Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Mercy Mercy: A Portrait of a True Adoption’ at the Scotiabank Theatre

Easily one of the most important documentaries on inter-country adoption, Mercy Mercy gives a rare look at all participants in the adoption process, including the parents who give their children up. Two loving Ethiopians parents, Sinkenesh and Hussen, have just been diagnosed with HIV and told they have only a year to live. They make the painful decision to give their two youngest children up for adoption, handing them over to a Danish family. In an emotional departure, the Danish family promises to stay in touch and the adoption agency agrees to broker the relationship. What seems like the best decision for the children becomes a series of tragic and painful events for all, unveiling that the well-being of children is not always the main priority in the adoption process. Greed, selfishness, unrealistic expectations and skewed cultural perspectives idealizing one way of life over another collide in this powerful story.

Review:   A friend of mine had seen this film over Hot Docs and encouraged me to see it.  Big mistake.  This docu is not a bad film.  It is what a true docu should be about.  It is upsetting and will not leave your mind even days after watching it.

For a world that thinks that picture perfect People magazine shots of Angelina Jolie and her adopted brood makes for an easy international adoptions – this is not always the case.  This film examines how a child’s cultural background could clash with their adoptive parents if the child and their parents are not properly supported.  Sometimes it is not all happiness and rainbows.  Sometimes there is grief that permeates and will grow into other pain and darkness at the hands of these lil people who don’t have the voice and the strength to verbalize it to their new parents.  The kids who are promised the new life by these adults are sometimes the forgotten causalities.

This film will leave you with more questions than cookie cutter answers of what international adoption entails for families, governments and adoption agencies.

I won’t say much more.  I encourage you to watch this film online or when it comes to your town.

http://www.hotdocs.ca/film/title/mercy_mercy_a_portrait_of_a_true_adoption

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘The Punk Singer’ at the Scotiabank Theatre

It’s impossible to write this film description without putting on one of my most treasured CDs and turning up the volume—on Bikini Kill. At long last, we have the highly anticipated documentary on Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill and Le Tigre, who became synonymous with the riot grrrl movement and one of her generation’s most outspoken feminist icons. Through 20 years of archival footage and very personal interviews, director Sini Anderson brings to light an intimate side of the fearless Hanna, whose music and leadership still inspires today. A powerhouse San Francisco performance poet, producer and director, as well as co-founder and artistic director of Sister Spit, Anderson shares with Toronto audiences a never-before seen view of this punk icon in the international premiere of The Punk Singer.

Review:  As a teen I grew up with skater boys in my high school.  They introduced me to the Circle Jerks, The Clash, Henry Rollins and punk rock.  They always treated me respectfully and to them I was just one of the boys.  If they could only see me now.  Ha!

I was a Mod Girl trying to carve out her path and find her identity.  The boys I knew liked what I liked and were very ‘straight up’ in their confidence.  The girls I knew – were not anywhere close to where I wanted to be in terms of style, dress, interests and of course musical taste.

Enter Kathleen Hanna.  Even though I didn’t know her as a teen growing up in the early 90’s I was familiar with her aesthetic and her message.  The first time I was ‘introduced’ to Kathleen was in Sonic Youth’s ‘Bull in the Heather’ video.  She was all sass, chubby cheeked, comfortable in her body, punk rock and of course riot grrrl.  I was intrigued.

As Joan Jett says in the docu, ‘Kathleen started breaking down the rules of what girls want to be’.  I wanted to be my own girl and have a strong voice.  Kathleen started to give me permission to be my self at 19 when I started listening to her band Bikini Kill.  I was hardly a militant riot grrrl, but I did like their message of confidence, strength and empowering women.

Kathleen was a true trailblazer for my generation of women who knew not a lot about Gloria Steinem and who were unsure what it meant to be a feminist.

