The NFB at Hot Docs 2019
Ten NFB premieres—including five new feature-length documentaries—are part of a landmark year for the NFB and its co-producers at the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, April 25 to May 5, 2019.
This stellar lineup showcases the NFB’s contributions to Canadian documentary past and present, with new NFB works joining a special tribute to the trailblazing Studio D, founded 45 years ago—for a total of 20 confirmed titles to date.
* Read the full press release here.
Opening Night Film | World Premiere
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
Tasha Hubbard
2019 | 98 min.
Image : Melissa Kent / CBC Lincensing
On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. In this Canadian Spectrum world premiere, the acclaimed director of Two Worlds Colliding and Birth of a Family weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a transformative vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands.
Producers Tasha Hubbard and George Hupka (Downstream Documentary Productions), Jon Montes and Bonnie Thompson (NFB)
Associate Producer Trudy Stewart
Executive Producers David Christensen (NFB), Janice Dawe and Kathy Avrich-Johnson (Bizable Media)
Screening times and tickets here.
Thursday, April 25 | 6:30 PM | Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (Industry Screening)
Thursday, April 25 | 9:45 PM | Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema* (Opening night)
Saturday, April 27 | 1:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2*
Saturday, May 4 | 10:00 AM | Isabel Bader Theatre
* Screenings including a Q&A with the director and special guests.
CONVICTION | World Premiere
Nance Ackerman, Ariella Pahlke, Teresa MacInnes
2019 | 78 min.
Conviction envisions alternatives to prison through the eyes of women behind bars and those fighting on the front lines of the decarceration movement. Not another “broken prison” film, this collaboration is a “broken society” film—an ambitious and inspired re-build of our community, from the inside out. The film compels viewers to examine why we imprison the most vulnerable among us, and at what cost.
Producers and Executive Producers Teresa MacInnes (Sea to Sea Productions), Annette Clarke (NFB)
Screening times and tickets here.
Sunday, April 28 | 6:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
Monday, April 29 | 1:15 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Thursday, May 2 | 12:30 PM | HART HOUSE Theatre
RIVER SILENCE | World Premiere
Rogério Soares
2019 | 90 min.
At a time of increased industrial development yet widespread inequity in Brazil, River Silence takes viewers on a poetic journey through the Amazon, following four women as they struggle to survive in the wake of a massive hydroelectric dam project.
Producers Bob Moore (EyeSteelFilm), Annette Clarke (NFB)
Executive Producers Mila Aung-Thwin and Daniel Cross(EyeSteelFilm), Jane Jankovic (TVO), Annette Clarke (NFB)
Screening times and tickets here.
Friday, April 26 | 5:15 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Sunday, April 28 | 12:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Friday, May 3 | 9:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
PERSISTER
BECAUSE WE ARE GIRLS | World Premiere
Baljit Sangra
2019 | 85 min.
A conservative Indo-Canadian family in small-town British Columbia must come to terms with a devastating secret: three sisters were sexually abused by the same relative throughout their childhood. Weaving together past and present, Bollywood fantasy and reality, Because We Are Girls is a powerful tribute to women’s strength in the face of trauma.
Producer Selwyn Jacob (NFB)
Executive Producer Shirley Vercruysse (NFB)
Screening times and tickets here.
Wednesday, May 1 | 6:15 PM | Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 4*
Thursday, May 2 | 1:00 PM | Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 13*
Friday, May 3 | 6:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
* Director Baljit Sangra, Producer Selwyn Jacob and the Pooni sisters in attendance.
SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS
ASSHOLES: A THEORY | North American Premiere
John Walker
2019 | 81 min.
Ever get the impression that assholes are taking over? Assholes: A Theory, a timely new doc from John Walker, investigates the breeding grounds of contemporary asshole culture and searches for signs of civility in a rude-’n-nasty universe.
Producers John Walker and Ann Bernier (John Walker Productions), Annette Clarke (NFB)
Screening times and tickets here
Tuesday, April 30 | 7:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
Wednesday, May 1 | 3:45 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
Saturday, May 4 | 12:45 PM | Isabel Bader Theatre
REDUX
FIVE FEMINISTS MINUTES | World Premiere
2019 | 5 min.
