Directed by: Mick Grogan
Country: Canada
Duration: 52 min, Filmmaker Present
Location: City Hall
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Below are the Trailers for Docfest '09. Please check back in September for the 2010 Film Line up . |
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OCT 21 · 7:00 PM
Synopsis: Hangman’s Graveyard follows an archeological team as they investigate a forgotten prison graveyard in the heart of Canada’s largest city. The notorious Don Jail is about to be redeveloped as part of a new hospital complex, but before construction begins archaeologists are called in to solve a mystery. An old map marks a prison graveyard beneath what is now a parking lot. Is this the infamous murderer’s row where men who met their deaths by the hangman’s noose, were buried in unmarked graves? If so, who is buried here? What were their crimes? Digging for evidence and using the latest in forensic science, archaeologists have only mere weeks to unlock the mystery of the Hangman’s Graveyard
OCT 22 · 1:30 PM
Synopsis: In a village in West Bengal, Gita offers her medium-length hair in the Hindu temple. Until recently, hair donated to temples was usually swept up and burned or used to stuff mattresses. In today’s economy, companies like Rome’s Great Lengths collect that hair and spin it into gold. Great Lengths’ hair extensions command top dollar - thanks in no small part to the rows and rows of workers in a Bangalore factory who pick through and process mountains of hair by hand. The extensions are then shipped to beauty salons all over the world. Driving their sales is an international marketing and publicity operation, pushing prices into several thousand dollars and delivering to rich patrons all over the world – even India.
OCT 22 · 4:00 PM
Synopsis: The first hour focuses on the original Star Trek series, and the ideas that Gene Roddenberry had about the future of space travel. It begins with the life of Dr. Marc D. Rayman, the chief propulsion engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and shows how Dr. Rayman became interested in propulsion through Star Trek. It also discusses how NASA's newest deep space probe's ion propulsion was inspired by the Star Trek episode Spock's Brain. Shatner also states that "those pesky trekkies are everywhere in the space program," hence the name for the first Space Shuttle Enterprise. Other connections include the cell-phone, personal computer and non-invasive medical technology.
OCT 22 · 8:00 PM
 OCT 22 · 8:10 PM
Found: is based on the work of Toronto poet Souvankham Thammavongsa. Financed through the support of Bravo!FACT and Toronto Arts Council, it had its world premiere at the 2009 Palm Springs International ShortsFest. Brad Schreiber of the Huffington Post called it, “The most visually remarkable short of those screened,” and shortlisted FOUND as one of eleven best films at the festival.
William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet: On a cold night in Milwaukee high art meets pop culture as award-winning choreographer Margo Sappington premieres her latest ballet, "Common People", set to the music of William Shatner and Ben Folds from their album “Has Been.” GONZO BALLET explores the genesis of this unique artistic collaboration by fusing the music, poetry, and dance of "Common People" with interviews of the creators, dancers, and audience members. OCT 23 · 1:00 PM
Synopsis: This verité documentary unravels the real story behind the oft-ridiculed 'cat lady' - a cultural stereotype and figure of derision for women of a certain age with too many furry companions. Through the intimate portrait of four unique 'cat ladies' we discover a sensitive and emotionally honest portrait of women whose lives and self-worth have become intractably linked to cats. It's not the number of cats that defines someone as a 'cat lady', but rather their attachment, or non-attachment, to human beings. They create a world with their cats in which they are accepted and in control - a world where they ultimately have value.
OCT 23 · 3:00 PM
Synopsis: Did Rembrandt kill his career by accusing his patrons of murder? In this film, director Greenaway presents the background, the context, the conspiracy, the murder and the motives of the 34 painted characters in Rembrandt’s The Night Watch. He claims they have conspired to kill for their combined self-advantage. Greenaway leads us through Rembrandt's paintings into 17th century Amsterdam. He paints a world that is democratic in principle, but is almost entirely ruled by twelve families. The notion exists of these regents as charitable and compassionate beings. However, reality was different.
OCT 23 · 6:00 PM
 OCT 23 · 6:15 PM
Intestines of the Earth: Earthworms are the most wide-spread organisms on earth. And these incredible creatures play a key role in helping the earth recycle organic matter. Gorgeous images transform a mundane topic into a compelling short film.
Waterlife: follows the epic cascade of the Great Lakes from Lake Superior to the Atlantic Ocean, telling the story of the last huge supply of fresh water on Earth. Filled with fascinating characters and stunning imagery, Waterlife is a cinematic poem about the beauty of water and the dangers of taking it for granted. Narrated by Gord Downie, lead vocalist of The Tragically Hip and Waterkeeper's Trustee of Lake Ontario. OCT 23 · 9:00 PM
Synopsis: Stratford’s Craig Thompson co-produced this gripping account of the Irish potato famine and its impact on Toronto in the summer of 1847. The film follows a real-life family fleeing devastation in Ireland and recreates the tragedy of the “coffin ships” and the desperate conditions of a refugee camp in what is now Toronto’s entertainment district. The Globe and Mail called the film, “a powerful…true, searing story.”