In her valley girl voice, homemade dresses, leggings, knitted beanie caps and cool shades, Kathleen will take you to her humble beginnings in Olympia, her part in inspiring Kurt Cobain to write ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’, sweet glimpses of her falling in love with Beastie Boys, Adam Horovitz, their home in the Catskills and how she birthed a scene for women to feel free to be a feminist in their creative, professional and personal identities.

We also see Kathleen’s vulnerable side when speaking of her illness due to undiagnosed Lyme disease and how it took her out of the scene that she loved.  For a woman so much in control this disease forced her to heal on its terms and remind her that she herself is not invincible.  That said it proved to be a reminder for her to see how healing her talent is in inspiring to keep her chin up in adversity.

http://www.hotdocs.ca/film/title/punk_singer

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Remote Area Medical’ at the Scotiabank Theatre

While living in the Amazon jungle, Stan Brock was inspired to organize volunteer pop-up clinics in remote regions of the world, an effort he called Remote Area Medical. That was three decades ago. Little did he know that today 60 per cent of his organization’s efforts would focus, not on faraway locales, but on his adopted country, the US. This surprising film tells the story of a three-day clinic held in the USA, in Bristol, Tennessee, a mere 115 miles from RAM headquarters. Volunteer doctors, nurses and support workers joined forces to deliver basic medical, dental and eye care to hundreds who would otherwise have none. Patients came in droves days in advance, sleeping in cars, tents or on the ground with no cover. “We cut back on places like Guatemala, Honduras, Dominican Republic, Africa…simply because we’re overwhelmed with the need here,” says Stan. “Welcome to America.”

Review:  This film is the true emotional rollercoaster ride that is Hot Docs.  I had no intentions of watching ‘Remote Area Medical’ but it was sandwiched between two films at the same theatre I was in one afternoon – I thought why not just check it out?  I’m glad I did.

Not only did I cry (and I never cry) but I immediately was thankful to my South Asian parents for settling in Canada.  Why?  We are blessed as Canadians with a healthcare system that benefits us in the moment and in our long term health and wellbeing.

Catching a glimpse of a man in the doc stating that he was unable to kiss his wife in fear that the pressure would make the teeth in her mouth break was alarming.  Watching people having their teeth pulled due to decay was horrific.  Bearing witness to an intimate moment where a woman was being told she could potentially have breast cancer was making me want to check my phone to see if I still had my doctor’s new phone number.

The backdrop is an obscenely obese race track – symbolic of the ‘American Dream’.  But the people who line up early in the a.m. are not at all offended by its grandiosity.  These people can’t afford to see races in this race track.  They have other things on their mind.  These people are tired but not too tired to fight for what they need in healthcare.  Their government is absent just when you think a country like the USA would have their people’s back.

The people can’t afford to see a doctor nor a dentist and for some they haven’t in more than a decade.  These are good working folk just looking to have their medical needs taken care off by more good people there to volunteer their services to a cause that is alarmingly bigger than the racetrack it is being housed in.

Not at all an easy watch but a disturbingly surprising viewing.

http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/remote_area_medical

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Pussy Riot—A Punk Prayer’ at the Scotiabank Theatre

Meet Pussy Riot, the feminist punk collective that’s openly challenging the Russian Orthodox Church and President Vladimir Putin. They became infamous for invading the altar of St. Christ Church in Moscow and shocking worshippers with a raunchy song about a sexual coupling between Putin and the church. The state’s response was swift and brutal. Three members of the collective were sentenced to three years in a penal colony. Such harsh punishment for a little disorderly conduct served as a clear demonstration of the church’s influence on the state and the state’s influence on the judiciary and brought Pussy Riot global attention. Filmmakers Mike Lerner and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s documentary goes deep into Pussy Riot’s guiding principles and comes up with a perfect marriage of content and style. The film received the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award at Sundance.

Review:  I caught the last sold out screening of ‘Pussy Riot—A Punk Prayer’ at the Scotiabank Theatre last week.  The ‘Rush’ line weaved around the block in anticipation for some good doc viewing.  It was dead exciting.