On the heels of the NFB’s announcement that it has achieved its industry-leading gender-parity goals, the festival’s Redux program for classic documentary works is presenting a tribute to Studio D and pioneering NFB women filmmakers, along with a reboot of 1990 short-film series Five Feminist Minutes.
As part of this special tribute, Hot Docs is premiering Five Feminist Minutes 2019, four new NFB short works inspired by the landmark Studio D series, which had brought together emerging and diverse women filmmakers to help mark the studio’s 15th anniversary. Premiering at the festival and online at NFB.ca are: Radical, Question Period, Camera Test, Lake.
Screening time and tickets here.
Wednesday, May 1 | 3:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
RADICAL
Deanne Foley
Deanne Foley profiles fellow Newfoundlander Mary Walsh, the Great Warrior Queen of Canadian comedy, musing on time wasted as an object of desire and time well spent as the fearless agent of her own destiny. A joyous call to action.
Producer Annette Clarke (NFB)
Executive Producer Michelle van Beusekom (NFB)
QUESTION PERIOD
Ann Marie Fleming
A group of Syrian women, refugees recently resettled in Canada, are negotiating life in their new home. They have some questions. Directed by Anne Marie Fleming, one of the original Five Feminist Minutes filmmakers.
Producer Shirley Vercruysse (NFB)
Executive Producer Michelle van Beusekom (NFB)
CAMERA TEST
Joyce Wong
What gets lost when female voices are stymied during the creative process? Pairing intimate interviews with absurdist re-enactments, Joyce Wong crafts a tartly subversive look at patriarchy and racism in the film industry.
Producer Justine Pimlott (NFB)
Executive Producer Michelle van Beusekom (NFB)
LAKE
Alexandra Lazarowich
Cree director Alexandra Lazarowich riffs off classic verité cinema to craft a contemporary portrait of Métis women net fishing in Northern Alberta.
Producers David Christensen and Coty Savard (NFB)
Executive Producer Michelle van Beusekom (NFB)
LONG TIME COMIN’
Dionne Brand
1993 | 52 min.
Faith Nolan and Grace Channer were on the leading edge of a cultural revolution in Canada. These two African-Canadian lesbian artists gave back to art its most urgent meanings: commitment and passion. Grace Channer’s large and sensuous canvasses and musician Faith Nolan’s gritty and joyous blues propel this documentary into the spheres of poetry and dance.
Producer Nicole Hubert
Executive Producer Ginny Stikeman
Screening time and tickets here.
Friday, April 26 | 11:45 AM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
OLDER STRONGER WISER
Claire Prieto
1989 | 28 min.
In this short documentary, five black women talk about their lives in rural and urban Canada between the 1920s and 1950s. What emerges is a unique history of Canada’s black people and the legacy of their community elders. Produced by the NFB’s iconic Studio D.
Producer Ginny Stikeman
Executive Producer Rina Fraticelli
Screening time and tickets here.
Friday, April 26 | 11:45 AM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
I’LL FIND A WAY
Beverly Shaffer
1977 | 25 min.
This Oscar®-winning documentary presents Nadia, a 9-year-old girl with spina bifida. Her dream is to attend a regular school, even though she knows other kids will tease her. Wise for her young age, Nadia simply decides that she’ll “find a way to deal with it.” Despite having to overcome many obstacles, Nadia’s got spunk and makes it clear she’s not looking
for sympathy.
Producer Yuki Yoshida
Executive Producer Kathleen Shannon
Screening time and tickets here.
Tuesday, April 30 | 11:00 AM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
IF YOU LOVE THIS PLANET
Terre Nash
1982 | 25 min.
This Oscar®-winning short film is comprised of a lecture given to students by outspoken nuclear critic Dr. Helen Caldicott, president of Physicians for Social Responsibility in the USA. Her message is clear: disarmament cannot be postponed. Archival footage of the bombing of Hiroshima and images of its survivors seven months after the attack heighten the urgency of her message.
