Hot Docs 2006

The Hot Docs 2006 Poster (photography by Rannie Turingan)

I think this is my third year attending the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival. I like it because in comparison to the huge Toronto International Film Festival, it’s cheap, accessible, ego-free and consciousness-expanding. So once again, I’m off to see a bunch of real-life true stories (beware the following links: they’re to popup pages that have no navigation back to the Hot Docs site):

• The Railroad All Stars
• Beyond Beats: A Hip-Hop Head Weighs In On Manhood In Hip-Hop Culture
• Heavy Metal Jr.
• Runners High
• Raised To Be Heroes
• They Chose China
• Darkon
• His Big White Self
• The World According To Sesame Street
• F*ck
• Shadow Company
• Once In A Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos
• In A Soldier’s Footsteps

The festival takes place from April 28-May 7, and right in the middle of that is the huge wine tasting that I help organize every year. I am a crazy person.

You might notice that I’ve picked a couple of sports documentaries, two about soccer and one about running. In addition to those, in anticipation of the upcoming FIFA World Cup, the Goethe Institut is screening a series of films whose subject is soccer (football). In Toronto, they’re screening on Mondays during April and May, and I’m going to try to make it to a few of those as well. Good times.

P.S. I feel compelled to note that fellow GTABloggers Brett Lamb and Rannie Turingan are involved in Hot Docs as well. Brett seems to be in charge of all the print advertising, and this year, he recruited Rannie to take some great photos of directors that ended up on the poster. Excellent work, guys!