Documentary fans rejoice: a little piece of the Hot Docs Festival is coming to Winnipeg.

City-based film organizations On Screen Manitoba, DOC Winnipeg and the National Screen Institute have teamed up with Toronto-based Hot Docs to present The Best of Hot Docs, four sold-out hits from this year’s festival coupled with two local gems at Cinematheque this weekend.

Hot Docs often screens their films in other major cities across Canada in events entitled “Doc Soup.” However, this is the first time Hot Docs has come to Winnipeg.

“Hot Docs has always been a fan of Winnipeg’s great filmmaking community, and has heard great things about audiences there,” Chris McDonald, executive director of Hot Docs, says via email. “We thought it would be the perfect opportunity to celebrate some of the great docs we’ve shown at Hot Docs and to also partner with some of the city’s amazing film organizations.”

Lauren MacDiarmid, communications and Programs coordinator at the National Screen Institute in Winnipeg, says that documentary filmmaking is a great genre.

MacDiarmid has had the opportunity to see all of the films being presented, and she loved each of them for different reasons.

“This collection of films has something for everyone.”

Opening the weekend is the Afghanistan war doc Hell & Back Again, a screening which MacDiarmid calls “timely,” as it is being shown on Remembrance Day at 7 p.m.

Director Danfung Dennis was a photojournalist overseas, but felt he could not accurately capture the reality of war. Dennis customized his equipment and headed back into the conflict to show what he could not the first time around.

On Saturday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. is Unspeakable from Winnipeg director John Paskievich. This poignant film provides insight into the life of a stutterer, and the stigmas around this speech impediment.

Leading off the afternoon screening is the mythical short Fahrenheit 7-Eleven, which tells the tale of one fateful night in 1985 when, after an altercation at a local convenience store, Burton Cummings came to call his hometown “Negativipeg.”

That evening filmgoers will be treated to a different side of “The Donald” thanks to Anthony Baxter’s You’ve Been Trumped, showing at 8 p.m.

“It exposes how evil he (Donald Trump) is. People don’t know all that he does,” MacDiarmid says.

Sunday, Nov. 13 afternoon’s 2 p.m. screening is sure to be a hit with both the young and the young at heart.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer’s Journey tells the story of Kevin Clash, a man who went from the tough streets to the street “where the air is sweet.”

“Three minutes into Being Elmo I was crying,” MacDiarmid says. “I travelled back in time. It’s a great dream-come-true story.”

Closing out the weekend at 8 p.m. Sunday is The Guantanamo Trap, a film that portrays another aspect of the infamous “War on Terror,” this time closer to home. This German/Canadian/Swiss co-production was awarded the Special Jury Prize for a Canadian Feature at this year’s Hot Docs Festival.

The Best of Hot Docs takes place Friday, Nov. 11 to Sunday, Nov. 13 at Cinematheque. For showtimes and trailers, visit: http://www.hotdocs.ca/docsoup/doc_soup_winnipeg. A series pass is $25 and single tickets are $9 and can be purchased through On Screen Manitoba. For more information, contact OSM at 204-927-5897.

Published in Volume 66, Number 11 of The Uniter (November 9, 2011)