Producer Edward Le Lorrain
Executive Producer Kathleen Shannon
Screening time and tickets here.
Tuesday, April 30 | 11:00 AM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
FLAMENCO AT 5:15
Cynthia Scott
1983 | 29 min.
This Oscar®-winning short film is an impressionistic record of a flamenco dance class given to senior students of the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain, Susana and Antonio Robledo. The film shows the beautiful young North American dancers—inspired by the flamenco rhythms and mesmerized by Susana’s extraordinary energy—joyously merging with an ancient Roma culture.
Producer Cynthia Scott
Executive Producers Adam Symansky, Kathleen Shannon
Screening time and tickets here.
Tuesday, April 30 | 11:00 AM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
DOCTOR, LAWYER, INDIAN CHIEF
Carol Geddes
1986 | 28 min.
A tribute to Indigenous women everywhere, this short documentary focuses on five women from across Canada. Of varied ages and backgrounds, they’ve achieved success in a variety of careers: as the Yukon legislature’s first Indigenous woman minister, as a deck hand on a fishing boat, as a teacher, as a lawyer, and as a band council chief (A’qam band of the Ktunaxa Nation).
Producer Barbara Janes
Executive Producer Kathleen Shannon
Screening time and tickets here.
Thursday, May 2 | 12:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
SOME AMERICAN FEMINISTS
Luce Guilbeault, Nicole Brossard, Margaret Wescott
1977 | 55 min.
This documentary is composed of a series of interviews, combined with newsreel footage, that place the American feminist moment in historical perspective. Six of the movement’s founding women, including Betty Friedan and Kate Millett, discuss the issues that most concern them. A film that remains relevant to this day.
Producer and Executive Producer Kathleen Shannon
Screening time and tickets here.
Thursday, May 2 | 12:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
CAPTURING REALITY
Pepita Ferrari
2008 | 975 min.
In this feature-length film about the art of the documentary, director Pepita Ferrari interviews 33 leading documentarians and shows clips from over 50 films. From cinémavérité pioneers like Albert Maysles and Michel Brault to mavericks like Errol Morris and Nick Broomfield, it explores the challenges of capturing reality on film. Directors as diverse as Pakistani feminist Sabiha Sumar and new media guru Peter Wintonick reflect on ethical issues and the contested status of the “truth.” Visit Capturing Reality for additional interviews and background.
Producer and Executive Producer Michelle van Beusekom
Screening time and tickets here.
Saturday, April 27 | 12:45 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
NFB events at Hot Docs
DocX special event: live look at Katerina Cizek’s new interactive doc Supreme Law
Presented as a special event in DocX, this first look at Katerina Cizek’s interactive doc Supreme Law takes audiences on a fresh and unexpectedly lively journey inside the shaping of the Canadian Constitution. YouTube personalities including Jus Reign guide us through the drama, conflict and high stakes, via five hilarious and powerful videos and highly readable deep dives. An NFB production in partnership with the Centre for Constitutional Studies, Supreme Law is produced for the NFB by Bonnie Thompson and David Christensen.
Screening time and tickets here.
Thursday, May 2 | 6:30 PM | Isabel Bader Theatre
Ontario premiere of Julia Ivanova’s Limit Is the Sky
Winner of the Colin Low Award for Canadian Documentary at the DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Julia Ivanova’s 2016 feature documentary Limit Is the Sky focusses on a diverse group of young dreamers trying to jump-start their lives in Fort McMurray—and is screening in Toronto for the first time, as part of the festival’s 2019 Focus On retrospective of Ivanova’s work. Limit Is the Sky is produced by Bonnie Thompson and executive produced by David Christensen for the NFB.
Screening time and tickets here.
