We are pleased to share that 22 CFC alumni are screening 25 distinctive projects in this year’s prestigious Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival. Alumni work ranges from short films to features to VR, and cover all aspects of documentary craft, from writing, directing and producing to editing, cinematography, music and sound.
Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, with more than 200 films from Canada and around the world screened to audiences of more than 200,000 over an action-packed 11 days. The festival starts on Thursday, April 25 and runs through Sunday, May 5, 2019 at various venues in Toronto.
Check out our alumni’s diverse projects below and see the full festival schedule and purchase tickets here.
Anthropocene: Carrara, Dandora, and Ivory Burn
Nicholas de Pencier, Director, Producer, Cinematographer
Alumnus Nicholas de Pencier (with his producing partners Jennifer Baichwal and Edward Burtynksy) has taken the award-winning documentary feature, ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch, and generated three short 360° video and cinematic VR pieces, all screening in the interdisciplinary DocX section of the festival (with free daytime drop-in admission). DocX celebrates documentary work that lives outside the traditional format, such as virtual reality and interactive projects, and is also screening alumna Karen Chapman’s They Should Be Flowers. See the full DocX program series and information on admission here.
Assholes: A Theory
John Walker, Director, Producer
Inspired by the New York Times bestseller, Assholes: A Theory, by Aaron James, acclaimed director John Walker takes us on an entertaining and thought-provoking tour of his titular subject, and explores how we may begin to push back against this ever-worsening behaviour.
Because We Are Girls
Shirley Vercruysse, Executive Producer
Executive producer Shirley Vercruysse worked on this moving story of three Punjabi-Canadian sisters confronting a legacy of abuse, a tale that for all its difficult struggles, also celebrates the women’s loving sisterhood and their demand for justice.
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
Alex Shupar, Editor
Alumnus Alex Shupar edited this likely crowd-pleaser about homegrown Canadian musical hero, Gordon Lightfoot. The film will be shown as one of Hot Docs’ “Big Ideas” series, and will open in Toronto for a theatrical release at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema later, on May 24.
The Corporate Coup D’État
Peter Raymont, Producer
Michelle Osis, Composer
Canadian philosopher John Ralston Saul coined the term “corporate coup d’état” in his 1995 CBC Massey Lecture, The Unconscious Civilization, which this film adopts to examine the contemporary United States having been coopted by corporate dollars. Alumnus Peter Raymont produced, with alumna Michelle Osis composing music for this urgent call to arms.
Drag Kids
Megan Wennburg, Director, Writer
Alumna Megan Wennburg wrote and directed this sympathetic look at four remarkable children unafraid to hold their own in the adult world of competitive voguing and lip synching.
Illusions of Control
Pablo Alvarez-Mesa, Cinematographer
Apocalyptic scenarios used to be mostly fictional plotlines. Yet human activity has made them a tragic reality, affecting millions of people globally. Alumnus Pablo Alvarez-Mesa did the cinematography of this film, which looks at how five women navigate a series of environmental and social disasters.
Inside Lehman Brothers
Ina Fichman, Producer
Alumna Ina Fichman produced this cautionary tale, which chronicles the fascinating story of the mostly female whistleblowers who paid a steep price in the 2008 American subprime mortgage crisis, while many of the top-positioned men remained untouched.
A Kandahar Away
Shelley Saywell, Executive Producer
In 1991, a refugee arrived in Canada with his wife and five children, having fled his home in Kandahar, Afghanistan. Decades later, upon discovering the dwindling hamlet of Kandahar, Saskatchewan, he felt an immediate connection. Alumna Shelley Saywell executive-produced this humorous, heartfelt journey exploring what transpired as a result.
Killing Patient Zero
Laurie Lynd, Director, Writer
Acclaimed writer-director alumnus Laurie Lynd reveals the person behind the epithet, Québécois flight attendant Gaétan Dugas known as “Patient Zero” in the AIDS crisis. Based on Richard McKay’s groundbreaking book Patient Zero and the Making of the AIDS Epidemic, the film generates a fascinating portrait not only of a man, but of a crisis that shocked a community into action.
