At this point, I am so glad I am a week behind on catching up on Bomb Girls, because currently, I am not ready to watch the final episode and say goodbye to the girls until who knows when. So knowing that I currently have one more episode to get through delights me to…
Hot Docs: Maidentrip – Jillian Schlesinger
Laura Dekker wants to sail around the world. Alone. She’s 14. (When I was 14 I had a ridiculously early curfew – RIDICULOUSLY(!) – and wasn’t allowed to do a lot of after school activities, and we were living on a 23 square mile island!) 519 Days, 27,000 nautical miles. Alone. No support crew, no follow…
Hot Docs: Valentine Road – Marta Cunningham
This is another one of those cases where I wish I was a better writer, because nothing I can come up with could possibly cover the gamut of emotions and questions and reactions to this amazing documentary. It’s something I feel everyone should see, and talk about, and then see again. I started my…
Hot Docs: When I Walk – Jason DaSilva
When director Jason DaSilva is suddenly stricken with a severe form of multiple sclerosis, everything changes. Everything about his exterior reality becomes more difficult – and sometimes impossible – and is in constant battle with his internal reality, which feels as though he should still be able to do all the things he could…
Hot Docs: Fatal Assistance – Raoul Peck
Fatal Assistance is a complex film discussing the nature of foreign aid in disaster situations and its actual practice, Peck gives the viewer a glaring indictment of the actions of international aid organizations and their impact on Haiti after the horrific earthquake of 2010. He shows us a broken system. Instead of funneling the aid…
Hot Docs: Good Ol’ Freda – Ryan White
I became a Beatles fan in 1988, my junior year at Mt. St. Agnes academy, and I voraciously hunted down the albums on vinyl, I read books, and watched Help! and A Hard Day’s Night repeatedly. I had the music books for everything they recorded, but even then I knew I wasn’t the biggest fan,…
Defiance S01E03 – The Devil In The Dark
Tonight on Showcase the town of Defiance has a new problem to deal with… Hell Bugs. I love this episode’s intro, as the first victim changes from his everyday shoes, to a pair of ADIDAS that he’s traded for and has kept in near mint condition, you know he cleans them after every run……
Hot Docs: Dragon Girls – Inigo Westmeier
Even a late start and sound issues couldn’t ruin this doc that screened last night at the Royal. The entire audience was swept up in the opening shot, which features a massive parade ground and a huge rush of hundreds, no thousands (35,000 – to be a little more exact) kung fu students running in…
Hot Docs: Our Nixon – Penny Lane
Oh Mr. Nixon. Last night the Royal screened Our Mr. Nixon by Penny Lane, and it proved to be an entertaining, occasionally angering, and often humorous look at one of the most infamous of all American presidents. After the Watergate scandal the federal government seized over 500 reels of super8 film and kept it locked away for…
Hot Docs: The Ghosts In Our Machine – Liz Marshall
Jo-Anne McArthur is a talented and passionate photographer with a determination and drive rarely seen in people at all, let alone in someone so young. McArthur is also an activist, and uses her photographic skills to document and share her empathetic view of animals in captivity. From the appalling conditions of slaughterhouses and factory…
