The truth is out there.

If you’re in or around Toronto, you’d be well-served to check out the offerings of The 2012 Hot Docs Festival, North America’s largest documentary film fest which is now nineteen years old. And if you think that nonfiction stories of this world we live in is not your cup of tea, I offer you the following topics.

Reggae legend Bob Marley
The unending energy of James Franco
The fate of the once mighty city of Detroit
Hacktivists like Anonymous who tread the line between protestor and criminal.
Former NHL all-star and sexual abuse activist Theo Fleury.
A group of Albanian students fighting to save their movie theatre from being shut down.
And a penis museum in Iceland

Yes, you read that last line correctly.

Stories like these are but a few of the 189 films making up this year’s festival which runs from April 26th to May 6th here in Toronto. The subject matters can of course cover the political and the religious, but also the amusing, the inspiring, and unforgettable facets of the world we live in. Two of the films I saw during last year’s festival – IF A TREE FALLS and HELL AND BACK AGAIN – actually went on to be nominated for Best Documentary Oscars. Some might argue that other docs that played last year’s festival should have been nominated (read: PROJECT NIM, THE INTERRUPTERS, SENNA)…but that’s a whole other topic.

In addition, this year’s festival comes with the added bonus that it will break in Toronto’s newest moviegoing venue – the revamped Bloor Hot Docs Cinema…because moviegoers in this town aren’ spoiled enough already.

Like the last two years, you can expect quite a bit of coverage here at The Matinee. Expect opinions, recommendations, reactions and reviews. I’ll be doing previews in the days leading up to the festival with coverage going full-tilt on the 26th, including special editions of The Matineecast on-the scene.

The Festival’s website has gone live and can be found here. If you’re in or around the city, I can’t recommend this chance to soak up some outspoken and outstanding films highly enough.

6 Replies to “Real As It Gets – Hot Docs 2012 Kicks Off”

  1. Can’t wait for your coverage! I may not watch many docs but every year you do this I always manage to earmark a few that I really want to see that I otherwise would never have heard of.

  2. I am really looking forward to Hot Docs, this will be my fourth year of going to the festival, and the program seems to get better each year. They are getting the best docs from Sundance, European doc fest, SXSW and Tribeca, and it pretty much means you are going to get good quality each time.

    I have bought tickets for 8 of them already. Here is my list:

    Fri April 26 Beware of Mr Baker 6:30pm

    Fri April 26 The Imposter 9pm

    Wed May 2 The Queen of Versalles 7pm

    Fri May 4: The Waiting Room 7:30pm

    Fri May 4 Theo Fleury: Playing with Fire 9:30pm

    Sat May 5 Detropia: 5:45pm

    Sat May 5 Marley: 8:15pm

    Sat May 5 Love Story 11:30pm

    I will look into seeing a couple of more films, time permitting. There are about 8-10 more films that really interest me, but I probably won’t make the screenings. What are the docs that interest you? Really looking forward to your coverage/recommendation/reviews; not as many people seem to be interested in Docs, but the quality of docs are usually much higher (IMO)than Fiction films.

    1. I think the highest ones on my wishlist are DETROPIA and CHARLES BRADLEY. Oh, and if I might make a recommendation, try to squeeze BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING into the mix.

      PS – There is no excuse for us to get to the end of this festival and not meet face-to-face.

    2. Beauty is Embarrassing is one of the movie I was considering to add to my lineup. I will definitely look into it now…

      Yes, I think we should meet face to face during the festival.

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