Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 25th edition, April 26–May 6, this year’s slate will present 246 films and 16 interdisciplinary projects from 56 countries in 14 screening programs, with work by female filmmakers representing 50 per cent of the 2018 program.

For the Festival’s 25th anniversary, Hot Docs will thank Toronto audiences for their support by inviting them to a free world premiere IMAX screening at the Ontario Place Cinesphere of The Trolley, which takes viewers through 34 cities around the world to rediscover the public transit invention that revolutionized urban life.

Free DocX programming will be available at Autodesk @ MaRS with a satellite location at Brookfield Place. The program will also feature a one-night-only performance of Toronto filmmaker Kelly O’Brien’s Postings From Home, and the video installation Havarie, presented by the Goethe-Institut Toronto in partnership with Hot Docs, Images Festival and Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival.

This year’s Big Ideas Series – rapper, singer-songwriter, record producer and activist M.I.A. (MATANGI / MAYA / M.I.A.). In the competitive Canadian Spectrum program, notable films include:United We Fan, about how super-fans of famous TV shows fight to keep them on the air; and Love, Scott, a heartbreaking film about a young gay musician’s brave recovery after a vicious attacked left him paralyzed. In the World Showcase program, notable films include: Call Her Ganda, about the brutal murder of a transgender woman by a US Marine in the Philippines. The Artscapes program, which showcases creative minds, artistic pursuits and inventive filmmaking, includes:Bachman, an epic biopic of Canadian music legend Randy Bachman.

The Nightvision program, which features future cult classics, includes: The American Meme, which explores the age of social media mega-platforms and the stars it creates; I Used to Be Normal: A Boyband Fangirl Story, which looks at four different generations of boyband fans and the impact their fandom had on their lives; Queercore: How to Punk A Revolution, a look back at the pre-internet 1980s, when Bruce LaBruce and G.B. Jones fabricated Toronto’s “queercore” scene out of thin air; and Obscuro Barroco , a mesmerizing audiovisual poem about a Brazilian transgender icon who guides us into the heart of Rio’s festive nights.

Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution

In the pre-internet 1980s, Bruce LaBruce and G.B. Jones invented the Toronto queercore scene with their scrappy homemade zines and films. No one knew their subversive fusion of punk and queer aesthetics was a lark, an inside joke, a fantasy that counted just two adherents—its creators! Or that their creation was going to spread beyond their basement bedrooms to the radical underground and spawn a real-life subculture. Speaking to a growing gang of outsiders rejected by the gay and punk scenes, the queercore ethos inspired an anarchist identity, humour and sense of spectacle that didn’t involve membership as much as belonging—something less like church and more like a circus. Challenging both mainstream gay and homophobic punk scenes, queercore became a self-fulfilling prophecy that circled the globe and changed the world in true DIY DGAF fashion, influencing everything from music to the riot grrrl movement to the Queer Nation zine.

SCREENING WITH – Sons of the Wild (14min)  Co-presented with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre.

Tickets

Visit the CraveTV Box Office at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, located at 506 Bloor Street West for ticket, package, and pass sales and ticket redemption. Tickets can be purchased in person, online at www.hotdocs.ca, or by phone at 416.637.3123. Single tickets to screenings are $17 each, and $19 -$24 each to special events. Tickets to Food & Film are $60-$75. A Festival 6-Pack is $99, a Festival 10-Pack is $149, a Festival 20-Pack is $249, and a Premium Pass is $359. Hot Docs offers free same-day tickets for all screenings before 5:00 p.m. to seniors (60+) and students with valid photo I.D. at the venue box offices (subject to availability), courtesy of CBC Docs.

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist with a focus on travel, lifestyle, entertainment and hospitality. He has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He enjoys discovering delicious eats, tasting spirited treats, and being mesmerized by musical beats.