This film was very high on my list of doc’s to catch during Hot Docs.  Why?  Mainly because I didn’t know enough about what the girl’s agenda was about.  I couldn’t wait to absorb the intimate interviews, video clips of the group’s hit-and-run performances, their individual biographies that conditioned them to the cause, supportive parents with insight on their mission and most of all the amazing trial footage that the film makers were able to procure from the Russian government themselves.   If the Russian government only knew where that footage would end up. 

The film starts off by showing us the viewer the girl’s prep work in staging a demonstration inside the Russian Orthodox Church.  Controversial?  Sure.  It was extremely provocative to watch masked raging women in colourful ski maps, matronly dresses with leggings, combat boots – rocking out to song lyrics that state ‘Virgin Mary, Mother of God, put Putin away, Black robe, golden epaulettes, All parishioners crawl to bow, The phantom of liberty is in heaven, Gay-pride sent to Siberia in chains.  In order not to offend His Holiness, Women must give birth and love.’

Directors, Maxim Pozdorovkin and Mike Lerner began covering the band just before the radical guerrilla artists went on trial for playing God’s Shit in the church, but the women themselves had been taping every performance – testimony to their sense that what they were doing was important.

Charismatic arrestees Masha (Maria Alyokhina), Katia (Yekaterina Samutsevich) and especially Nadia (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova) and coverage of the trial and demonstrations both for and against Pussy Riot give this doc electrifying energy.

Most of the revealing moments during the doc come from the girl’s candid conversations as prisoners behind the glass of the court’s media scrum. Like caged animals they used the court to further their impromptu performance art.

The court scene was a farce and hysterical – this was a true testament to how lucky we are here in the west.  We are a privileged fatted bunch who are able to protest peacefully (ahem) for our headaches.  Never would we be exposed to a ridiculous court room saga that borders on an art installation and a Shriner’s circus act gone horribly wrong.  That would just never happen.

Was the film shocking?  Sure.  I guess it would depend who you asked.  I saw a handful of seniors walk out of the packed theatre when the conceptual art sex scene demonstration that Nadia (Nadezhda Tolokonnikova) participated in early on in her activist career.  That was nothing.

Behind the mask the girls are indeed militant, full of pouty lips, sexy girly sassiness with dollops of political anarchy.  Malcolm McLaren would be proud.

http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/pussy_riot_a_punk_prayer

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Mistaken for Strangers’ at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

It’s 2010 and indie rock band The National are flying high in their career, about to embark on their largest international tour yet. The five-person band consists of two pairs of brothers and frontman Matt Berninger. Enter Matt’s brother Tom, a budding horror filmmaker who wants to make a documentary film about the band. With a camera in hand, he joins the tour in the role of crew member. Starting out with big ambitions and Matt’s full support, it’s not long before he jeopardizes his position by slacking off on the job, getting drunk, oversleeping and dropping the ball. What starts out as a music doc offers an earnest, behind-the-scenes look at Tom’s endeavours and subsequent tumble from grace? Mistaken for Strangers is an endearing story about brothers, false starts, perseverance and defining your own success.

Review:  I have been trying my best to avoid listening to The National for ages.  In the past I found them to be Radiohead-wannabes.  When I saw that their docu, ‘Mistaken for Strangers’ was playing at Hot Docs late one night – I thought I give it a go after seeing one of their performances on Jimmy Fallon the week before.  The song I saw was ‘Sea Of Love’ off their upcoming latest “Trouble Will Find Me” out on May 20/21, 2013.  Perfectly, timed – this docu will sure to make a National fan very happy.

I found this docu to be funny, very relatable and a neat glimpse into fragmented sibling relationships.  The elder sibling is more successful while the younger is struggling with his own confused internal dialogue.

Director, Tom Berninger at the screening of ‘Mistaken for Strangers’ at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema. April 2013.

