A Toronto filmmaker makes an animated documentary about his family in Shamattawa, Manitoba, in Endless Cookie. Seth Scriver receives funding to make a documentary animation featuring stories narrated by Seth’s indigenous half-brother Peter. Seth travels from Toronto to the First Nations reserve of Shamattawa in Northern Manitoba to record the stories with Peter. However, this…
The Chinese artist and activist is asked to direct a new production of Puccini’s opera in Ai Weiwei‘s Turandot. In 2018, the Rome Opera asked Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei to direct a new contemporary production of Giacomo Puccini’s China-set opera Turandot. This is a full circle moment for Ai Weiwei, who once appeared…
Canada’s history of 2SLGBTQI+ activism is explored in Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance. There was a time when it was illegal to be homosexual in Canada. The first steps towards acceptance came in December 1967 when Pierre Elliot Trudeau passed a law making private acts between two consenting adults legal. However, this was…
The problems plaguing the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival are continuing. With the film festival’s financial challenges continuing, Hot Docs has announced a temporary hiatus of its year-round programming. The festival’s flagship venue, The Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, still known affectionately to many under its former name of the Bloor Cinema, is scheduled…
The dark side of digital advertising is exposed in The Click Trap. Tech giants such as Google and Facebook have effectively turned themselves into advertising companies, by tracking users around the web and sharing relevant ads. However, there is a dark side to this digital advertising model, as advertisers inadvertently find themselves funding misinformation or…
French filmmaker Emmanuel Reyé investigates the worst accident in the history of motor racing, which took the lives of two of his uncles in Le Mans 55: The Unauthorized Investigation. On June 11, 1955, during the 24 Hours of Le Mans race, the Mercedes driven by French driver Pierre Levegh crashed into the stands, killing…
A Mongolian woman splits her time being a mother and a member of a Nationalist gang in Daughter of Genghis. Gerel Byamba is a Mongolian woman, who leads an all-woman Nationalist gang, specifically fighting against prostitution, in a quest for Mongolian purity. However, during the day, Gerel is mother to her young son Temuulen. When…
The lives of the youth of Baghdad following the 2019 protests are explored in Immortals. Today in Iraq, 60% of the country is under the age of 25. Milo is locked in her house by her father for participating in the 2019 revolution and she ends up sneaking out dressed in her brother’s clothes and…
Current and former Amazon employees try to unionize at a Staton Island fulfillment centre in Union. Chris Smalls is a former employee of Amazon’s JFK-8 FullFilment Centre on Staton Island, who is the founder and president of the proposed Amazon Labour Union. Positioning himself at a tent by the bus stop, he tries to acquire…
An e-commerce blogger is targeted by an aggressive cyber-stalker in Whatever It Takes. For over 25 years Natick, Massachusetts resident Ina Steiner and her husband David operated the blog EcommerceBytes, advising sellers using e-commerce platforms such as eBay. However, beginning in the summer of 2019, Ina and David would begin receiving treats on Twitter from…
