Hot Docs 2007 announces line up

Hot Docs 2007 announced their lineup yesterday. North America's premiere doucmentary film festival will showcase 129 films from around the world from April 19-29, 2007. The complete lineup can be seen here. Follow the button for the full press release.

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, North America's largest documentary festival, market and conference, announced its complete 2007 Festival programme today. A total of 129 films have been selected from 1743 submissions to screen in the eleven day festival, from April 19-29, 2007. The largest publicly-attended documentary festival in North America, Hot Docs also presents a full slate of industry programmes and services, including The Doc Shop, a videotheque market offering approximately 1700 titles, and the newly launched International Co-Production Day, which will feature the participation of official delegations from Brazil, Italy and
Germany.

"We're proud of this spirited, potent programme of terrific international and domestic documentaries," comments Director of Programming Sean Farnel. "Given our position on a busy festival calendar, Hot Docs offers an opinionated summary of the season's most compelling work, while introducing many remarkable new or overlooked films into the mix."

Hot Docs will open with the Canadian premiere of David Sington's IN THE SHADOW OF THE MOON (UK, 100 min), the story of NASA's Apollo astronauts, told first-hand by the crews themselves with stunning, never-before-seen archival footage.

A record number of Canadian feature-length documentaries, 22, will screen at the Festival, with local Toronto stories being a prominent theme. "We certainly bought local this year," adds Farnel, on the healthy number of domestic films and local stories and filmmakers.

Canadian highlights include: Bryan Friedman's THE BODYBUILDER AND I (Canada, 90 min), which explores the filmmaker's strained relationship with his geriatric, bodybuilding father; Simonee Chichester's CHICHESTER'S CHOICE (Canada, 66 min), the young filmmaker's personal journey to find her father who abandoned her 23 years ago; Arturo Perez Torres' CITY IDOL (Canada, 90 min), which looks at regular Torontonians competing in a Canadian Idol-like contest to run in the municipal elections; Darryl Miller's DARK ONE (Canada, 88 min), a hallucinatory immersion into the psyche of a morphine-addicted poet; Maya Gallus' GIRL INSIDE (Canada, 78 min), which follows a 26-year-old pre-op transsexual as she transitions with help from her martini-drinking grandmother; Jamie Kastner's KIKE LIKE ME (Canada, 86 min), the filmmaker's idiosyncratic journey through worlds of enthusiastic acceptance and disturbing prejudice; Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham's LAST CALL AT THE
GLADSTONE HOTEL (Canada, 65 min), which explores the gentrification of the Toronto landmark; Albert Nerenberg and Rob Spence's LET'S ALL HATE TORONTO (Canada, 75 min), a lively cross-country exploration of the national hobby of Toronto-bashing; Alan Zweig's LOVABLE (Canada, 101 min), a look at the difficulties of finding love; John Scott's SCOUTS ARE CANCELLED (Canada, 72 min), the story of a maverick poet's innovative work; and John Zaritsky's THE SUICIDE TOURIST (Canada, 90 min), which examines a Swiss company that offers legally-assisted suicide services to people from around the world.

Among the documentaries making their world premieres at Hot Docs are: Oliver Hodge's GARBAGE WARRIOR (UK, 87 min), the story of a visionary American architect who creates eco-friendly homes from refuse; Arne Johnson and Shane King's GIRLS ROCK (USA, 87 min), which follows young girls' liberating experiences at a rock-and-roll music camp; Risa Morimoto's WINGS OF DEFEAT (USA, Japan; 90 min), the story of the few kamikaze pilots who survived their missions, told first-hand; John Philp's YOGA INC. (USA, 73 min), an investigation into the Westernization of the ancient practice of yoga; and Steve York's ORANGE REVOLUTION (USA, 106 min), the story of Ukraine's nearly-stolen 2004 presidential election.

