I have never met a lawyer who was not a fan of documentaries. It recently occurred to me that this may be because the documentary, although an artistic medium, is actually very similar in form to (what I will call) “legal story-telling.”
If you accept for a minute that for all its strutting of logic, age-old maxims and right answers, law is often just a compilation of narratives written and passed on, the similarities between the documentary and legal story-telling are striking: the focus in both is the story — be it about cracked pavement on a Tuesday afternoon, or an event of long-lasting continental importance.
There is also the similar story-telling method — in both, it’s factual, informative and unfalteringly substantiated. And finally, there is the editorializing, a shared trait that comes with being loyal to a specific point of view, and which that lends both documentaries and legal story-telling a unique kind of narrative power.
Except that in certain ways, documentaries are just better. They are visual, flexible, and tackle any subject matter with exhilarating abandon. They are able to make you feel as though you were right there — wherever there happens to be.
All of which is to say, simply, that there are many very good reasons to look forward to the latest edition of Hot Docs, which opens in a few short weeks. North America’s largest documentary festival, Hot Docs runs from April 26 to May 6 with a selection of 189 documentaries from 51 countries in 11 screening programs.
The full line-up of films is here.
There will also be a roster of conference sessions and market events, talks with documentary practitioners — including the renowned Hot Docs Forum, May 2 and 3 — and The Doc Shop. Opening night, April 26, will feature the Canadian premiere of Alison Klayman’s Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry, an up-close portrait of the renowned Chinese artist and activist — at the newly-renovated Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.
A handful of other intriguing Hot Docs:
- Lauren Greenfield’s The Queen Of Versailles, a portrait of an eccentric billionaire family facing the economic crisis;
- Nina Maria Paschalidou and Nikos Katsaounis’ Krisis – GR2011 – The Prism, a film which depicts Greece’s economic meltdown through the viewpoints of 14 photojournalists capturing the untold stories behind the crisis;
- We Are Legion, which explores the world of Anonymous, the “hacktivist” collective that is responsible for numerous acts of a new internet-based civil disobedience;
- Peter Gerdehag’s Women With Cows, the story of two sisters and their complicated relationship with a dozen cows;
- Louis Pepe and Keith Fulton’s Lost In La Mancha, which captures Terry Gilliam’s ill-fated attempt to film the Don Quixote story;
- Jian Du’s Made in China, a look at the lives of garment workers at Old Liu factory, one of 3,000 factories in Dongguan, China, known as the “Workshop of the World”;
- Jonah Bekhor and Zach Math’s The Final Member, which follows two volunteers willing to donate a human specimen to Iceland’s famous Penis Museum;
- Ra’anan Alexandrowicz’s The Law In These Parts, a glimpse into the Israeli legal minds behind the rules and regulations governing the occupied territories; and
- Omar Majeed and Ryan Mullins’ The Frog Princes, the story of a developmentally challenged theatre group’s struggle to mount an ambitious production
Hot Docs runs from April 26 to May 6, 2012 at select theatres across the city. Individual tickets are $14.50. Tickets to all late-night screenings (screenings after 11 p.m.) are $5. Tickets and passes can be purchased online, or in person at the Hot Docs Box Office located at 783 Bathurst Street.
Maria Gergin is a Toronto-based articling student.