Best of Hot Docs Vancouver
Hot Docs and the Greater Vancouver International Film Festival Society were pleased to present the Best of Hot Docs, a weekend of documentary screenings, Friday, June 24, to Sunday, June 26, at Vancity Theatre, 1181 Seymour Street. The Best of Hot Docs celebrated the Vancouver premieres of five unforgettable stories, each a sold-out hit from this year’s Hot Docs programming lineup.
Screening times and descriptions for the Best of Hot Docs appear below. In some cases, filmmakers or subjects may be in attendance for post-screening discussions.
Friday, June 24
7:00 PM
LOVE ETC.
D: Jill Andresevic | USA | 95 min
“Expertly shot…a love letter to the city” – NOW Magazine
LOVE ETC. is a witty, poignant and humourous exploration of the universal stages of love, depicted through five real stories filmed over the course of one year in New York City. From teen romance to a decades-long marriage; from newlyweds to a recent divorcee, and even a bachelor so frustrated in his search that he chooses to have children without a partner, LOVE ETC. takes its audience on an intimate and vibrantly diverse journey through the heart of the city, offering an honest look at joys and frustrations that can emerge along the road to true love.
Saturday, June 25
6:30 PM
PROJECT NIM
D: James Marsh | USA, UK | 93 min
“One of the year’s best documentaries…you’ll be astonished at the twists and turns Nim’s story takes” – NOW Magazine
From the Oscar-winning team behind Man on Wire comes the story of Nim, the chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. Following Nim’s extraordinary journey through human society, and the enduring impact he makes on the people he meets along the way, PROJECT NIM is an unflinching and unsentimental biography of an animal we tried to make human. What we learn about his true nature—and indeed our own—is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling. Using extraordinary archival footage, director James Marsh constructs a seamless narrative that twists and turns, and ultimately accrues the thematic and emotional arc of an epic.
9:00 PM
CONAN O’BRIEN CAN’T STOP
D: Rodman Flender | USA | 89 min
“A highly entertaining cross-country extravaganza” – Variety
Conan O’Brien is angry. Unceremoniously dumped from The Tonight Show, then banned from appearing on television, radio or the internet for six months, the firebrand comic found himself without an outlet for the first time in over two decades. In the weeks before his current TBS show was even a glimmer in a TV exec’s eye, O’Brien channeled his creative and vengeful energies to launch the Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour. Filmmaker Rodman Flender hit the road with Team Coco as they performed on a 32-city stand-up extravaganza. Watching O’Brien write, perform and ham it up with cronies like Andy Richter is footage that’s not to be missed. But it’s the quieter time in which O’Brien reflects on what performing means to his life that illuminates a talent that simply won’t quit.
Sunday, June 26
6:30 PM
SENNA
D: Asif Kapadia | UK | 104 min
“Outstanding racing footage…provides dynamic, even thrilling perspectives rivaling anything possible in feature films” – The Hollywood Reporter
With a piercing, boyish beauty, the aura of a monk, and fierce racing intelligence and competitiveness, Ayrton Senna rose to the top of Formula One racing and international superstardom. Spanning his years as an F1 driver, from 1984 to his untimely death a decade later, SENNA explores the life and work of the triple world champion, his physical and spiritual achievements on the track, his quest for perfection and the mythical status he has since attained. The story unfolds as a tense thriller, one in which we know the outcome, but are swept up in the immediacy and emotion of its telling. So, while SENNA will certainly satisfy fans, those who know little about Ayrton Senna have the most to gain. Instantly one of the great sports docs of this or any year, SENNA will surely fuel a new generation of admirers for this Brazilian legend.
9:00 PM
THE PIRATE TAPES
D: Matvei Zhivov, Roger Singh, Andrew Moniz, Mohamed Ashareh, Rock Baijnauth | Canada | 72 min
“Real-life, high-stakes drama…engrossing” – Eye Weekly
A tale of violence, piracy and environmental disaster spirals into a life-threatening situation when Mohamed, a young Somali-Canadian, joins an armed pirate cell with a hidden camera. But when a rival clan murders the pirate boss, Mohamed ends up in a horrific jail in danger of execution. Interspersed with riveting never-before-seen footage of pirates organizing a hijacking, the film peels back the layers of civil war, history and corruption that turned once-peaceful fishermen into marauders. Massive illegal fishing by Asian and European ships decimated fish stocks, international corporations made secret deals with warlords so they could dump their nuclear wastes off the Somali coast, and politicians siphoned foreign aid into their personal accounts. But the moral justification of retaliation has morphed into a violent, complex, money-driven operation, one that both pirates and politicians expose as a multi-million-dollar business funded primarily by foreigners who reap most of the profit.
The Best of Hot Docs is generously supported by presenting partner Citytv and sponsors Rogers Group of Funds, Ford and The Georgia Straight.
- Visit the Doc Soup archives to see past film selections.