International premieres at this year's Festival include: Anna Broinowski's FORBIDDEN LIE$ (Australia, 107 min), the story behind the Norma Khour's Forbidden Love literary hoax; Ibtisam Marana's THREE TIMES DIVORCED (Israel, Palestine; 75 min), which examines one woman's desperate struggle for the custody of her children against the patriarchal bias of Muslim law; Curt Johnson's YOUR MOMMY KILLS ANIMALS (USA, 106 min), a revealing overview of the multi-faceted animal rights movement; Jennifer Venditti's BILLY THE KID (USA, 84 min), a humorous and sensitive portrait of young boy and young love; Line Halvorsen's USA vs AL-ARIAN (Norway, 90 min), a look at the disturbing plight of terror suspect Sami Al-Arian and his family; Michael Skolnik's WITHOUT THE KING (USA, 84 min), a close-up look at Africa's problematic last monarchy in Swaziland; Gary Hustwit's HELVETICA (UK, 80 min), an engaging look at the cultural influence of typography and graphic design through the proliferation of one typeface; Thomas Haemmerli's SEVEN DUMPSTERS AND A CORPSE (Switzerland, 81 min), a darkly humorous look at death through the experiences of two brothers cleaning out their deceased mother's cluttered flat; Ariana Gerstein and Monteith McCollum's MILK IN THE LAND –BALLAD OF AN AMERICAN DRINK (USA, 90 min), a whimsical look at the history, politics and symbolism surrounding a simple glass of milk; and Vittorio Moroni's LICU'S HOLIDAY (Italy, 93 min), the story of a young Bangladeshi living in Rome while preparing for his arranged marriage to a bride back home. Also, making its North American premiere at the Festival is Esther B. Robinson's A WALK INTO THE SEA: DANNY WILLIAMS AND THE WARHOL FACTORY (USA, 78 min), the story of the filmmaker's filmmaking uncle, and boyfriend to Andy Warhol, who mysteriously disappeared in 1966.

Other Festival highlights include: Ido Haar's 9 STAR HOTEL (Israel, 78 min), which follows two Palestinian friends who work illegally in the Occupied Territories; Les Blank and Gina Leibrecht's ALL IN THIS TEA (USA, 70 min), which follows a tea expert through the remotest regions of China in search of the world's finest teas; Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern's THE DEVIL CAME ON HORSEBACK (USA, 88 min), the story of the American captain who first documented the ongoing genocide in Darfur; Stefan Schwietert's ECHOES FROM HOME (Switzerland, Germany; 81 min), an engaging profile of three extraordinary Swiss yodeling artists; Rory Kennedy's GHOSTS OF ABU GHRAIB (USA, 78 min), a potent analysis of the prisoner abuse scandal; Shimon Dotan's HOTHOUSE (Israel, 89 min) , a rare look inside an Israeli prison and the Palestinian inmates it holds; Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine's MANUFACTURING DISSENT (Canada, Australia; 96 min), a revealing look at the life and work of filmmaker Michael Moore; Pernille Rose Gronkjaer's THE MONASTERY : MR. VIG AND THE NUN (Denmark, 84 min), a funny, moving story of the relationship between an elderly monastery owner and a young Russian nun; Dan Struman and Bill Guttentag's NANKING (USA, 89 min), a chilling look at one of last century's most brutal war atrocities; João Salles' SANTIAGO (Brazil, 80 min), the story of the filmmaker's childhood butler and his eccentricities; Frederick Wiseman's TATE LEGISLATURE (USA, 217 min), which follows the daily grind of the Idaho State Legislature; Lynn Hershman's STRANGE CULTURE (USA, 75 min) , the story of how acclaimed artist Steve Kurtz became a suspected bioterrorist; Paul Taylor's WE ARE TOGETHER (UK, 86 min), the uplifting story of AIDS orphans in South Africa who overcome their sorrow through music; and Robinson Devor's ZOO (USA 75 min), the tale of a group of men who, after a fatal accident, are discovered to be having sex with Arabian stallions.