Limit is the Sky
David Christensen, Executive Producer
Shot over three years, this profoundly human portrait that was executive-produced by alumnus David Christensen captures the dreams and disappointments of six charismatic, ambitious young Canadian men and women who come from as far away as Sudan, Lebanon and the Philippines to make a better life in Fort McMurray.
Older, Stronger, Wiser
Claire Prieto, Director
Director-alumna Claire Prieto crafts a short oral history of five Black women who reflect on the lives they’ve led and describe the challenges of growing up in the rural townships and urban centres of mid-century Canada.
Propaganda: The Art of Selling Lies
Aeschylus Poulos, Producer
David McCallum, Sound
Propaganda’s effective use by religious figures, politicians and marketers – and how we can ever determine what we know is truth from propaganda – guides this persuasive study. Produced by alumnus Aeschylus Polous, with sound by David McCallum.
Redux Shorts: Five Feminist Minutes
Three of the four shorts in this timely program have projects produced by CFC alumni:
Camera Test
Anita Lee, Executive Producer
Alumna Anita Lee executive-produced this short film, a subversive look at patriarchy and racism in the film industry that features intimate interviews with absurdist re-enactments.
Lake
David Christensen, Executive Producer
This short, executive-produced by David Christensen, riffs off classic cinema verité in its contemporary portrait of Métis women net fishing in northern Alberta.
Radical
Justin Simms, Editor
Alumnus Justin Simms edited this joyous call-to-action short, a profile of the winsome Newfoundlander and queen of comedy, Mary Walsh.
Question Period
Ann Marie Fleming, Director, Writer
Shirley Vercruysse, Producer
Directed by alumnae Ann Marie Fleming (one of the original Five Feminist Minutes filmmakers) and produced by Shirley Vercruysse, this film listens to the questions of a group of Syrian women, refugees recently resettled in Canada, negotiating their new home and lives.
Supreme Law
David Christensen, Producer
This live event, screening and talk challenges us to make Canadian history and law relevant to young audiences. Emceed by Canada’s original YouTube star and comedian Jus Reign, the evening includes a screening of the new web documentary Supreme Law, starring Reign and produced by alumnus David Christensen.
Take Me to Prom
Ben Fox, Composer
Alumnus Ben Fox scored this treasure of a short, in which a group of people dressed in their dream outfits take us back to the night of their prom and in so doing, narrate a journey of unapologetic queer identity and expression.
They Should Be Flowers
Karen Chapman, Director, Producer, Writer
Also screening at DocX with ANTHROPOCENE’s shorts is alumna Karen Chapman’s short film. She wrote, directed and produced this powerful short, which explores, through audio interviews and artistic renderings, the story of a six-year-old Black girl who was handcuffed – revealing the precarious place of Black children in Canada.
Toxic Beauty
Peter Raymont, Producer
Toxic Beauty tracks the landmark class action lawsuit brought by female cancer survivors against Johnson & Johnson, in the face of the company’s insistence that their baby talc products were safe. Alumnus Peter Raymont produced this deep dive into how, despite public attention, companies beyond Johnson & Johnson continue to get away with harmful practices that threaten the average consumer.
The World or Nothing
Ingrid Veninger, Director, Producer
Alumna and mentor Ingrid Veninger directed and produced this fresh, understated look at inseparable identical twins originally from Cuba, Rubert and Rubildo. They share a laptop and a dream of making it via internet fame, as YouTube sensations with their self-made music videos, which they upload from their cousin’s couch in Barcelona.
Alumni, do you have a film screening at Hot Docs that we missed on this list? Let us know by emailing us at alumni@cfccreates.com and we will add your film!
All images courtesy of Hot Docs
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