HOTDOCS 2007 FILM FEST DIARY

4-29-2007—Vickie catches only one movie on the last day—Unspeakable—but it's a good one! 4-28-2007—Discovering the lovable Lovable, despite the emotional exhaustion. 4-27-2007—The dull best doc winner is luckily forgotten thanks to the fascinating Forbidden Lie$. 4-26-2007—Vickie hits a festing wall, gets apple in her craw, and sees Without the King. 4-24-2007—What? Work today? Vickie cries like a baby. 4-23-2007—The glorious and wrenching War/Dance has Oscar written all over it. 4-22-2007—HotDocs: where movies about fonts and chickens fill seats! 4-21-2007—Give us girls a break! We gotta pee! Speaking of girls, Girls, Rock! RAWKS! 4-20-2007—Vickie decides to trumpet the little films, like the emotional and wonderful Hear and Now. 4-19-2007—The fabulous In the Shadow of the Moon and an ode to line stragglers. Check out daily postings in Moviepie Musings!

Wait... what’s happening? It’s April, not September, and I’m film festivaling?!

Yes! Yes, I am!

Welcome to my inaugural HDD (HotDocs Diary) for the ‘Pie, where you’ll get the same day-by-day coverage that you enjoy come TIFF time. I ask that you bear with me, though, because I’m a HotDocs newbie (having only ever attended a handful of screenings before) and don’t know this fest nearly as well as I do its big, burly circus of a great-grandfather.

For the uninitiated, HotDocs (April 19th-29th) is an annual documentary film festival in Toronto, and it’s the largest festival of its kind on the continent. Like TIFF and the Worldwide Short Film Festival, HD has grown in recent years, and what was once a smallish fest has become an internationally recognized place for documentary filmmakers to bask in the glory of their medium.

2007 marks HD’s 14th year, and it promises to be a good one. I’d be willing to bet my shiny, new press pass that the hot ticket will be Manufacturing Dissent, a film that examines documentarian Michael Moore and promises to expose his questionable tactics, and I’ll be doing my darndest to snag a ticket. Personally—and this will come as a surprise to no one who’s ever read my past Moviepie writings—I’m totally psyched about Girls Rock!, which centers on a camp for girls who want to learn how to play rock music. Bring it on!

A tiny disclaimer before the fest gets underway: though I will be attending the fest, I won’t be doing it the same way I absorb myself in TIFF every year. Professional demands (on me) and the fest’s screening schedule mean I can’t see movies 24/7, and will likely only get to about 15-20 films if I’m lucky. I’m also going in with an open mind and a snark-free heart, so that I can see what HD has to offer me as a seasoned fest-goer. So as long as Mouthy Martha and I don’t cross paths, it (the fest and the diary) should be delightful all around.

As with my last two TIFF diaries, daily HDD entries will be posted over at Moviepie Musings so as to maintain their timeliness, and then reposted in a fancier, more professional format here thereafter.

So, happy reading! And happy HotDoc-ing!

- Vickie

FESTIVAL MOVIE REVIEWS:

Recommended! A red arrow means that Vickie rated the movie six (out of eight) slices or better.

The numbers following the title show Vickie's rating of the film; i.e. (5/8), means five out of a possible eight slices.

Coming Soon!