Hot Docs

Check your plastic surgery jabs and red carpet cattiness at the door. It’s time to meet the real Joan Rivers. Raunchy and unapologetically brash? This we know. But as award-winning filmmakers Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg (The Devil Came on Horseback) spend a year with the comedy legend, a new and remarkable story of guts and sucker punches unfolds. At a time when women weren’t supposed to be funny, let alone tackling taboo topics like sex, Rivers trailblazed all the way to “The Tonight Show.” But personal tragedies and professional missteps now find her 75 years old and fighting tooth and nail to get back on top. Intimate vérité footage and brutally frank conversations reveal just how far she’ll go. Outrageously funny and unflinchingly honest, the film reveals the ruthlessness of the entertainment industry, the trappings of success, and the bare vulnerability of the performer. - Myrocia Watamaniuk

Media Coverage

Toronto Star (Interview with Joan Rivers)

National Post (Interview with the directors)