Our capsule reviews highlight six of the standouts at the 2019 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival: Conviction, Buddies, Willie, In My Blood It Runs, We Will Stand Up, and Push. Watch out for them as they travel the festival circuit and arrive on home viewing platforms.
Indigenous
‘We want to show the joy and humour and love in our communities’: An interview with the filmmakers of The Grizzlies
Director Miranda de Pencier and Inuk producer Alethea Araquq-Baril discuss the making of The Grizzlies, telling Indigenous stories, and why de Pencier wanted to tell this story. This is an excerpt from the ebook The Canadian Cinema Yearbook which is available for purchase here.
Imogen Thomas on Emu Runner: ‘The film willed its way into existence.’
Director Imogen Thomas discusses her feature, Emu Runner, which explores an Aboriginal girl’s (Rhae-Kye Waites) grief — and her community’s resilience — after her mother’s death.
Interview: Edge of the Knife tells a pre-colonialism story of the Haida legend of ‘The Wildman’
Co-director and Haida artist Gwaai Edenshaw discusses his landmark film Edge of the Knife (Sgaawaay K’uuna), the first feature film made in the Haida language. This is an excerpt from the ebook The Canadian Cinema Yearbook which is available for purchase here.
Interview: Falls Around Her centres a complex, middle-aged, Indigenous woman
Writer-director Darlene Naponse on Falls Around Her, making a film about an unconventional protagonist, capturing the beauty of a landscape through both visuals and sound, and the respect and care required to film on reservation land. This is an excerpt from the ebook The Canadian Cinema Yearbook which is available for purchase here.
Director Warwick Thornton on his TIFF Platform Prize Winner Sweet Country
Indigenous Australian director Warwick Thornton talks being his own cinematographer on Sweet Country, shooting on Alexa and UV, and developing the film’s aesthetic.