In Mountain Queen: The Summits of Lhakpa Sherpa, director Lucy Walker charts the incredible life story of the Nepalese mountain climber Lhakpa Sherpa and her lifelong love affair with Mount Everest.
TIFF 2023 REVIEW: Boil Alert Promises to Protect Indigenous Waters
On a mission to travel the ‘Red Road’ and reconnect with her Mohawk heritage through the power of water, activist Layla Staats investigates the Indigenous reservations in North American that have been under a ‘boil alert,’ boil-water advisories because the water is unsafe to drink.
REVIEW: Hot Docs 2023 — We Are Guardians Rings the Bell on the Fate of the Amazon
Editors Note: This review is part of a series of reviews from the Hot Docs Festival that took place from April 27th to May 7th 2023 in Toronto, Canada. We Are Guardians follows a group of forest activists in Tenetehara as they protect their homes from illegal loggers despite the great risk to their own…
REVIEW: Hot Docs 2023 — Still: A Michael J Fox Movie Celebrates an Extraordinary Life in the Spotlight
Editors Note: This review is part of a series of reviews from the Hot Docs Festival that took place from April 27th to May 7th 2023 in Toronto, Canada. In Still: A Michael J Fox Movie, film and TV actor Michael J. Fox takes audiences through his life, from a Canadian youngster to a household…
REVIEW: Hot Docs 2023 – Memory and History Get Put to the Test in NATHAN-ism
Editors Note: This review is part of a series of reviews from the Hot Docs Festival that took place from April 27th to May 7th 2023 in Toronto, Canada. As a young adult, Nathan Hilu was tasked with guarding war criminals and perpetrators of the Holocaust. He spent his life documenting his experiences through his…
REVIEW: Hot Docs 2023 — Angel Applicant Examines Life, Art, and Terminal Illness
Editors Note: This review is part of a series of reviews from the Hot Docs Festival that took place from April 27th to May 7th 2023 in Toronto, Canada. In Angel Applicant, Ken August Meyer chronicles his life with systemic scleroderma, an autoimmune disease he shares with Swiss expressionist painter Paul Klee.
REVIEW: Hot Docs 2023 – Cynara Puts the Canadian Injustice System on Blast
[[Editors Note: This review is part of a series of reviews from the Hot Docs Festival that took place from April 27th to May 7th 2023 in Toronto, Canada.]] In Cynara, the Ali family challenges the criminal conviction of Cindy Ali, who was sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of her daughter,…
REVIEW: Hot Docs 2023 — Allihopa: The Dalkurd Story Shows Football is Universal
[[Editors Note: This review is the first in a series of reviews from the Hot Docs Festival that took place from April 27th to May 7th 2023 in Toronto, Canada.]] The documentary from Kurdish-Canadian director Kordo Doski, Allihopa: The Dalkurd Story follows the Dalkurd Football Club, which is made up of a group of Kurdish…
REVIEW: Hot Docs 2023 – All You See is a Melancholic Meditation on Immigration in the Netherlands
[[Editors Note: This review is part of a series of reviews from the Hot Docs Festival that took place from April 27th to May 7th 2023 in Toronto, Canada.]] All You See asks the question what happens when a person is stared at but never actually seen? Director Niki Padidar attempts to answer this question…
TIFF 2022 Review: You’ll Want to Swim with the Fishes Watching Patrick & the Whale
In the documentary Patrick & the Whale, marine videographer Patrick Dykstra explores the relationships whales have to each other and to humankind. While this is director and editor Mark Fletcher’s film debut, his background in nature documentary shows and film helped create a delightful and awe-inspiring visit underwater.
REVIEW: Lady Boss: The Jackie Collins Story Combines Harsh Reality and Lush Fantasies
For children of the ’80’s, Jackie Collins probably wrote That Book You Used To Sneak Off Your Parents Shelf to Read. But she was much more than that, and this fantastic CNN Documentary shows the impact she had on both pop culture and popular literature.
What’s Real and What Isn’t in Cursed Films
Horror has long been a worthy genre, but it’s lately been getting it’s analytical due. Streaming site Shudder has created excellent original documentaries, History of Horror and Horror Noire. The streak continues with five bite-sized episodes of Cursed Films. The series reexamines some of our more infamous pop culture memories about horror movies. With its…