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Hot Docs has come and gone for another year. The 2017 edition of the event featured 228 films from across the planet, and we hope you had a chance to see at least some of the ones that interested you. There's plenty of coverage of the annual event in Toronto media, so out of the long list of films this year, our mission is always to find and highlight the films which focus on architecture and urban issues. This year we found a dozen of those, and from that batch there were a few award winners, as announced this weekend and earlier today.
Among the award winners is Unarmed Verses, taking the jury's award for Best Canadian Feature Documentary and $10,000. The story of growing up in a TCHC complex in North York that's in the throes of redevelopment, Charles Officer's film focuses on Francine Valentine, a 12-year-old who finds her voice during an uncertain time for herself, her family, and a whole neighbourhood that will have to move.
The Emerging Canadian Filmmaker award went to François Jacob for his film A Moon of Nickel and Ice, looking at life in the remote and normally restricted Russian industrial city of Norilsk. Things may have changed somewhat for the better since the days of the Soviet regime, but not enough for most people in this treeless Siberian outpost who mostly seem to be planning their escape.
Films we highlighted also did well in the Hot Docs Audience Award voting. While the winner—Rumble: The Indians Who Rocked The World—wasn't on our list, Unarmed Verses came in 8th, State of Exception came in 11th, Last Men in Aleppo came in 15th, and Shadowman came in 20th. The full list is here, and we hope that all of these films and more will be available to see again soon!
We'll aim to alert you to opportunities to see these films and the others we highlighted as they return to theatres or show up on television, but there are some films that are ready and waiting for you now.
If you haven't caught it yet, you might like to head down to the TIFF Bell Lightbox to catch the excellent Citizen Jane: Battle For The City while it is still on there. As of May 26, the film—which chronicles Jane Jacobs' fight to preserve Manhattan neighbourhoods in the face of Robert Moses' expressway plans, and which contains engrossing images of mid-20th century city life (and destruction)—moves to the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema at Bloor and Bathurst.
Of this year's batch of UT-highlighted Hot Docs films, the first to show up in a regular run will be Vancouver: No Fixed Address, where you just may be treated to a preview of Toronto's real estate scene, a year or two from now. (You think the real estate market is crazy here now? This film will give you a deeper knowledge of what's going on in Vancouver now: it's a notch or two crazier than here—for the moment!)
The Hot Docs Cinema will also be presenting a six-week course on Thursday mornings starting May 25 that may interest those of you with flexible schedules. Curious Minds: By Design tackles Design Movements in the 19th and 20th Centuries. Get more info at this link!
Happy cinema-going!
