusion, urban civilization, hedonist Temple of Pleasure, at once inspired and weighed down by history, tradition and high culture. Night work, self-abandon, noise and silence, confusion of tongues, birth, illness, death and desperate attempts to cross the border. Geyrhalter's camera and the congenial editing by Wolfgang Widerhofer create a compelling film essay about one continent and the principle of the West (Abenland).
At the Edge of Russia
Director: Marczak Michał
Producer: Rowinska Marianna
Production company: Ozumi Films, Aperto Films, TVN SA
Koniec Rosji , Poland, 2010, 72 min, Digi Beta, Society
Alexei is a nineteen year old recruit being flown in to perform his military service on the frontier of northern Russia. The base is one of few such remaining outposts on the Arctic Ocean. There are five other seasoned and long serving soldiers stationed here, each with their own personal story or secret that has caused them to retreat from the real world. Their training and breaking in of the new arrival is sometimes humorous, at times harsh. Gradually, they each reveal something of themselves in their daily interactions and private moments as they continue their absurd duty in this snow covered no man's land, hundreds of miles from the nearest human settlement.
Ex Oriente Film 2006 / East European Forum 2006 / East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010
Phnom Penh Lullaby
Director: Kloc Pawel
Producer: Kloc Pawel
Kołysanka z Phnom Penh , Poland, 2010, 98 min, Creative, Portrait, Social Issues
Everyone holds a secret. The secret of the future. Phnom Penh Lullaby is an intimate story of a man looking for love and acceptance. Ilan Schickman left Israel dreaming of a new life. He now lives in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with his Khmer girlfriend Saran and daughters Marie, 2 years old, and Jasmine, 6 months, trying to make ends meet as a street fortune-teller.
That's Life
Director: Zieliński Daniel
Producer: Zieliński Daniel
Production company: He He Film
Takie życie , Poland, 2010, 27 min, Digi Beta, Portrait, Social Issues
The film shows a beautiful and strong bond between an ailing older woman and her son who sacrificed his family life and professional career so far to take care of his mother. It depicts their everyday existence, pervaded by sensitivity and extreme care, when simple activities such as washing or dressing up require a lot of time and effort on the part of the sick woman and her son, too. Filled with immense love for his mother, at the same time the man begins to feel resentment towards the people around him. In his conversation with one of his sons the father reveals that he misses support from close family members. Will a family meeting become an opportunity to mend such fragile relations?
East Silver 2010 / Silver Eye Award 2010
WORLD SHOWCASE
A popular global survey of the year's finest docs.
Family Instinct
Director: Gauja Andris
Producer: Melberga Madara
Production company: Fa Filma
Ģimenes lietas , Latvia, 2010, 58 min, HD, Drama doc, Portrait, Social Issues
"Family Instinct" is a film about incest - an illegal act, social taboo and a violation of religious norms. Zanda is a 28-year-old woman, worn out by hard work. Surrounded by poverty and despair, she is trying to survive with her two children in a god-forsaken Latvian village. Her hardships can be traced back to living in a relationship with her brother Valdis. When Valdis is put in jail, the local community forces her to make a difficult choice: to stay with him or with her children. Despite her ill fortune, she manages to express her love for the children, still hoping to save her family. The film offers a tragicomic but highly authentic insight into the bleak reality of Latvian countryside today.
Doc Launch 2010 / East Silver 2010 / Silver Eye Award 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010
How Are You Doing, Rudolf Ming?
Director: Rubins Roberts
Producer: Cilinska Antra, Stahovska Guna
Production company: Juris Podnieks Studio
Kā Tev Klājas, Rūdolf Ming? , Latvia, 2010, 60 min, Arts and Culture, Portrait
Rudolf is a 13 year-old boy who is obsessed with making drawn films. He is a young man of varied attainments who has several amusing hobbies such as constructing traps and collecting film posters. The documentary reveals the conflict between the imaginary world of the boy and the certain rules of society.
Matchmaking Mayor
Director: Hníková Erika
Producer: Konečný Jiří
Production company: endorfilm, UNFILM, Czech TV, Slovenská televízia - Slovak Television
Nesvatbov , Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, 2010, 72 min, Digi Beta, HD, Creative, Society
A situational documentary film about a village mayor trying to match local people in their thirties who are still single. Slowly but surely, the Slovak village Zemplínské Hámre is dying out. Its mayor, a retired general, doesn't want to give up though. Fighting the thirty-year-olds' loneliness, he has used various means such as offering a financial reward for each newborn child or encouraging people to make children in the local public address system. None of it has worked. However, the mayor has a new plan. He decides to organize a dating party for singles from all the neighbouring villages...
