Hot Docs. Preview.

I personally may be flying from Seattle, Washington to Toronto, Ontario, but at this year's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which runs from April 19 through 29, people will go to the moon.

The opening night film is David Sington's In the Shadow of the Moon, the story of the Apollo astronauts. As the largest documentary festival in North America, Hot Docs will also take audiences to World War II, (Nanking, Wings of Defeat), Darfur (The Devil Came on Horseback), rock and roll camp (Girls Rock!), Andy Warhol's Factory (A Walk Into the Sea), a Chinese circus (Circus School), the voting booth (a special program lineup called Doc the Vote!) and the very specifically titled To Costco and Ikea Without A Car (it's a five-minute short, but it's as intriguing as a lunar landing as far as I'm concerned.)

With a 129 documentaries to choose from, there's definitely something for everyone. The opening weekend includes the world premiere of Let's All Hate Toronto, a look at the hows and whys Canadians love to hate their most metropolitan city; Zoo, the sex-with-a-horse doc that premiered at Sundance 2007 and surprised many with its poetic and non-exploitative take on the subject; Yoga, Inc., an examination of the westernization of the ancient practice; Helvetica, a documentary about the world's most used font and its role in history; King Corn, the story of two college buddies who decide to try their hand at growing America's most productive and government-subsidized grain; and Miss Universe 1929, a profile of the only crowned Miss Universe from Austria, as told by her cousin Marci.

The festival will also showcase a retrospective of work by Canadian documentary filmmaker Kevin McMahon (The Falls, In the Reign of Twilight, Intelligence, McLuhan's Wake), and recognize Dutch filmmaker Heddy Honigmann (Crazy, Metal and Melancholy, Private) with an Outstanding Achievement Award.

Posted by dwhudson at April 19, 2007 1:08 AM