Hot Docs 2012 Toronto

This Week in Rep Cinema: Hot Docs 2012 edition

This Week in Rep Cinema features second run and classic film selections from cinemas such as the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema, The Fox, The Revue, The Royal, Toronto Underground Cinema, the Projection Booth, TIFF Bell Lightbox, and more.

Your regularly scheduled "This Week in Rep Cinema" post has been hijacked this week for a few choice Hot Docs picks. Here are some of the films worth having on your radar.

MONDAY APRIL 30TH / FISTS OF PRIDE / TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX / 7:30PM
This grim Canadian documentary shines a light on the disturbing practice of child boxing in Thailand. While it's a bleak sport for kids to be aspiring towards, the trainees get to compete for cash prizes which are often their only real means of making enough money to escape the slums. Despite their intensive training, when the fight comes around, the size and stature of these boxers and their relative hunger and poverty make it a startling scene to watch. Tickets are $14.50 and can be purchased online in advance or same-day at the theatre.

TUESDAY MAY 1 / BUZKASHI! / TIFF BELL LIGHTBOX / 9PM
A sports doc like no other, Buzkashi! is a fantastic introduction to the nerve-wracking Tajikstani game where men ride on horses and have to cart a goat carcass across a finish line to score a point. Sounds easy right? Except by Tajikstani rules, it's every man for themself. The film follows a rich buzkashi champion trying to change that rule to allow teams to participate while others attempt to preserve their national pasttime by continuing solo. Tickets are $14.50 and can be purchased online in advance or same-day at the theatre.

WEDNESDAY MAY 2 / THE WORLD BEFORE HER / ISABEL BADER THEATRE / 9PM
Of the fifteen-plus films I've seen so far this festival, The World Before Her is in my top three. It's an engrossing documentary that shuttles you between modern Indian feminism as depicted by an Indian beauty pageant and the traditional feminism found in a Hindu training camp. Both institutions are highly critical of the other but certain startling similarities can be found in the young women fighting for their independance on either side. Tickets are $14.50 and can be purchased online in advance or same-day at the theatre.

FRIDAY MAY 4 / CHINA HEAVYWEIGHT / FOX THEATRE / 9:30PM
For the second weekend of the festival, Hot Docs moves some of its screenings to theatres like the Fox, the Revue and the Regent, giving people the opportunity to see films in their own neighbourhood. What better to start with than the newest film by director Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze) about a boxing coach and his search to find recruits to be China's next heavyweight champion. Tickets are $14.50 and can be purchased online in advance or same-day at the theatre.

SATURDAY MAY 5 / THE INVISIBLE WAR / BLOOR HOT DOCS CINEMA / 3:15PM
Kirby Dick's latest film exposes a shocking secret of the United States military; that it has made explicit efforts to silence reported incidents of military rape since WW2. By using stats provided by the United States government and first person experiences and stories, Dick pieces together a work that is heartbreaking and resoundingly important, as well as a great piece of documentary filmmaking. Tickets are $14.50 and can be purchased online in advance or same-day at the theatre.

ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS

  • The World's Most Fashionable Prison - TIFF Bell Lightbox - Thu May 3 - 9:30pm
  • Beauty is Embarrassing - Bloor Hot Docs Cinema - Sun May 6 - 3:30pm

For Toronto movie showtimes, view our Movie Listings section.


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