Catalogue of Upcoming Czech Documentary Films 2010 / Doc Launch 2010 / East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010
Out of Reach
Director: Stożek Jakub
Producer: Bartkowicz- Koszalka Natalia
Production company: Darklight Film Studio
Poza zasięgiem , Poland, 2010, 30 min, Digi Beta, Portrait
Karolina and Natalia seek refuge from their domineering father and reminiscence about sad childhood without a mother in a basement of their block of flats. When the younger sister’s poor eyesight starts to deteriorate, the girls decide to find Bożena, their mother, who left the family when they were young. The director, Jakub Stożek, accompanies Karolina on her journey to Paris where the older sister is supposed to meet the mother whom the girls know only from the voice message left on the phone she never answers. Will the daughter be able to establish a bond with the mother she has not seen for fourteen years?
WORKERS OF THE WORLD!
International labour issues.
All for the Good of the World and Nosovice
Director: Klusák Vít
Producer: Klusák Vít, Remunda Filip
Production company: Hypermarket Film, Czech TV
Vše pro dobro světa a Nošovic , Czech Republic, 2010, 82 min, 35 mm, Creative, Personal View, Social Issues
An original portrait of a Czech village that houses a giant car plant built by South Korea's Hyundai. Before the village turned into an industrial zone, many of the landowners had no intention of selling their plots of land... Not until many of them faced pressure from their neighbours who had accepted approx. EUR 4000 in compensation and not until they received death threats. Using nine protagonists, the film paints a portrait of a village changed beyond recognition. A humorous yet compelling film about a field that yields cars.
Catalogue of Upcoming Czech Documentary Films 2010 / Doc Launch 2010 / East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010
Pit No. 8
Director: Kaat Marianna
Producer: Kaat Marianna
Production company: Baltic Film Production, Interfilm Production Studio
Auk Nr 8 , Estonia, Ukraine, 2010, 95 min, HD, Creative, Personal View, Social Issues
In the heart of a once thriving Ukrainian coal-mining region everybody digs – retirees, unemployed miners and even the children. Years ago, the town's desperate residents decided to start mining illegally; they excavate everywhere!!! The story focuses on the Sikanov family, which has three children. 15-year-old Yura, the grandson of a powerful Soviet plant director, is the head of the family working as a miner in the illegal pit. Most Jura wants to run his own cafe somewhere far from home, but the responsibility for the two sisters and looming economic crisis pushes his dreams in the distant future.
East European Forum 2008 / Doc Launch 2010 / East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010
NEXT
The arts, creativity and pop culture.
Cinema Komunisto
Director: Turajlic Mila
Producer: Pesikan Dragan, Turajlic Mila
Production company: Cinema Komunisto, Intermedia network, Dribbling Pictures, ERT S.A. - Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation
Cinema Komunisto , Serbia, 2010, 100 min, Digi Beta, HD, Arts and Culture, Creative, History, Politics, Society
When reality has a different script from the one in your films, who wouldn't invent a country to fool themselves? Using rare footage from dozens of forgotten Yugoslav films, as well as never-seen-before archive from film sets and Tito’s private screenings, the documentary recreates the narrative of a country, the stories told on screen and the ones hidden behind it. Stars such as Richard Burton, Sofia Loren and Orson Welles add a touch of glamour to the national effort, appearing in super-productions financed by the state. Tito’s favorite film director, his projectionist who showed him films every night for 30 years, the most famous actor of partisan films, and the director of the film studios who was a secret policeman – all tell how the history of Yugoslavia was constructed on the screen. 2 x 52' version also available.
Doc Launch 2008 / East Silver 2010 / East Silver Caravan 2010
Invisible Strings: The Talented Pusker Sisters
Director: Sós Ágnes
Production company: HBO Hungary
Láthatatlan húrok - A tehetséges Pusker nővérek , Hungary, 2010, 72 min, HD, Music, Portrait
A documentary about an almost mysterious relationship between two sisters, and about the power of music that plays a determining and essential part in their lives.
Marija's Own
Director: Suková Željka
Producer: Suková Željka
Production company: Udruga Ukus
Marijine , Croatia, 2011, 61 min, Creative, Entertainment, Music
A typical cross-section of bigoted neighbours in an apartment building are invited to a private party to honour the memory of the late Marija Violić, a fellow tenant, friend and grandmother. Instead of descending into sentimental cliché, the party soon evolves into a reality show, complete with all-singing, all-dancing interludes. The venue for this unique gathering is Marija’s apartment and the music is provided by the hired musicians – a bunch of complete unknowns as far as the guests are concerned but in real life, the hugely popular Czech dance electro-trash band MIDI LIDI. And the purpose of this unique get-together? To finally fulfill a long overdue family obligation to the late, great, dearly departed Marija.
Contact:
Hot Docs
110 Spadina Ave. Suite 333
Toronto , ON , M5V 2K4 Canada
+1 416 203 2155
+1 416 203 0446
info@hotdocs.ca
www.hotdocs.ca
Related Articles:
EAST SILVER CARAVAN - NEXT STOP: HOTDOCS