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Hot Docs 2014 Films

3 Acres in Detroit and The Starfish Throwers

This pair of films—3 Acres is the opening short—is all about food, and food specifically in a world challenged to provide for those who are, or who are becoming marginalized. It was the down-the-road Detroit connection that first made me pay attention to these two. Detropia played here a couple of years ago (and a bunch if you got to see it), now 3 acres is a bit of an update about another project attempting to make the best of of a difficult situation in that city. The Starfish Throwers picks up on the food theme and runs with it in Minneapolis, small-town South Carolina, and Madurai India, where three individuals are making an amazing difference for the marginalized people in their communities, each responding very directly to local needs. The lesson of Starfish is that anyone, with some persistence, can do a world of good, and it's truly inspiring stuff—this is a classic case of everyone should see this film—and in fact HotDocs will soon be showing it to school groups. In the meantime, here's hoping this one will make the crossover to conventional theatres in the near future.

One more screening: Sunday the 4th
 
Everything Will Be

Both Vancouver and Toronto have several Chinatowns in their respective metropolitan areas. Toronto's Spadina and Dundas Chinatown is experiencing development pressure with applications for new condos popping up around the area, but in Everything Will Be, it's Vancouver's original Chinatown that has been experiencing those pressures for longer and is changing more already. Those who have patronized the Chinese merchants are moving out to the suburbs. Can Chinatown survive? In this examination of the area's condofication, a new neon art installation in the neighbourhood assures EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT, but it is cold comfort for many in a gentrifying city.

Three screenings: Tuesday April 29, Wednesday the 30th, Friday the 2nd.
 
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The Beijing Ants

Beijing is fast becoming the most expensive city in the world in which to live. Ryuji Otsuka is a filmmaker and house hunter out to find a place for her family to call home. The Beijing Ants tells her often hidden camera story of dealing with racial tension, unscrupulous landlords, unaccountable police, and more in a China that is grappling with rising capitalism and customer service issues (to put it mildly).

Three screening: Wednesday April 30, Thursday May 1, Sunday May 4
 
Headed to see Everything Will Be tonight, followed by a mad dash up to Hart House to see Advanced Style. NOW gave Everything a solid review, hopefully it'll be good.
 
Bugarach

It's the summer of 2012, and some people are worried about the end of the world in December, what with the Mayan calendar resetting to zero. In France, someone digs up an obscure prophesy that Bugarach, a village in the Pyrenees located at the base of a 'magical' mountain, will be the only place to survive the coming apocalypse. Soon enough, it's a total nut bar convention, and most of the locals are none too pleased.

Filmed during the seven months leading up to the end of the world, Bugarach introduces us to quite the assortment of characters from both the town and the occupying forces, and pretty much charms every viewer with the scenery and the goings on.

Three screenings: Tuesday the 29th, Wedenesday the 30th, Friday the 2nd.
 
Sacro GRA

While we see lots of representations of Rome's fabled tourist centre, there's another world in its outskirts which is home to a wide swath of humanity. Rome is circumscribed by the Grande Raccordo Anulare, or GRA, a superhighway which connects through all of Rome's encircling suburbs. In Sacro GRA, filmmaker Gianfranco Rosi takes inspiration from Italo Calvino's book Invisible Cities and documents the lives of the people who live and work along the urban highway. The winner of a Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival, Sacro GRA introduces its audience to surprising everyday goings on in the outskirts of the Eternal City.

One more screening: Friday the 2nd
 
The Special Need

Not exactly the urban issues beat, just a great film. A pair of friends help Enea, a 29-year-old autistic Italian man to understand a little more about girls. It's that simple, and completely enchanting. Has a good chance of winning the audience award here.
 
adHominem said:
Headed to see Everything Will Be tonight.
Click to expand...

To report back, Everything Will Be is lovely. It's got a great, slow pace; it takes its time and does a great job of building a portrait of a neighbourhood at one point in time. You really get a feel for what makes a particular place, and what makes that place valuable. It's beautifully shot, the sound design is really remarkable, and the director got some great interview subjects. She also manages to say a lot about gentrification without being didactic or un-subtle. Which is nice, because it's a complicated subject and it deserves more than "this is good" or "this is bad". Recommended, particularly for those forum members who embrace new development eagerly without thinking about what's being lost.
 
Tomorrow We Disappear

Speaking of slums around the world, there's one in New Delhi called Kathputli where 1,500 families of puppeteers, acrobats, painters, and magicians live amongst a total of about 3,300 families. The life in this unique is changing however, as the government sells the land it is on to private developers. In Tomorrow We Disappear, filmmakers Adam Weber and Jimmy Goldblum document the fight—and the in-fighting—to preserve a community threatened by the modern world. A very interesting take on city development for anyone who has been involved with the planning process in this city!

A great companion piece for those who saw Slums: Cities of Tomorrow (but you can see it on its own just fine!).

One more screening: Saturday the 3rd.
 
Where I'm From

Where I'm From looks back at growing up on the working class streets of the Montreal neighbourhood of Verdun. Filmmaker Claude Demers revisits the place he grew up, experiencing it through the eyes of tweens Bastien and Cédric, who despite their families' poverty, find adventure on the banks of the mighty Saint Lawrence River. The city seems big from here, and considers the path to find a better future in it.

One more screening: Sunday the 4th.
 
There are still many more screenings to see! Remember that if you are a student or senior, you can see films screening before 5 PM for free all weekend long. Bring ID!

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