Hot Docs, Hot Ticket: A Week’s Worth of Toronto Film To-Dos

Brace yourself film buffs: Canada’s International Documentary Film Festival is about to hit the streets of Toronto.

Hot Docs 2010 opens tonight, April 29, at the Winter Garden Theatre with the premiere of Thomas Balmes’ Babies. Starting at 6:30 pm, Balmes’ documentary investigates the simultaneously universal and absolutely individual elements of the human being’s earliest life stages by tracing the experiences of four babies—from Mongolia, Nambia, San Francisco and Tokyo. Following Balmes, Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn will offer their audience a musical bio of one of Canada’s most iconic bands—their documentary, Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage, debuts at 9:30 pm.

Those who can’t make the official opening can re-make the experience on Friday, April 30 with afternoon screenings of Babies at 1:45 pm and Rush at 4 pm, both at the Elizabeth Bader Theatre.

Beginning Friday, Hot Docs’ packed schedule gets rolling: screenings start as early as 11 am and run past midnight, every night, until May 8. Yet to be determined Festival Faves will close the Hot Docs in the mid-evening, May 9.  Utilizing some of the best theatres in the Toronto, the festival spreads its screenings across the Bloor Cinema, Cumberland Cinemas, Isabel Bader Theatre, the ROM, The Royal Cinema, Winter Garden Theatre, The Royal Conservatory of Music and Innes Town Hall.

Tickets are $12 per doc, with a special $5 rate for the daily late-night screenings (all happen post 11 pm at the Bloor Cinema). Rush and same day tickets are available in small quantities at the box offices of each venue. (Note that the Hot Docs Box Office is located at 55 Avenue Road, 2 blocks north of Bloor Street: tickets purchased in advance may be picked up there).

Many of the 2010 listings have gone to rush already, so check listings carefully to establish how early you need to get in line. The films are divided into the following categories: Special Presentation (which features a variety of International Premieres like Bhutto and Teenage Paparazzo), Canadian Spectrum, International Spectrum, World Showcase, Made in South America, Next (the Arts, Creativity and Pop Culture), Small Acts, Ripping Reality and a Retrospective on Kim Longinotto. Some of the top ten “hot picks,” as listed on the Hot Docs site, include: Beirut! Not Enough Death to Go Round, The Rainbow Warriors of Waiheke Island, Horses, and Ladies in Blue.

The content ranges—from environmental degradation and murder, to comedic examinations of masculinity, to music, to sport and more.  2010’s Hot Docs line-up is long on provocative, high quality film, and the festival touts one of the hottest week-long tickets in Toronto.