HOT DOCS’ WORLD SHOWCASE ASSEMBLES COMPELLING ISSUES, SURPRISING SUBJECTS
AND TIMELY OBSERVATIONS FROM AROUND THE GLOBE
For immediate release
Toronto, March 23, 2010 – Hot Docs is pleased to once again bring Toronto audiences a World Showcase program filled with compelling issues, surprising subjects and timely observations, all illustrating the power of masterful documentary storytelling. Featuring films from Iran, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Estonia, World Showcase shares the lives of a former New Orleans madam, a sacred sex healer, diehard STAR WARS fans, and a heartwarming couple on the threshold of a new life together.
Twenty-six films make up the World Showcase program, of which 25 are feature-length and one title a short. Three will receive their world premiere, five their international premiere, nine their North American premiere, seven their Canadian premiere and two are receiving their Toronto premiere.
The World Showcase program is generously sponsored by documentary.
Screening times and descriptions for World Showcase appear below. Many filmmakers will be in attendance for post-screening discussions.
THE ABSENCE OF MR. OR MRS. B
D: Fima Emami, Reza Daryanoush | Iran | 60 min | North American Premiere
A childless couple undergoes multiple fertility treatments that drain both their finances and their feelings. A dramatic look at Iran’s second-leading cause of divorce, and the unexpected twists and turns a marriage takes on the road to parenthood.
Friday, May 7
9:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Sunday, May 9
2:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
AMERICAN RADICAL: THE TRIALS OF NORMAN FINKELSTEIN
D: David Ridgen, Nicolas Rossier | Canada, USA | 84 min | Toronto Premiere
As a devoted son of Holocaust survivors, a disgraced academic, and a fierce critic of Israeli policy, it’s never been easy for Professor Norman Finkelstein. This intimate portrait captures the lonely fight of this passionate and complex provocateur.
Thursday, May 6
9:00 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
Sunday, May 9
11:30 a.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre
BEYOND THIS PLACE
D: Kaleo La Belle | Switzerland | 92 min | North American Premiere
Now a new father, Kaleo challenges his long-estranged, hardcore-hippie dad, Cloud Rock, to a gruelling 500-mile bike tour. On the road, they struggle to reconcile their vastly different outlooks and fathom the complicated love they share.
Thursday, May 6
9:30 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
Saturday, May 8
9:30 p.m.
Royal Cinema
THE CANAL STREET MADAM
D: Cameron Yates | USA | 91 min | International Premiere
Jeanette Maier, a former New Orleans madam, ran her brothel like a family, alongside her mother and daughter. Busted by the FBI and now on probation, Jeanette struggles to make a legitimate living, repair relationships, and advocate for sex-workers.
Tuesday, May 4
9:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Thursday, May 6
11:00 a.m.
ROM Theatre
CONGO IN FOUR ACTS
D: Dieudo Hamadi, Divita Wa Lusala, Kiripi Katembo Siku | Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa | 69 min | North American Premiere
A quartet of powerful, hard-hitting short films made by young Congolese filmmakers lays bare the disturbing reality of everyday life in mineral-rich Democratic Republic of Congo.
Monday, May 3
9:30 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Friday, May 7
4:30 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
DISCO AND ATOMIC WAR
D: Jaak Kilmi | Estonia, Finland | 78 min | North American Premiere
Even at the height of the Cold War, the Iron Curtain couldn’t stop the people of Estonia from rigging their Soviet-made televisions to pluck the forbidden cultural fruit broadcast by Finnish TV.
Friday, April 30
9:30 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Saturday, May 1
2:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
DREAMLAND
D: Þorfinnur Guðnason, Andri Snær Magnason | Iceland | 80 min | North American Premiere
With its hydroelectric and geothermal power surplus, Iceland’s clean energy initiatives have ironically attracted heavy industries whose pollution decimates the natural vegetation. A troubling tale of sabotage from the frontlines of the green revolution.
Sunday, May 2
3:30 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
Tuesday, May 4
2:00 p.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre
FAMILY AFFAIR
D: Chico Colvard | USA | 80 min | International Premiere
Incest tore the filmmaker’s family apart; stunned to see his pedophilic father at a family dinner decades later, his emotionally searing film questions if he and his sisters can reconcile unspeakable horrors with the basic longing for family.
Thursday, May 6
9:45 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Saturday, May 8
7:30 p.m.
ROM Theatre
FREETIME MACHOS
D: Mika Ronkainen | Finland, Germany | 86 min | Canadian Premiere
With a rousing cheer of “Oh, sh*t!” the world’s third worst rugby team attacks the pitch. A touching comedy about the male struggle to strike a balance between hard and soft, athlete and poet, homophobic and homoerotic…
Wednesday, May 5
6:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Saturday, May 8
6:45 p.m.
Royal Cinema
HORSES
D: Liz Mermin | Ireland, UK | 87 min | Canadian Premiere
The diminutive underdog, the sensitive wildcard and the gentle giant: all three amazing athletes vie to become top racer at Ireland’s Toberona Stables; always one race away from a win, and one injury away from retirement.
Wednesday, May 5
9:15 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Saturday, May 8
11:30 a.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre
THE HOUSE OF SUH
D: Iris K. Shim | USA | 90 min | World Premiere
A brother murders his sister’s boyfriend, shocking the Korean-American community. The House of Suh paints the portrait of a boy raised to be loyal and his sister who manipulates his family bond.
Wednesday, May 5
9:30 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
Sunday, May 9
7:00 p.m.
ROM Theatre
HUMAN TERRAIN
D: James Der Derian, Michael Udris, David Udris | USA | 80 min | North American Premiere
Seeking to understand ‘why they hate us,’ the U.S. military’s new cultural awareness strategy targets the hearts and minds of Iraqis and Afghans, but controversy erupts when academics embedded with combat troops bring the war home to the university.
Screening with
1000 VOICES
D: Tim Travers Hawkins | UK | 9 min | North American Premiere
Friday, May 7
9:45 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Saturday, May 8
4:30 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
I’M DANGEROUS WITH LOVE
D: Michel Negroponte | USA | 85 min | Canadian Premiere
After his experience with the illegal hallucinogen ibogaine cures him of his heroin addiction, Dimitri Mugianis leaves New York for West Africa on a quest to harness the healing power of this extremely unpredictable drug.
Thursday, May 6
10:00 p.m.
Royal Cinema
Saturday, May 8
11:45 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
MADE IN INDIA
D: Rebecca Haimowitz, Vaishali Sinha | USA | 96 min | World Premiere
After seven failed years of expensive U.S. treatments, Lisa and Brian Switzer desperately outsource their pregnancy to India’s burgeoning surrogate market in this gripping look at the ethical and economic price of their parenthood.
Saturday, May 1
4:30 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Sunday, May 2
6:45 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
A MAN CAME AND TOOK HER
D: Jedrzej Niestoj, Rafal Przybyl | Poland | 80 min | Canadian Premiere
When eight-year-old Ola goes missing, her rural community grows abuzz with gossip and rumour. Her grief-stricken mother remains convinced that her daughter is alive, placing more faith in fortune tellers than the police investigation.
Saturday, May 1
9:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Monday, May 3
11:30 a.m.
ROM Theatre
MONICA & DAVID
D: Alexandra Codina | USA | 90 min | Canadian Premiere
Monica and David have Down syndrome and are about to be married. Insulated from intolerance their entire lives, the newlyweds and their extraordinary families must now negotiate new realities together in this moving look at love.
Wednesday, May 5
6:45 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Saturday, May 8
1:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
MY PERESTROIKA
D: Robin Hessman | UK, USA | 87 min | Canadian Premiere
Exploring the dreams and disillusionments of people who were raised behind the Iron Curtain, MY PERESTROIKA is an intimate and compelling portrait of the challenges faced by the last generation of Soviet children.