Watching the docu I couldn’t believe that Tom (the filmmaker) was actually allowed to keep footage of Matt’s (the leader singer of The National) torment.  Once the film concluded I saw that Matt had produced the film so perhaps some of the shenanigans that ensued during the course of the film were done for dramatic effect.  Or is this the real Matt?  Regardless it was entertaining.  An interesting portrait of the artist.

The line of questioning that Tom poses to band members was haphazardly genuine.  He is no journalist.  Nor does he claim to be.  Your heart cannot help to go out to this chap.  As the viewer you feel taken a long for the ride when Matt encourages Tom to come along on the band’s tour of Europe.  The wide eyeness, the fatigue and the on the road life – is tantalizing but unrealistic to this average joe.  There is a lot of giddiness at the hands of Tom, strain with his roadie functions riddled with self-doubt and his own questioning of his place, professionally, creatively and personally which loudly parallels alongside his brother’s booming stardom.

This film is an intimate snapshot about brothers first.  The music of The National is a wonderful backdrop in reflection on what you are viewing between them and a powerful reminder on what you may need to work on with your siblings when you leave the theatre.

http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/mistaken_for_strangers

http://www.americanmary.com/

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Fatal Assistance’ at the Isabel Bader Theatre

Haitian-born director and former Minister of Culture Raoul Peck’s newest film is an indictment of Western aid to Haiti. After the massive earthquake that struck in January 2010, killing an estimated 250,000 and leaving 1.2 million homeless, a flood of aid and agencies arrived at Haiti’s door. Some had an agenda to help; others had an agenda to protect their own assets and interests. Three years later, what state has this aid left the Haitian people in? Peck’s powerful and thoroughly investigative film shows all the levels at which aid, NGOs and political ploys have left Haiti in turmoil. He unveils the true face of international aid as a failure full of organizational ineptitude, broken promises and hidden agendas. This must-see film paints a vivid picture that the “aid” of foreign powers is more realistically an occupation.

Review:  I tend to stay away from films about natural disasters and most importantly how countries and NGO’s misappropriate funds whilst the people who have lost their lives, homes and families suffer.  This docu is upsetting and will make you second guess who you choose to donate your money to the next time a natural disaster occurs.  That said a worthy watch and extremely informative especially if you are a newbie to these types of docu’s and want to learn more.

http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/fatal_assistance

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Blood Brother’ at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema

Rocky Braat’s first trip to India was a journey of self-discovery. While there, he visited a care centre for women and children living with HIV and AIDS. It proved to be a life-transforming encounter. Despite never really liking children, Braat returns to Pittsburgh announcing he’ll be moving to India to work at the centre. Bewildered by Braat’s decision, director and best friend Steve Hoover decides to follow him on his journey. Expecting to find him making all the wrong decisions, Hoover discovers a very different story, and both men find their lives and those of the children are changed forever. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award for US Documentary at Sundance, Blood Brother is a story of true conviction and dedication that reaches beyond doing aid work for personal gratification

Review:  This film will change your life in a tiny way.  There are some gorgeous life lessons that you will be bound to take away in a goody bag.  I’m a helping professional in my everyday life and after watching this film I didn’t feel I was doing enough in my work in terms of helping people.  Talk about a set up.  Now that said, any film that is going to get me thinking is a tidy investment.

I questioned Rocky’s journey to India – hmmm, was it the fragmented family life in the U.S. making him run away to find a family in India amongst the poorest and suffering?  Was this more about him than the cause?  Perhaps.  My guard was up.

I always feel a lil anxious when watching films with these themes.  I wondered if the director was going to romance me with the dream of the ‘white knight’ coming to save the lowly disenchanted in a land far away.

Instead I was offered a film to my heart that was filled with beautiful shots of India, its people, the true heroism of Rocky and his unabashed serving and mentoring of the youth which were shunned by society.  We the viewer can’t help but feel humbled by the youth’s stories, Rocky’s innocence in drawing them out of their isolation, he meeting them where they were in the moment,  learning their culture, eating with them, playing with them, nurturing them and most of all loving them.

