Hot Docs 2024 – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

HOT DOCS 2024: Feminist Wrap – Emma Badame reports

May 6, 2024May 6, 2024 Emma Badame Hot Docs 2024, Hot Docs International Film Festival, Iris Ng, toronto, Wet’suwet’en First Nation, Yintah

Of this year’s slate of 168 films, 54% of them featured women behind the camera. Many focussed in on lived experiences of those they admire (Helen and the Bear) or intriguing names both big and small (A Photographic Memory); others shone the spotlight on the oppressed or inspired (Nice Ladies), LGBTQ+ trailblazers (Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story), the people fighting for justice (The Sharp End of Peace) or just a better world (Once Upon a Time in a Forest), or just the consistently curious (Synchrony). As it does every year, the festival wrapped with the announcement of this year’s cohort of award winners. 15 prizes were handed out in recognition of outstanding Canadian and International contribution to the documentary field, nine of which went to female filmmakers

Festivals Reviews

ANY OTHER WAY: THE JACKIE SHANE STORY (Hot Docs 2024) – Review by Liz Braun

May 1, 2024May 4, 2024 Liz Braun animation, Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story, biodoc, documentary, Hot Docs 2024, Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, Michael Mabbott

Forty years of living as a recluse nearly erased her legacy, but a new film about Jackie Shane should ensure that the legendary R&B singer is properly remembered. Shane, a transgender performer decades before gender identity was part of the lexicon, was born in Nashville and moved to Canada in 1959 — entering the country for a gig and never leaving. Shane eventually settled in Toronto and had a big presence in the club scene there. And she had a Top 40 hit in the 1960s: Any Other Way. In 1971, Shane vanished from the music scene. What became of this brave and talented performer is one of the mysteries solved in Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story..

Festivals Reviews

FAMILY TREE (Hot Docs 2024) – Review by Liz Braun

May 1, 2024May 4, 2024 Liz Braun African American Land Retention Project, Black life, documentary, Family Tree, Hot Docs 2024, Jennifer MacArthur, Nikki and Natalie Jefferies, Sustainable Forestry, Tyrone Williams

This is a gentle, engaging and instructive film about preserving land, preserving family and preserving ownership. Director Jennifer MacArthur pulls a viewer right into the heart of two African-American families and their day to day concerns as stewards of large tracts of forested land. Keeping their land properly is a huge undertaking with huge ramifications: forested land is key to the environment, removing carbon from the atmosphere and slowing the greenhouse effect and climate change.

Festivals Reviews

THE SHARP EDGE OF PEACE (Hot Docs 2024) – Review by Liz Braun

April 24, 2024April 28, 2024 Liz Braun afghanistan, documentary, Fatima Gailani, Fawzia Koofi, gender apartheid, Habiba Sarabi, Hot Docs 2024, Roya Sadat, Sharifa Zurmati, The Sharp Edge of Peace

The Sharp Edge of Peace is an infuriating documentary about Afghanistan. The film concerns the attempts made by women leaders and others to restore women’s rights in Afghanistan via negotiations with the Taliban. It opens with footage of peace negotiator Fawzia Koofi in hospital, as she has just survived an assassination attempt. Koofi is one of four women chosen to be part of the Afghan government’s negotiating team as the country attempts to recover its footing after the withdrawal of U.S. and other foreign troops, and the rise of the Taliban.