Ducking out for some docs

NSI screens Toronto Hot Docs favourites for Winnipeg audiences

Slums: Cities of Tomorrow

Supplied

The Best of Hot Docs, happening Oct. 3 to 5 at Cinematheque, features the Winnipeg premiere of five new documentaries chosen from the line-up of the largest annual documentary festival in North America. 

The National Screen Institute (NSI) has partnered with Hot Docs, On Screen Manitoba and the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC) to present a selection of the most beloved films from the 2014 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which takes place every spring in Toronto. The Winnipeg screening series is facilitated by NSI, which plays a key role in the festival.

“Our job is to bring the films to as many Winnipeggers as possible,” explains Laura Friesen, communications coordinator at NSI. “This is an opportunity for the people of Winnipeg to see some of the best that Hot Docs has to offer.”

The screening series opens on Oct. 3 with Alive Inside, which focuses on elderly nursing home residents, whose lives are changed through the transformative power of music. It’s a film that surprised Friesen.

“I found it to be extremely heartfelt,” Friesen admits. “It shows these people suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia being reintroduced via iPod to the music of their youth. It brings out their memories and feelings that they haven’t experienced in years. And it’s really sensitively made. It’s incredible to see. I think it’s the perfect subject for a documentary.”

Advanced Style continues the theme of elderly empowerment with a look at the most stylish, 60-plus ladies of New York City, on Saturday, Oct. 4. In what is sure to be a fan favourite, To Be Takei chronicles the storied life and loves of Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu, the great George Takei. It also screens Saturday night.

The lone Canadian film, Slums: Cities of Tomorrow, plays the following day. It explores first-person accounts of life in shanties, ghettos and favelas all over the world, constituting the festival’s
heaviest tale.

“That film profiles architects and city planners, people who are looking at slums differently, not necessarily looking at them in a negative way,” Friesen posits. “As cities grow so quickly and spread, this might actually be a good way of accommodating a lot of people in urban areas. It puts a positive spin on slum living. It’s an alternative take.”

The series will conclude on Sunday evening with An Honest Liar, a film about the legendary magician and skeptic James “The Amazing” Randi, who has dedicated his life to exposing frauds and profiteers. The films selected were all chosen by popularity from the 2014 Hot Docs programming lineup. Friesen insists the spirit of the festival lies in the
audience’s enjoyment.

“The reaction has been good,” she says. “It always brings out different sorts of film fans and documentary fans. It’s a very wide range of Winnipeggers, which is great to see.”

For Friesen, the Best of Hot Docs is just another feature of Winnipeg’s horizon expanding downtown night life.

“It is so good to see more people coming downtown and going to Cinematheque, especially those that may not usually be into that sort of thing,” Friesen remarks.

Published in Volume 69, Number 5 of The Uniter (October 1, 2014)

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