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May 14,2006 - May 21,2006 |
Italian nomads debut at the Hot Docs festival
North America's largest documentary film event unleashes in T.O.
By Angela Baldassarre
Originally Published: 2006-04-30
As North America's largest documentary film festival Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival has emerged in 13 years to become one of Toronto's most important cinematic events.
This year the festival screens 99 documentaries from 22 countries, including Italy. The sole entry from the boot-shaped land - not renowned for its documentary films - is Tizza Covi and Rainer Frimmel's Babooska, about a circus family. Babooska has just turned 20, and she lives like a nomad with her husband, two sisters and her parents as they tour small Italian towns with their acts. It's not an easy life, nor one with a clear future, and the cameras are little more that flies on the wall as the lifestyle is exposed in all its honesty and rawness.
As with all major film festivals, Hot Docs is divided into different programmes. The Canadian Spectrum is dedicated, of course, to local works and the one I saw was Larry Weinstein's arresting Mozartballs, a unique tribute to the influence Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has had on certain people. There's the astronaut who brought Mozart memorabilia into space, and the woman who believes she's possessed by Mozart's spirit; the man who created a computer programme that creates new Mozart compositions; and the Swiss schoolteacher who's famously obsessed with the late composer.
Another Canadian doc that comes highly recommended is Nick Bicanic and Jason Bourque's Shadow Company, about the over 20,000 private soldiers that are currently fighting in Iraq. The film takes a look at these unique contractors and their impact on world events today. This year's Canadian Focus is on Serge Guigere featuring screenings of six of the filmmaker's documentaries.
Another programme is the International Showcase, where movies from around the world are featured. From Israel comes Ibtisam Ma'arana's harrowing Badal, the fascinating but disturbing tale of arranged swap marriages. Umm Wajih has married off her 10 children to siblings of another family; but when her widowed son and daughter are in need of spouses, her matchmaking takes on odd consequences.
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