A look at the immigrant experience in Israel, a comedian’s creative struggles and the making of a groundbreaking documentary are among the hottest tickets for North America’s biggest non-fiction film festival.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival – or Hot Docs, for short – will screen these titles from April 23 to May 3 in Toronto.
Of the 210 films at Hot Docs this year, 59 are Canadian productions or co-productions. Three from that list of national titles are comedies from Jewish Canadian directors.
Calgary-born comedy scribe Robert Cohen, of The Big Bang Theory and The Simpsons fame, will premiere his directorial debut, Being Canadian. In that film, Cohen returns to his homeland to ask many of the country’s funniest comics – including Martin Short, Mike Myers and Seth Rogen – what it means to be Canadian.
At press time only limited tickets were available for Being Canadian’s screenings on April 25 and 26.
Another national funnyman, Howie Mandel, is behind the camera with the film Committed. The doc focuses on Mandel’s friendship with rising star Vic Cohen, an aspiring comedian struggling to find his creative voice.
Meanwhile, Toronto filmmaker Billie Mintz is a co-director of Jesus Town USA, having its international premiere on April 24. The film is about a religious Oklahoma community’s annual re-enactment of the Passion Play. When the actor who plays Jesus Christ retires, the community has to search for a new performer.
Aside from lighter fare, Hot Docs will screen a few riveting Israel-set films.
“The goal for the festival is knowing the diversity of Toronto and the curiosity of Torontonians, not just in their own specific culture but to learn more about the world,” says Hot Docs programmer Alexander Rogalski.
he Fear, an Israel co-production. The doc focuses on the relationship between Yigal Amir – the assassin of Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin – and the woman he fell in love with during his prison sentence.
One must-see doc is the fascinating Censored Voices, which received rave reviews at Sundance earlier this year. Mor Loushey’s film features exclusive audio clips with Israeli soldiers after the Six Day War in 1967.
Those recordings had been censored for many years, but are now available. The comments from Israeli soldiers are startling and insightful, exploring how the war corrupted these young men.
Another new film from Israel, Mussa, explores the struggle of a mute, 12-year-old Sudanese refugee living in Tel Aviv. The title character lives in squalor yet attends a private school.
Anat, Goren’s doc, premiering on April 24, looks at one boy’s perspective of Israeli economic disparity and the immigrant experience.
Meanwhile, Rogalski highly recommends Lanzmann, a 40-minute doc about director Claude Lanzmann and his experiences making the remarkable film Shoah. That nearly 10-hour doc about the Holocaust, released in 1985, took Lanzmann 12 years to make.
“His story relates to so many documentary filmmakers who dedicate their lives to sharing very difficult stories,” Rogalski tells The CJN. “He didn’t want to ignore so many important facets of [the Holocaust]. He needed to complete it for others.”
Lanzmann’s world premiere at Hot Docs will mark the 30th anniversary of Shoah.
Meanwhile, this year marks 10 years since the release of The Last Mogul, Barry Avrich’s acclaimed doc about Hollywood studio head Lew Wasserman.
A screening on April 26 will celebrate the film’s anniversary, and will be followed by a panel discussion with industry experts.
For more information visit the Hot Docs website