Monday, May 3
9:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Saturday, May 8
2:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
OSADNÉ
D: Marko Skop | Slovakia | 60 min | North American Premiere
In the past five years the village priest of Osadné, Eastern Slovakia, has buried fifty people and christened two. In this wryly funny doc, he and two other community leaders seek EU support to revitalize their dwindling community.
Saturday, May 1
4:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Monday, May 3
2:00 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
THE PARKING LOT MOVIE
D: Meghan Eckman | USA | 84 min | International Premiere
Long stretches of tedium punctuated by brief moments of “F*ck you, buddy!” - that’s life at the Corner Parking Lot. A hilarious look at the ragtag crew of over-educated misfits that you trust with your keys.
Saturday, May 1
6:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Monday, May 3
11:45 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
THE PEOPLE VS. GEORGE LUCAS
D: Alexandre Philippe | USA | 97 min | International Premiere
More than a movie, Star Wars is a cultural phenomenon that’s inspired everything from needlepoint to puppet skits. But these tributes have pitted diehard fans against George Lucas, its visionary creator and copyright holder, prompting the question, whose galaxy is it?
Saturday, May 1
9:15 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
Monday, May 3
4:00 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
Tuesday, May 4
11:45 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
PORTRAIT OF A MAN
D: Visa Koiso-Kanttila | Finland | 81 min | International Premiere
This last film in Koiso-Kanttila’s trilogy is a powerful and surprisingly intimate portrait of a 40-something single father in emotional crisis who, to save his relationship with his son, confronts a legacy of alcoholism and depression.
Monday, May 3
9:45 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Thursday, May 6
2:00 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
SEX MAGIC, MANIFESTING MAYA
D: Jonathan Schell, Eric Leibman | USA | 77 min | World Premiere
A prominent, sacred sexual-healer tries to win back the woman of his dreams through the power of Sex Magic, merging his sexual energy with that of his many lovers.
Sunday, May 2
6:30 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Tuesday, May 4
2:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
Wednesday, May 5
11:59 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
TALHOTBLOND
D: Barbara Schroeder | USA | 76 min | Canadian Premiere
A beautiful teenage vixen falls hard for a battle-scarred marine in an online game-room. But star-crossed instantly switches to double-crossed once sexts become threats, and IMs turn to murder. LOL (lots o’ lies)!
Saturday, May 1
3:30 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
Sunday, May 2
11:45 p.m.
Bloor Cinema
THIS WAY OF LIFE
D: Thomas Burstyn | New Zealand | 85 min | Toronto Premiere
The Karenas are free-spirits who buck traditional rules of child-rearing. Living off the land, the Maori couple raises their six kids amongst wild horses in New Zealand’s mountains and, even after losing their home, they still refuse to be broken.
Monday, May 3
9:00 p.m.
Innis Town Hall
Tuesday, May 4
4:00 p.m.
Alliance Cumberland Cinemas
WAR GAMES AND THE MAN WHO STOPPED THEM
D: Dariusz Jab?o?ski | Germany, France, Poland, Slovakia | 113 min | North American Premiere
During the Cold War, Polish Colonel Ryszard Kukli?ski spied for the CIA, revealing Russia’s secret plans to invade Western Europe. Through his act of betrayal, Kukli?ski saves his beloved homeland, but is forced into exile.
Friday, May 7
6:45 p.m.
ROM Theatre
Saturday, May 8
7:00 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.
FILM STILLS AVAILABLE
Media Download Site: http://www.hotdocs.ca/media/media_download_centre
Username: hotdocsfestival
Password: media2010
Hot Docs is proud to include Rogers, Telefilm Canada and documentary as its Presenting Partners, with special support from the Government of Ontario.
Media Contact:
Virginia Kelly
V Kelly & Associates
Email: info@vkpr.ca
Phone: 416-466-9799
