Canada

Sex, Cats and Rock & Roll

marla — Mon, 01 Nov 2004 00:00:00 -0600

If anyone captured the spirit of this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, it was the codger who hoisted a placard that read: “The Toronto Film Festival is Satan’s Idea of Entertainment.” This middle-aged gentleman was part of a 150-person demonstration protesting the premiere screening of Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat. This ominous documentary by Montreal filmmaker Zev Asher relates, in sobering detail, the story of Toronto art student Jesse Power, who in 2001 enlisted two friends to help him videotape the murder of an innocent feline.

O Canada!

michele — Mon, 01 Jul 2002 00:00:00 -0500

“We’re the only full-time underground screening space in North America,” says Blinding Light founder, Alex MacKenzie. This 110-seat microcinema that screens alternative, underground, and obscure film / video works was founded in 1998.

The Trailer for "Passage"

mike — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:45:41 -0500

The Trailer for "BLAST!"

mike — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:45:27 -0500

Blogging Hot Docs: A Few Wise Words from Richard Leacock

DevlinP — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:06:28 -0500

The most memorable moments at film festivals are often encounters with other filmmakers. Making non-fiction movies can be isolating, especially during the post-production phase. To emerge from that to re-discover an international community of like-minded artists can be very re-energizing.

Blogging Hot Docs: Playing the Pre-Sale, Co-Production Game

DevlinP — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 22:35:49 -0500

The Toronto Documentary Forum is a high-powered, pressurized event that happens alongside the Hot Docs film festival. A couple hundred commissioning editors and broadcasters from around the world gather for two days of project pitching.

Blogging Hot Docs: Will Online Platforms Save Documentary Film?

DevlinP — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 19:24:30 -0500

Film festivals can be a rollercoaster of highs and lows.

A premiere can be an ecstatic experience, but there’s a bit of a hangover the next day. Now what? Will the movie get in more festivals or is this it? Is this movie going to sell? Will we make our money back?

Blogging Hot Docs: What Happened At My Film's World Premiere

DevlinP — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 18:39:59 -0500

My film BLAST!, about a group of physicists who travel from the Arctic to the Antarctic to launch a massive telescope into orbit. One of our main characters is Barth Netterfield, an astrophysics professor at the University of Toronto. His department organized a lovely reception for the movie.

Blogging Hot Docs: BBC's Nick Fraser Named a "Doc Mogul"

DevlinP — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 14:36:59 -0500

Sometimes filmmaking comes down to arts and crafts.

We rushed to get our BLAST! poster done for the festival. So we wanted to make damn sure it was going to get seen as much as possible.

Blogging Hot Docs: The Director of "BLAST!" Hits Toronto

DevlinP — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 21:33:02 -0500

Missing Hot Docs in Toronto was my one big regret when I was on the festival circuit with my last film, Power Trip. It was 2003 and the SARS scare shut down the Toronto Documentary Forum and kept a lot of filmmakers home. I was already at the San Francisco Film Festival, and decided to cancel the trip to Toronto.