Hot Docs 2008

Vincent Hartley doesn't believe in paying more than $4 for a haircut, but what is reasonable to expect for $4? One thing is for sure; it's always an interesting experience. Cut to an inspired tuba score, this tongue-in-cheek short describes the challenges and benefits of the very cheapest trim. -Gisèle Gordon

On his 18th birthday, Ryan Knighton was told he would slowly go blind. Now, 15 years later, as he loses his last sliver of sight, he wants to travel to an ancient church in Germany to hear the note change in the 639-year-long organ performance of the John Cage composition "As Slow as Possible." He compares the note to the North Star, "something to navigate by" as he prepares to be a non-sighted person. Director Scott Smith accompanies him on his journey as he, like Cage, embraces chance encounters: he meets a man in a bear suit who has seen miracles in India, young tourists who think he's a rock star. When he gets lost on the way to the church, a young boy miraculously appears to guide him the final steps. As we hear the note change, we realize that the journey and the film are not so much about loss as about the inevitability of transformation. -Lynne Fernie

Bevel Up is a compelling documentary that follows outreach nurses through their day-to-day work as they bring healthcare directly to youth, sex workers, addicts and street people in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. As they work with people in alleys and seedy hotels, the nurses reflect on why they do this work, and about the respectful and nonjudgmental relationship so crucial in developing trust. That they, and the filmmakers, have earned this trust is apparent in the honest, wry and painful observations from both nurses and street people. Nettie Wild's award-winning documentaries have shown her to be one of Canada's most socially committed and skilled directors, a filmmaker who embeds her belief that "behind the politics in our communities lie human dramas that deeply affect our lives" into her films. While Bevel Up stands alone as a powerful vérité documentary, Wild has designed it to be the heart of a groundbreaking interactive DVD. -Lynne Fernie

This stunning montage of still photographs and moving images captures the beauty and brutality of the centuries-old Balinese practice of cockfighting. Traditionally, blood must be spilled to appease the bhutas, the evil spirits that live underground. The mesmerizing grace of ceremonial ritual is counterbalanced by the pandemonium of betting and the violence that soon follows. -Gisèle Gordon Co-presented with the Images Festival.

An intimate, gritty and poetic adventure following the lives of carnies, travelling fairground workers who have abandoned the security of the "real world" for the refuge and variety of the road. Deep pain is masked behind the huge grin of Hairy, the charismatic lesbian cotton-candy seller. Through her eyes, we see a world of unlikely Romeos, easy love and fierce friendships that obscure personal hardship and troubled pasts. Often from an underclass that has few options, the carnies struggle with addiction, loneliness, poverty and shattered dreams, finding solace only in the company of their own, who accept them as they are. Some have worked the fairs for more than 50 years, some were born or escaped into it, but all are gripped by the romance of the bright midway lights lyrically captured in lush interludes of Kodachrome Super 8. -Gisèle Gordon Co-presented with Women in Film and Television - Toronto.

On the way to cash in bottles for a few dollars, a group of homeless men turn into road warriors, careening their grocery carts down the death-defying hills of North Van at speeds of 70 kilometres per hour. There are dangers and sometimes a man is seriously injured. "That's life. Everybody in extreme sports gets bruises," says Big Al, a cart racer and hell raiser just out of prison. Director Murray Siple loves speed and made sports films until a car accident 10 years ago rendered him quadriplegic. So when he met these guys cashing in bottles at the supermarket, a friendship and mutual trust developed through the understanding that their disabilities make them invisible to society. Fergie, "pickeled as a newt," sings a wicked version of Tennessee Stud. Max barbecues a gourmet salmon in the liquor store parking lot. Al takes us on a tour of grocery stores to teach us how to choose exactly the right vehicle. In the tradition of the best documentaries, both subjects and filmmakers are revealed as fragile, funny and fully human. -Lynne Fernie

Falling in love with the wrong person can have devastating repercussions for Mohawks on the Kahnawake reserve in Quebec. Award-winning director Tracey Deer takes a courageous look at her home community, raising questions of identity, history and tradition through the lives of four inspiring Mohawk women. With warmth, depth and humour, stories unfold about the heartbreaking costs of "marrying out" of their Mohawk Nation, the challenges faced by kids of mixed backgrounds, and the conflict between love and preserving the fabric of their community. Having children with the men they love can mean forfeiting their offspring's legal native status, including the right to live with their families on the reserve. The film doesn't flinch from the history of Canada's racist and sexist government policy, including the brutal force used against them during the Oka Crisis in 1990. A groundbreaking film and a powerful story of the triumph of love and the human spirit. -Lynne Fernie Co-presented with imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival.

Every image tells a story in this sensitively crafted mosaic that captures the soul of everyday life in Havana. An irresistible soundtrack drives and narrates the camera's sensitive observations of the mundane and the unexpected with lyrics of love, longing and betrayal. A woman prepares a meal in her tiny kitchen, construction workers toil as people sing on the street, Fidel Castro appears on television playing the paternal role and majestic waves crash into a pier as the song cycle builds to a crescendo that always leads back to Cuba. This timely glimpse into the lives of ordinary Cubans under Castro was the last film made by director and DP, Fernand Bélanger. Knowing his time was limited, his camera is pulled to moments representing the essential pulse of life. Sadly, Belanger died before the film was finished, so the film was completed by his co-directors and longtime collaborators, Louise Dugal and Yves Angrignon. -Gisèle Gordon Co-presented with the Images Festival.

Six years ago, 65-year-old photographer Hai Tran fell in love with 3-D photography and is on a mission to share its wonders with as many people as possible. His passion for photography began as a child in Vietnam, continued when he fled with his young family in a small boat with three cameras and a suitcase of photographs, and culminated in Calgary where he eventually opened one of Canada's largest vintage camera stores. Director Siu Ta reveals the history of the family through Hai's wonderful photos as well as intimate and funny stories from his wife and children. Ta captures Hai's ebullience when a moose poses for his camera, his joy as he shows his work to strangers and his sadness as he is forced to close the store. Hai's charisma, volatile personality and love for photography light up this film. In English and Vietnamese with English subtitles. - Lynne Fernie