249. International, Free or Nearly-free Hot Docs

 

Ai Wei Wei Never Sorry . Image courtesy Hot Docs.

Toronto hosts North America’s largest documentary film festival April 26-May 6 and yes, some people can get in free or almost free. There are films from 51 countries, including documentaries set in Guyana, Africa, Central Asia, and Eastern Europe & Russia.

Individual tickets costs $14.50 and are available now. Tickets to all screenings (after 11 pm) $5. Courtesy of Scotiabank, students (with valid ID) and seniors (60+) can attend screenings before 6 pm for free if space is available. If you don’t fit these categories and times, you can always volunteer and hope for a film you want. See: http://bit.ly/f1fWnG|volunteer opportunities.

I don’t know about you, but film festivals have always intimidated me by their large numbers of choices. Consequently, I don’t go. This time, I found a handy link on the Hot Docs web-site: http://www.hotdocs.ca/schedule. Under: “Browse by subjects,” I could at least narrow the field to a manageable few, in our case, by geographic areas of interest.

 

Bob Marley. Image courtesy Hot Docs.

There you can at least read the stories of the films for free. “Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry” is about Chinese human rights activist and artist. “Marley” appears to be the definitive biography of reggae artist Bob Marley. “Ballroom Dancer” looks at a Latin ballroom champion’s ambitious comeback plans. “5 Broken Cameras” follows a West Bank village for five years as a Palestinian family and their lives change.

Now, all we need is the time to see these and half a dozen others.

Copyright © 2012 Ruth Lor Malloy.

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