The docu shows us his return back to the U.S. and his first visit being to a local Indian grocers.   I really loved these small vignettes.  Evidence to prove to me that he was indeed the real deal and was transforming.

Upon his return to India we see Rocky delving deeper into helping  youth, falling in love with a local Indian girl and nursing a young boy back from the dead.

The beauty of the film in its essence will take you deep into this young man’s soul, his dedication to being helpful, being present, self-less and extending unconventional love to his new family far away from his own.

http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/blood_brother

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘I Am Breathing’ at the Isabel Bader Theatre

Neil Platt has a lovely life. He’s popular and funny; he has wonderful friends and a fulfilling career. He meets a beautiful, talented woman who loves him. They build a home together and have a gorgeous baby boy. Shortly after his son’s birth, Neil notices a slight difficulty when walking. Within a year, he transforms from a healthy young father to being completely paralyzed from the waist down. Knowing the disease will progress, Neil attempts to create a memory box for his son while he still has the ability to speak, but how can he anticipate what his son will need in a future that’s quickly being taken away? As Neil contemplates the final moments of his life against the first few of his son, we’re a privileged witness to his remarkable serenity, insight and humour. His extraordinary and artful exploration of his own years illuminates the fragile power of ours that remain.

Review:  This film is an immense wake up call for us to examine the relationships we have in our lives with friends and family and to embrace the time we have with them.  Indeed we can pass at any time or we can have our lives take a turn like Neil Platt who developed Motor Neurone Disease (MND) at the age of 34 with a ticking time clock attached to our body.

This documentary invites us the viewer into the present to view Neil Platt as a sassy conversational man confined to a wheelchair and a breathing device.  He tells us his tale as we follow his life as a young attractive Scottish teen, to that of an architect in London, meeting, wooing, marrying his wife and finally bringing a child into the world.  He was diagnosed with this medical condition a year after his son was born.

The film captures moments in time as Neil always with a sweet sense of humour keeps his gorgeous wife on her toes as she spoon-feeds him, carries him between rooms with the help of a carrier and does the same with her baby son.  An interesting parallel.  There are moments where we view Neil as he listens to his wife and son in another room playing or seeing them in the garden enjoying the Scottish winter landscape.

The transformation and empowerment of Neil’s case is seen through the blogging of his journey from health into his body’s disintegration.  One cannot help but feel chills and tears as we see another human being’s will to live in the moment  continually being tested by his brains muted signals to the rest of his body.  The memory box that Neil creates for his son consists of a leather jacket, various jewellery mementos, a hat and a teddy along with other heirlooms are one of his focuses as he begins to close off the outstanding remnants of his life.

Throughout this film even though it has a sombre tone it still proves to be an empowering piece.  A wonderful reminder that our lives are too short and that some of us will never had the privilege of saying good bye when our time comes as we breathe our last breath in sickness or in health.

http://www.hotdocs.ca//film/title/i_am_breathing

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Occupy: the Movie’ at Hart House

If Inside Job made 2008’s economic meltdown comprehensible (if not infuriating), Occupy: The Movie provides a sensational sequel by focusing on the social movement that set up shop at Wall Street’s front door. Occupy succeeded in captivating our collective consciousness and providing hope for positive change, but its visibility vanished as quickly as it appeared, leaving questions of its effectiveness in its wake. Tackling the complexity of how the movement manifested and providing cogent context to what caused its genesis, Corey Ogilvie presents a clear and compelling account of the Zuccotti Park settlement without getting lost in empty slogans, violent conflicts or proselytizing activists. Featuring key interviews with Kalle Lasn (Adbusters), philosopher Cornel West, journalist Chris Hedges and leading organizers from the Occupy Wall Street movement, Occupy: The Movie isn’t propaganda for the cause, but an expert analysis of one of the biggest American social movements since the civil rights era.

