March 21, 2017 – Toronto – National Film Board of Canada (NFB)
Powerful, life-changing stories are at the heart of this year’s lineup of National Film Board of Canada (NFB) films at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, with four world premieres of feature documentaries in the festival’s Canadian Spectrum program, as well as a wealth of retrospective screenings of classic NFB works.
Attiya Khan makes her directorial debut alongside co-director Lawrence Jackman with A Better Man (Intervention Productions/NFB), premiering April 30 at 6:30 p.m. at the Isabel Bader Theatre. Twenty-two years ago, 18-year-old Attiya feared for her life―fleeing her ex-boyfriend Steve, who’d been abusing her on a daily basis. Now, all these years later, Attiya wanted to know how he remembers their relationship and whether he’s willing to take responsibility for his actions. Their emotionally raw first meeting, filmed by Attiya with Steve’s consent, is the starting point for a fresh and nuanced look at how healing can happen when men take responsibility for their abuse. A Better Man is produced by Christine Kleckner for Intervention Productions and Justine Pimlott for the NFB’s Ontario Studio, based in Toronto. The executive producers for Intervention Productions are Sarah Polley, Kathy Avrich-Johnson and Janice Dawe. The NFB executive producer for A Better Man is Anita Lee. Jane Jankovic is the executive producer for TVO.
Premiering April 30 at 9:30 p.m. at TIFF Bell Lightbox 2, writer/director Marie Clements’ The Road Forward is an electrifying musical documentary that connects a pivotal moment in Canada’s civil rights history—the beginnings of Indian Nationalism in the 1930s—with First Nations activism today. Interviews and musical sequences describe how a tiny movement, the Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood, grew to become a successful voice for change across the country, as this feature documentary seamlessly links past and present through superb story-songs, blues, rock and traditional beats. The Road Forward is produced and executive produced by Shirley Vercruysse for the NFB’s BC & Yukon Studio in Vancouver.
Premiering May 1 at 6:30 p.m. at the Isabel Bader Theatre, Charles Officer’s Unarmed Verses presents a thoughtful and vivid portrait of a community facing imposed relocation, taking a look at marginalized Toronto Community Housing residents in the city’s north-east end. At the centre of the story is a remarkably astute and luminous 12-year-old black girl, whose poignant observations about life, the soul, and the power of art give voice to those rarely heard in society. Unarmed Verses is produced by Lea Marin and executive produced by Anita Lee for the NFB’s Ontario Studio.
Directed by Tasha Hubbard and written by Tasha Hubbard and Betty Ann Adam, Birth of a Family premieres May 2 at 9:00 p.m. at Scotiabank Theatre 3. The film follows three sisters and a brother, adopted as infants into separate families across North America, as they meet together for the first time. Separated as part of Canada’s infamous Sixties Scoop, in which 20,000 Indigenous children were removed from their families and placed into foster care or adopted into white homes, the four are now all in middle age, with no shared memories. Together, they piece together their history, deepen their connections and take the first steps in building their family. Birth of a Family is produced by Bonnie Thompson and executive produced by David Christensen for the NFB’s North West Studio in Edmonton.
Redux
Redux is a Hot Docs program for older films that festival programmers feel deserve another showing on the big screen. This year, the lineup will consist entirely of Canadian films made by Canadian women filmmakers, with the following NFB titles:
- Tu as crié LET ME GO (1998), dir. Anne-Claire Poirier
April 28, 12:30 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
Proudly She Marches (1943), dir. Jane Marsh
Tiger Spirit (2008), dir. Min Sook Lee (NFB/ Storyline Entertainment)
April 28, 4 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
April 29, 10:15 a.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
April 30, 1:15 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
Mohawk Girls (2005), dir. Tracey Deer (NFB/Rezolution Pictures)
Nimmikaage (She Dances for People) (2015), dir. Michelle Latimer
May 3, 1:15 p.m., Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 7
Sisters in the Struggle (1991), dir. Dionne Brand, Ginny Stikeman
Speak It! From the Heart of Black Nova Scotia (1992), dir. Sylvia Hamilton
May 6, 12:30 p.m., Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 7
Focus On: Maya Gallus
Gemini Award-winning director and producer Maya Gallus is the subject of the 2017 Focus On retrospective, showcasing the work of a mid-career Canadian filmmaker. Included in the retrospective is her 2011 Red Queen Productions/NFB co-production The Mystery of Mazo de la Roche.
Quick Facts
Complete screening schedule of world-premiere films
Date Time Venue
A Better Man
April 30 6:30 p.m. Isabel Bader Theatre
May 1 1:15 p.m. Isabel Bader Theatre
May 6 4:00 p.m. Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 3
The Road Forward
April 30 9:30 p.m. TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
May 1 12:45 p.m. Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 3
May 6 8:45 p.m. Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 7
Unarmed Verses
May 1 6:30 p.m. Isabel Bader Theatre
May 2 3:00 p.m. Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 4
May 5 10:00 a.m. Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (Docs for Schools screening)
May 6 3:15 p.m. TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
Birth of a Family
May 2 9:00 p.m. Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 3
May 3 3:00 p.m. Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 4
May 6 6:00 p.m. Innis Town Hall
About the filmmakers
Attiya Khan
Attiya Khan (co-writer, co-director) is a Toronto-based feminist, intimate partner violence survivor, and long-time advocate and counselor for abused women and children. She conceived the idea for A Better Man in 2012, drawing on her personal and professional experience with intimate partner violence. Together with her family, she recently co-founded a YWCA Toronto scholarship program for domestic violence survivors.
Lawrence Jackman
Lawrence Jackman (co-writer, co-director, editor) is a Toronto-based filmmaker/editor. Over the past 15 years, he has worked on many award-winning films, focusing primarily on independent documentaries and dramas. In 2011, his NFB short doc How Does It Feel, about the importance of creative fulfillment for Kazumi, a singer with cerebral palsy, received the 2012 Golden Sheaf Award for Best Documentary Biography.
Marie Clements
Marie Clements (Métis/Dene) is a writer, director and producer of film, television, radio, new media and live performance. Her films include the award-winning 2015 docudrama Number 14 and the 2013 short drama Pilgrims, which screened at TIFF and Telefilm Canada’s Not Short on Talent program at the Cannes Market. Her short documentary The Language of Love was an official selection at Hot Docs in 2012.
Charles Officer
Charles Officer’s debut feature, Nurse.Fighter.Boy, garnered 10 Genie nominations, including Best Picture and Best Director. Charles made Playback magazine’s “10 to Watch” list in 2009 and received the Ontario Premier’s Emerging Artist Award that same year. His debut feature documentary was the 2010 NFB production Mighty Jerome. He was the recipient of Hot Docs’ Don Haig Award of Merit in 2012. His most recent documentary project, The Skin We’re In, recently aired on CBC.
Tasha Hubbard
Tasha Hubbard (Cree) is an award-winning filmmaker and educator whose 2004 NFB film Two Worlds Colliding won the Canada Award at the Geminis as best multicultural production, as well as a Golden Sheaf Award. Her animated short Buffalo Calling screened as part of the Ga Ni Tha exhibit held on the occasion of the 2015 Venice Biennale, while her short hybrid documentary 7 Minutes won Tasha her second Golden Sheaf Award.
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Associated Links
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
Intervention Productions
TVO
Storyline Entertainment
Rezolution Pictures
Red Queen Productions