Sarcastic thanks are in order to doc blogger Pamela Cohn, who has dragged me into a blogging meme based on this year’s Hot Docs festival. As if I haven’t done enough writing about it already (and with another five reviews or so still bouncing around in my head), here goes:
- Film that Tugged at My Heartstrings the Most: This one’s a tie: Aron Gaudet’s The Way We Get By and Greg Barker’s Sergio. In fact, these two knocked me out so thoroughly that I’ve been unable to write about them yet. I hope that will change, but I’m finding it very difficult to put into words how each of these films made me feel. To sum up poorly, both made me think about how what we do with our time on this planet has a lot to do with how we will be remembered. And that each of us very much wants to be remembered.
- