249. International, Free or Nearly-free 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.

 

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.