Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul

Bollywood/Hollywood(en)

Rahul Seth is a dashing young millionaire who believes he is "western" enough to rebel against his mother and grandmother. They are not too keen about his Caucasian girlfriend Kimberly who, to make matters worse, is a pop star. Before you can say "karmic intervention," Kimberly dies in a freak accident and Rahul is devastated. Instead of allowing him to mourn in peace, Rahul's mother sees the opportunity she's been waiting for. She threatens to call off his sister's wedding unless he finds himself a "nice Indian girl." Rahul enlists the services of Sue, a fiercely independent escort whom he believes to be Hispanic, and therefore not "married" to the conventions taught to young Indian women. With a wink in her eye, Sue accepts the deal to pose as his Indian bride-to-be. She needs the money and having never been a fan of the typical Indian male, she feels her heart is safe. The charade begins....

Portraits of Canada(en)

A Circle-Vision 360 degree film capturing the sites, sounds, and people of Canada.

When We Were Kings(en)

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

Nanook of the North(en)

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Bowling for Columbine(en)

This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist's Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old. Bowling for Columbine is a journey through the US, through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.

Declutter(en)

One Saturday morning, filmmaker Madison Thomas has a revelation: she’s just like her mother. As she thinks about a friend going through tough times, she feels the sudden urge to clean. Through the scrubbing and wiping and rinsing, Madison's thoughts drift to her mother — and her obsessive need to tidy. Madison’s mother survived a traumatic childhood: her own mother never reconciled what she went through at residential school. Cleaning offers moments of control that she didn’t have as a child. She’s fought hard, against all odds, to become a strong woman. They say trauma is in the genes, that it’s passed from one generation to the next. But strength is inherited too. Through rituals as simple as spending time together and smudging, Madison and her mother are beginning to mend the cycle of pain in their family. Declutter is an intimate look into a private moment between mother and daughter and the strength that carries them both.

In the Name of All Canadians(en)

Hot Docs will commemorate Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation with the commissioning of In the Name of All Canadians, a compilation of six short documentaries inspired by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. From Indigenous rights to multiculturalism to the controversial ‘notwithstanding clause,’ participating filmmakers have each selected a specific aspect of the Charter to explore, looking at how it resonates in the stories of their fellow Canadians.

Nomoto: A BC Tragedy(en)

The injustice of the Japanese internment is explored through the story of Kyuichi Nomoto, one of the first Japanese Canadians to graduate from UBC, who suffered a breakdown deep in the BC Interior.

The Fence(en)

Two thousand Canadians suffered the longest incarceration anywhere in the Second World War, a bitter four-year period inside Japanese POW camps in Hong Kong and Japan.

Mommy, What's a Funkadelic?(en)

George Clinton's somewhat absurdist take on Parliament-Funkadelic history. Features never-before-granted access to his archive and spotlights his alter egos and friends

We The North: From Prehistoric to Historic(en)

A basketball team born out of an egg, in a hockey-crazed city, playing in a baseball stadium, fights for survival and ultimately conquers a nation and the league. This documentary offers an in-depth look at how a fledgling franchise transformed into a cultural phenomenon, uniting communities and reshaping Canada's identity.

Inbound(en)

Documenting the shared trajectory between Canada’s rise as a global basketball powerhouse and the circumstances that helped shape the country’s multicultural identity.

James Brown: Soul Survivor(en)

James Brown's legacy has influenced rap, soul, funk and R&B. But along with his huge talent, there's a dark side to Brown's success that includes stints in prison and unceasing tabloid speculation. This in-depth documentary takes a look at the meteoric highs and deep lows of Brown's career, offering some fascinating insights from the Godfather of Soul himself, as well as interview footage with Chuck D, Little Richard, Wyclef Jean and many others.

Abenteuer Karibik(de)

Frog Dog Log: Live à Laval(en)

Dog attempts to sleep in the hills of Laval, Québec, Canada.

CATCH ME ON THE ICE(en)

Ava Caputo, a freshman at Toronto Metropolitan University, left her home in Alberta to embark on her university journey as a female hockey athlete.

The Lure and the Lore(en)

A collaboration between filmmaker Ayoka Chenzira and performance artist Thomas Pinnock, who performs his "immigrant folktales" using traditional lore of his native Jamaica to dramatize his migration to New York in the 60's.

Remember Who's Emma(en)

A documentary about Who's Emma, a collective of punks and anarchists that existed in Toronto's Kensington Market from 1996 to 2000.

Northlore(en)

Weaving animation and live action, Northlore delves into the transformational stories of people living in Canada’s North and their deep connection to the land and its wildlife.

EXPO 67 Mission Impossible(fr)

This documentary let us to relive the challenge of the men behind the 1967 Universal Exposition in Montréal, Canada. By searching trough 80,000 archival documents at the national Archives, they managed to bring light on one of the biggest logistical and political challenges that were faced by organizers during the "Révolution Tranquille" in the Québec sixties. Includes the accounts of the Chief of Advertising Yves Jasmin, and businessman Philippe de Gaspé Beaubien.