Review:  I had some pretty high hopes for this film.  Indeed the film had amazing insight of the scene at Zuccotti Park.  It was nice to see another perspective as oppose to what I have seen in the media.

This film was heavy on the financial and legal jargon – if you don’t have a thorough legal and financial background (like me) this film albeit is followable – at times I felt myself saying ‘huh’?

As the viewer we are shown the roots of where the Occupy movement started by examining Wall Street and the government’s roles, we were given a comprehensive background on the Black Bloc, how the media brought even more public confusion than it did good in reporting the truth behind the cause, a thorough background on the choices the Occupy organizers made while also unveiling these key players.

This film could have read a lot clearer by stripping away a lot of the interviews and condensing some of the protests.  If you have seen close to an hour of it, you get the gist.

Frankly the film was too long.  They lost me an hour into it.

http://www.hotdocs.ca/film/title/occupy_the_movie

Hot Docs Film Festival: ‘Downloaded’ at the Isabel Bader Theatre

In 1998, teenage hacker Shawn Fanning cracked the code that enabled peer-to-peer file sharing online. In 1999, he partnered with his friend and fellow teen Sean Parker (later of Facebook fame) to launch a little service known as Napster. The music-sharing website transformed not only the music industry, but technology as a whole. It sparked a revolution and became the touchstone of a new, digital generation. Filmmaker Alex Winter provides ideal access to Fanning and his collaborators, as well as to a roster of famous musicians including Henry Rollins, Snoop Lion, Beastie Boy Mike D and Public Enemy Chuck D, who are only too happy to give their opinions and insights on free downloading and copyright infringement. Downloaded deftly charts the rise and fall of Napster’s creators, from idealistic kids to vilified pirates, and places Napster in its rightful context as a pioneering platform that changed the world.

Review:  Even though I was around for Napster in my 20’s I never downloaded music mainly because I was afraid of getting ‘caught’.  I was too busy living with my folks and saving all my coins to go to the record store and buy my stack of cd’s every month.  It was an innocent time.  Now days I rarely buy music buy when I do – it’s all about iTunes.  Let’s face it as stated in ‘Downloaded’ why go to the music store when I can grab my songs off the internet?  Well and yes pay for them as responsible adult.

‘Downloaded’ was a fantastic film to watch.  It was even better seeing ‘Bill’ from ‘Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure’ up close.  Who didn’t watch that film as a teen growing up in the grunge ridden 90’s?  All grown up – not so blonde haired anymore, looking a bit worn but with a light blue sweater, denim jeans – Alex Winter offered up a true labour of love film spanning from 2002 to present.

A VH1 film with its slick film making, awesome film footage and celebrity archival interviews – it was indeed like picking up a glossy tech magazine circa 1999.  Even the ample footage of the key Napster Players (Fanning and Parker) along with other chaps we may have not known about makes the film not only a worthy watch but a ‘must watch’.  It was interesting to see that some of the teens now men went on to start Facebook, MySpace, Google and Spotify.  Forget ‘The Social Network’ and Zuckerberg – ‘Downloaded’ gives you the real back story on relationships, the drama, the legal pitfalls with not only Metallica but with the American music industry and the government.

The film was funny, upsetting with the loss of Fanning and Parker’s business as just mere youth all within one creative digital dream.  The interviews with Fanning, now aged and looking a little more frat boy chunky as opposed to the fresh faced cutie from the Cape was aching with sheer love of his work, loss, hope and the discomfort of re-traumatizing himself whilst reliving his past.

Parker read a little cockier and ‘salesman’ like than Fanning.  I guess Timberlake was indeed the perfect casting in ‘The Social Network’ after all.

Lastly, overall the film was lengthy and could have been cut down by at least 20 minutes and felt a bit erratic at times.  But this is a VH1 production so – yeah.  That said, I really hope our current generation and generations to come watch this film as a testament to how the whole digital landscape was created.  This film is an artifact in our technological history.

http://www.hotdocs.ca/film/title/downloaded