OCT 24 · 12:00 PM
Synopsis: An undisputed giant of world music, Senegalese artist and humanitarian Youssou N'Dour has raised Senegal’s exuberant mbalax style to global stature. Introduced to American audiences on seminal albums such as Paul Simon's Graceland and Peter Gabriel's So, N'Dour continues to influence virtually every realm of the international music scene, riding high on tumbling African rhythms and stratospheric vocals. Youssou Ndour: I Bring What I Love is a music-infused cinematic journey about the power of one man’s voice to inspire change. One of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world and called “the rare rock star whose music matters,” Senegalese singer Youssou Ndour is beloved internationally and at home.
OCT 24 · 2:00 PM
Synopsis: In Paris 1919, director Paul Cowan takes us inside the peace talks that followed the First World War. For six months in 1919, Paris was the centre of the world. World leaders convened to broker peace "for all time." At the helm were the Big Four - U.S. president Woodrow Wilson along with the leaders of France, the U.K. and Italy.
Inspired by Margaret MacMillan's landmark book - hailed by The New York Times as a "blueprint of the political and social upheavals bedevilling the planet now" - Paris 1919 takes us inside this singular event with a vivid sense of character and narrative. OCT 24 · 4:30 PM
Synopsis: In the early 1960s the Canadian Government conducted an experiment in social engineering, separating three young Inuit boys from their families in the Arctic and sending them to Ottawa to be educated in white schools. The three grew up to be political activists and leaders, establishing aboriginal rights in Canada and the creation of Nunavut. But it all came at a terrible cost. Peter Ittinuar, Zebedee Nungak and Eric Tagoona recount their stories, achievements and challenges in this film about the triumph of the human spirit.
OCT 24 · 7:00 PM
Synopsis: In the 1960s, it Ric O'Barry captured and trained the 5 dolphins who played the title character in the international television sensation "Flipper." One fateful day, a heartbroken O’Barry came to realize that these deeply sensitive, highly intelligent and self-aware creatures must never be subjected to human captivity again. Seeking redemption has brought O’Barry to Taiji. In a remote cove, surrounded by barbed wire and "Keep Out" signs, fishermen, driven by a multi-billion dollar dolphin entertainment industry and an underhanded market for mercury-tainted dolphin meat, engage in an unseen hunt. The nature of what they do is so chilling and the consequences are so dangerous to human health that they will go to great lengths to halt anyone from seeing it.
OCT 24 · 9:00 PM
Synopsis: The Chicago Tribune called their story, “The triumph and sorrow of being the most successful rock band you’ve never heard of.” The Rolling Stone said simply, “The Year’s Great Rock Movie.” The Story of Anvil is the timeless saga of the will to survive and need to follow a passion. A quick viewing of the movie’s trailer may fool you into thinking this is a mockumentary – it’s not. It is however, according to the New Yorker, “The most stirring release of the year.”
OCT 25 · 12:00 PM
 OCT 25 · 12:30 PM
Ma'rib: In January 2003 Rainer Komers went to Ma’rib, the former capital of the Kingdom of Sheba, to prepare a conventional documentary – taking a project of German archaeologists as a link between ancient and present, Arabia and Europe. Soon after he met the first tribals in the Ma’rib oasis Komers realized, that as a foreigner, it would be impossible for him to enter or even to understand the character and rules of their traditional community and that a dialogue-based documentary, “would communicate nothing but verbal banalities and would transform these proud and upright desert people with their splendid history into prattling flabby dwarfs.” Instead, Komers decided to make a composition of images and sounds without interviews, dialogue or narration.
Exvoto for 3 Souls: Ex-voto for Three Souls weaves together the stories of three people who share a deep reliance on faith as they wait for a miracle to unfold. Cristian, a young man literally trying to fight his way out of poverty, places every hope in winning a championship title that will establish him as a professional boxer. Meanwhile, eighty year-old María-Teresa searches deep within herself for the faith to enlighten her doctors as they prepare for her surgery to prevent another heart attack. Luis, the fisherman, serenely awaits the end of food shortages and for fish to finally succumb to his net. OCT 25 · 2:00 PM
 OCT 25 · 3:00 PM
Same World, Same Chance: In early January 2008, two young women from Stratford set off on an adventure to Africa, hoping to volunteer in a rural setting that had great need. They were unaware how much their lives were about to change. They decided to go to Africa on their own agenda, without any affiliation with an organization - just two 24 year olds trying to make a difference. John Izma’s film documents how his sister Marissa and her friend Kimberly Hurley the Same World Same Chance and built a sustainable high school and health clinic for orphaned and vulnerable youth.
Waging Peace: This is Richard Fitoussi’s personal quest to understand why Canadians are dying in a country half a world away. In an effort to answer the question “What is Canada doing in Afghanistan?” the Canadian filmmaker travels with the troops and observes their mission to find and ‘neutralize’ Taliban guerillas while trying to befriend the Afghan people. The filmmaker finds how dangerous this mission really is when the vehicle in front of his detonates two stacked anti-tank mines. Three of the four occupants are killed instantly, the other dies of his wounds after being airlifted to the Canadian base. OCT 25 · 5:00 PM
Synopsis: Irwin Barker is one of Canada's best-loved comedy writers and stand up comedians. These days, living in Toronto, Irwin is working up new material. It may be the most hilarious and fulfilling writing of his life. And it may also be his last. Irwin Barker is diagnosed with terminal cancer. "That's My Time" is a one hour documentary that chronicles Irwin's journey with cancer, and his determination that he will "find the funny" in what is for most of us the least funny predicament imaginable.
OCT 25 · 8:00 PM
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