Thursday, May 2 | 3:15 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
My Grierson, an illustrated talk with Bill Nemtin
My Grierson features executive producer Bill Nemtin reflecting on lessons learned from his mentor, John Grierson, who founded the NFB some 80 years ago, and whose philosophy on documentary as a tool for social change influences Canadian identity to this day. Free and open to the public, My Grierson takes place Wednesday, May 1, from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m. in TIFF Bell Lightbox 4. It’s presented in partnership with the NFB and supported by the Ontario Cultural Attractions Fund.
Complete Schedule with Links
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
Tickets here.
Thursday, April 25 | 6:30 PM | Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema (Industry Screening)
Thursday, April 25 | 9:45 PM | Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema* (Opening night)
Saturday, April 27 | 1:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2*
Saturday, May 4 | 10:00 AM | Isabel Bader Theatre
* Screenings including a Q&A with the director and special guests.
ASSHOLES: A THEORY
Tickets here.
Tuesday, April 30 | 7:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
Wednesday, May 1 | 3:45 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 1
Saturday, May 4 | 12:45 PM | Isabel Bader Theatre
BECAUSE WE ARE GIRLS
Tickets here.
Wednesday, May 1 | 6:15 PM | Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 4*
Thursday, May 2 | 1:00 PM | Scotiabank Theatre, Cinema 13*
Friday, May 3 | 6:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
* Director Baljit Sangra, Producer Selwyn Jacob and the Pooni sisters in attendance.
CONVICTION
Tickets here.
Sunday, April 28 | 6:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 2
Monday, April 29 | 1:15 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Thursday, May 2 | 12:30 PM | HART HOUSE Theatre
RIVER SILENCE
Tickets here.
Friday, April 26 | 5:15 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Sunday, April 28 | 12:00 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Friday, May 3 | 9:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
RADICAL + QUESTION PERIOD + CAMERA TEST + LAKE
Tickets here.
Wednesday, May 1 | 3:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
OLDER STRONGER WISER + LONG TIME COMIN’
Tickets here.
Friday, April 26 | 11:45 AM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
I’LL FIND A WAY + IF YOU LOVE THIS PLANET + FLAMENCO AT 5:15
Tickets here.
Tuesday, April 30 | 11:00 AM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
DOCTOR LAWYER INDIAN CHIEF + SOME AMERICAN FEMINISTS
Tickets here.
Thursday, May 2 | 12:30 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 4
CAPTURING REALITY
Tickets here.
Saturday, April 27 | 12:45 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
SUPREME LAW
Tickets here.
Thursday, May 2 | 6:30 PM | Isabel Bader Theatre
LIMIT IS THE SKY
Tickets here.
Thursday, May 2 | 3:15 PM | TIFF Bell Lightbox 3
Printable press release, annex and screening schedule
Contacts
JENNIFER MAIR
PUBLICIST
416-436-0105
J.MAIR@NFB.CA | @NFB_JENNIFER
NATHALIE BOURDON
DIRECTOR, DISTRIBUTION AND MARKET DEVELOPMENT
514-995-0095
N.BOURDON@NFB.CA
ÉLISE LABBÉ
HEAD, FESTIVALS AND AUDIENCE DEVELOPMENT
514-773-4427
E.LABBE@ONF.CA
CYNTHIA AMSDEN
MEDIA CONTACT FOR nîpawistamâsowin: WE WILL STAND UP
416-910-7740
CYNTHIA@ROUNDSTONEPR.COM
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About the NFB
Founded in 1939, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is a one-of-a-kind producer, co-producer and distributor of distinctive, engaging, relevant and innovative documentary and animated films. As a talent incubator, it is one of the world’s leading creative centres. The NFB has enabled Canadians to tell and hear each other’s stories for over eight decades, and its films are a reliable and accessible educational resource. The NFB is also recognized around the world for its expertise in preservation and conservation, and for its rich and vibrant collection of works, which form a pillar of Canada’s cultural heritage. To date, the NFB has produced more than 14,000 works, 6,500 of which can be streamed free of charge at nfb.ca. The NFB and its productions and co-productions have earned over 7,000 awards, including 11 Oscars and an Honorary Academy Award for overall excellence in cinema.