Festivals
Before the 1940s, the term “teenager” did not exist – there was simply a sort of void between childhood and adulthood that wasn’t really addressed. In his pseudo-experimental doc about the onset of the teenager, Director Matt Wolf works from a book on the subject by Jon Savage, compiling scores of archival footage of young people from the beginning of the twentieth century right up until 1945, as well as some 16mm recreations, and overlaying them with narration detailing the wildly varying experiences of four almost-adults from various points in history – from flapper to Hitler youth to pre-civil rights...
Roaming the streets in packs, scores of street kids in Kenya rely on one another for the familial support they don’t get from their own parents either because they’ve been abandoned or because their family simply can’t care for them properly. As a result of having to grow up much too quickly while learning to fend for themselves, the pastime of glue-sniffing–the popular brand is called “Tough Bond” and most often used to secure loose bus seats–has been on the rise amongst these wayward youth who so desperately need a way to leave their problems behind. Three years in the...
As Torontonians, we’re very well-versed in the idea of overcrowding whether it be while trying to share the narrow streets with cyclists, streetcars and automobiles on our morning commute or as we see high rise condo towers taking over our skylines. This is a problem shared by many other large cities in the world and Danish city planner Jan Gehl is trying to do something about it. As he sees it, the way to plan for a population that is set to double over the next 40 years is to re-design cities on a smaller scale with a human element in...
I’m sure most people would think it was cool to have a rock star in the family. The reality, as shown to us by Mistaken For Strangers, is much more complicated than you’d ever realize, especially when that rock star happens to be your older brother. Director Tom Berninger is the younger-by-nine-years brother to Matthew Berninger, lead singer of indie rock band The National. Tom, whose indecision about which direction his life should take has always been a concern to his family so when Matt asks him to go on tour with the band as a crew member it seems...
We’ve all done it. We’ve all robotically clicked “yes, I agree” when signing up for some service online or downloading a new app; it’s so common that most people do it without even thinking twice about what it is they’re agreeing to. Terms and Conditions May Apply takes a look at the complicated web of deals with the devil (am I being dramatic when I say that? no I’m not) that are struck with one tiny mouse click on an innocuous-looking button on a friendly-seeming free website like Google. Surely they’re not giving us these wonderful services out of the...
Are you an organ donor? And by that I mean, have you signed an organ donation card or gone online and put your name on the list in the event of your untimely demise? That’s what most people think of when they think of donating organs but for many poverty-ridden people around the world, organ donation on the black market is a way to quickly give them the cash they need to start a brand new, possibly prosperous, life. Tales From The Organ Trade gives us an inside look at the brokers and doctors who work within the black market, the...
Dale Menzak is an interesting dude. A funeral director by day, he spends his spare time as an auctioneer who specializes in the sale of family farms – something can prove to be as fraught with emotion as a funeral. Set against the vast expanses of the Prairies, the film chronicles Menzak as he goes around to various farms, inspecting the property for sale (usually tractors and ancient farming implements) and listening to the owners talk about the stories behind each piece. These are peoples’ livelihoods that have been passed down for generations and for the people depicted in the...
In 1947, a teenage Chris Strachwitz fled from Germany to America where he found a place in music history. As the founder of Arhoolie Records, Chris traveled America in search of the kind of music you couldn’t find at the top of the charts. Not content to set an artist up in the studio, Chris preferred to record musicians in their environment. Back porches, small bars, house parties, and right on the street, Strachwitz found the soul of styles like jazz, blues, and norteño. If it spoke to his heart, Chris would record it and share it with the world....
A brutally honest look at the inter-country adoption, Mercy Mercy: A Portrait of a True Adoption, follows two familes on either end of the process. Sinkenesh and Hussen are the parents of five children in Ethiopia, when they find out they’re both HIV-positive, they make the difficult decision to give up their two youngest children–1 and 3–up for adoption to a Danish family. The adoption agency promises the Hussens that the Danish couple will help them out financially and will keep them updated on their childrens’ well-being, and the Danish couple are told that the Hussens are at death’s door...
Eufrosina’s Revolution is set in the impoverished Mexican state of Oaxaca, where many indigenous communities have scarcely been touched by modernity. Supposedly considered autonomous, these communities suffer from isolation as well as a backward legal and political anomaly: women cannot vote. In towns where poverty has been longstanding and feels normal, women find themselves with little agency. Enter Eufrosina Mendoza, a sharp, tenacious and very likeable woman from Santa Maria Quiegolani, Oaxaca. Eufrosina decides to break the cycle which cajoles women into constant pregnancy and domestic poverty. Tireless in her pursuit of better governance, resources and equality for her communities,...
Diana Nyad became a world record holder in 1974 at the age of 25 when she swam the 22-mile Bay of Naples race in 8 hours, 11 minutes. From there she went on to become the world’s most famous marathon swimmer. Despite many notable accomplishments, Nyad may be best known for trying and failing to swim from Florida to Cuba. The Other Shore documents these three attempts. The Other Shore is a really interesting film. While on the one hand it chronicles Diana Nyad’s attempts to swim to Cuba, it also has snippets of her relationships with her coaches and...
Brave New River is an environmental documentary about the transformation of the Rupert River after Hydro-Québec diverted 70 per cent of its water to five hydroelectric stations in 2009. Seen through the eyes of the Cree people who live around the river, Brave New River examines the pros and cons of hydroelectricity developments. The weirs and stations built by Hydro-Québec throughout the Rupert River have drastically changed its natural landscape. A once roaring river has been quieted and slowed down significantly, affecting fish and vegetation alike. Hearing first hand accounts about these changes from the Cree people who have lived there for generations is where...
