HOT DOCS’ SMALL ACTS EXPLORES EVERYDAY ACTS OF KINDNESS, LEADERSHIP AND CHANGE
For immediate release
Toronto, March 23, 2010 – Hot Docs is pleased to introduce the Small Acts program to this year’s Festival, running April 29 to May 9. Showcasing films that document everyday acts of kindness, leadership and change, Small Acts features 10 documentaries that offer intimate portraits of individuals and movements that touch the lives of others. From the inventor of Jelly Belly jellybeans to Christian anarchists and barrier-breaking opera singers, these compelling stories show that even the smallest of acts can make a world of difference.
Of the 10 titles featured in Small Acts, eight are feature-length, one is mid-length and one is a short. One title will receive its world premiere, seven their international premiere, and two their Canadian premiere.
The screening times and descriptions for the Small Acts program appear below. In many cases, filmmakers will be in attendance for post-screening discussions.
CANDYMAN: THE DAVID KLEIN STORY D: Costa Botes | New Zealand | 76 min | Canadian Premiere
Jelly Belly releases an official history of the candy, but the inventor’s name, David Klein, isn’t to be found. Featuring an eccentric millionaire, conniving corporations, lots of sugar, and Weird Al Yankovic, this is the unbelievable story explaining why.
Saturday, May 1
9:45 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Tuesday, May 4
1:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
CITIZEN ARCHITECT: SAMUEL MOCKBEE AND THE SPIRIT OF THE RURAL STUDIO D: Sam Wainwright Douglas | USA | 60 min | International Premiere
This group of renegade architects, who believe that low-income housing can be designed with compassion, vigour, and exuberant creativity, are changing the landscapes of people’s lives on both sides of the income divide.
Saturday, May 1
7:15 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
Tuesday, May 4
2:00 p.m.
ROM Theatre
A DIFFERENT PATH D: Monteith McCollum | USA | 96 min | International Premiere
Using humour and creativity, activists challenge car culture and take back the streets for pedestrians, cyclists, and wheelchairs: Seattle seniors paint their own scooter lane, Toronto cyclists throw a block party, and a New Yorker commutes by kayak.
Friday, May 7
7:15 p.m.
Royal Cinema
Sunday, May 9
6:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
I BOUGHT A RAINFOREST D: Helena Nygren, Jacob Andrén | Sweden | 58 min | International Premiere
Jacob Andrén, like over 400,000 other Swedish children, remembers raising money to help save a rainforest. Twenty years later, wondering if his efforts made any real impact, he visits Costa Rica to see whether his piece of land remains preserved.
Sunday, May 2
12:00 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Tuesday, May 4
9:30 p.m.
ROM Theatre
OUR HOUSE D: David Teague, Greg King | USA | 60 min | World Premiere
Can anarchy bring about harmony? In an abandoned Brooklyn warehouse radical Christian squatters run an illegal shelter for ex-cons and addicts, and prove that home is not made with hands, but with hearts.
Screening with ARCHITECTURE OF HOME D: Thorunn Hafstad | Iceland | 29 min | International Premiere
Residents of a housing co-op in Reykjavik give us a quirky tour of their digs. The old-fashioned drawer doorknobs, obsolete phone cans, and miniature broom closets preserve a fascinating history of a union worker’s accommodation.
Friday, May 7
7:00 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
Saturday, May 8
4:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
A SMALL ACT D: Jennifer Arnold | USA | 88 min | International Premiere
For $15 a term, a Swedish stranger sponsors a young Kenyan’s education and transforms his life. Now a Harvard-educated lawyer, he founds a scholarship to pay it forward, but discovers a failing school system that’s leaving its children behind.
Sunday, May 2
4:15 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Wednesday, May 5
4:15 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre
SOUNDTRACKER D: Nicholas Sherman | USA | 88 min | International Premiere
A sound recordist who’s spent thirty years finding and recording the vanishing sounds of nature, Gordon Hempton embarks on a fascinating “soundtracking trip” into the wilderness seeking out uncompromised expression.
Sunday, May 2
6:45 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Tuesday, May 4
4:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Sunday, May 9
4:00 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
THUNDER SOUL D: Mark Landsman | USA | 83 min | International Premiere
Big afros, funk arrangements, and a super tight stage show put the Kashmere High School Band on the map in the 1970’s. Thirty-five years later, the band reunites to honor their mentor, Conrad “Prof” Johnson.
Friday, May 7
9:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Sunday, May 9
1:45 p.m.
ROM Theatre
WHEN I RISE D: Mat Hames | USA | 74 min | Canadian Premiere
Barbara Smith Conrad, a gifted African-American singer, finds herself at the centre of a racial controversy at the University of Texas. Against the odds, she emerges as one of the world’s most respected opera singers.
Friday, May 7
6:30 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
Sunday, May 9
4:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market. From April 29 to May 9, 2010, Hot Docs will present an outstanding selection of 170+ documentaries from Canada and around the world to Toronto audiences and international delegates. Hot Docs will also mount a full roster of conference sessions, market events and services for documentary practitioners, including the renowned Toronto Documentary Forum, May 5 and 6, and The Doc Shop.
The Hot Docs documentary Box Office (55 Avenue Road, 2 blocks north of Bloor St. W., lower level of Hazelton Lanes) is open for advance ticket and pass sales. Tickets can be purchased in person, online at www.hotdocs.ca, or by phone at 416-637-5150. Single tickets to screenings are $12 each. Late night screenings (after 11 p.m.) are $5 each or $10 for an All-You-Can-Eat Late Night Pass (one ticket to each screening). A Festival Pass (10 tickets) is $98 and a Premium Pass (one ticket to every screening, excluding those running concurrently) is $180 ($300 for two passes). Free tickets for all screenings before 6 p.m. are available for students and seniors (subject to availability) with valid photo ID at the venue box offices on the day of the screening.
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