Screens

FAN FAVOURITES JULY TALK get the doc treatment next month as one of over 200 feature films at Toronto’s Hot Docs documentary film festival, which celebrates 30 years when it returns from Tue., April 27, to Sun., May 7.

The hard-working Toronto band are featured in July Talk: Love Lives Here as they pivot from touring during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to hosting a non-super spreader outdoor concert.

Echo of Everything sees leading thinkers in music, philosophy, astronomy and physics all exploring and discussing “music’s universal power to elicit ecstasy” while Long Story Short is the tale of pioneering Asian-American nightclub act Larry and Trudy Long, who performed in the ’40s and ’50s.

Hong Kong Mixtape follows a group of underground artists navigating the harsh anti-democracy laws imposed in 2019 and the festival offers a full slate of timely looks into pressing current issues.

In addition to films, the festival will present a series of podcasts live on stage as well as the Big Ideas Series speaker sessions. Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers will be among the featured speakers.

Indigenous rights activist and Inuit lawyer Aaju Peter is celebrated in the Hot Docs opening night film, Twice Colonized, which sees her pursuing justice for her people in Canada, Greenland and Denmark.

Any ’90s nostalgia buffs will be curious about The American Gladiators Documentary while fans of hockey and/or throwing shit through plate-glass windows and setting fires might like I’m Just Here for The Riot about the mayhem in Vancouver that followed the Canucks’ loss in the 2011 Stanley Cup final.

Single tickets, festival pass information and a full list of films is available at hotdocs.ca. Students with valid ID and those over 60 years old get free admission to all films before 5 pm.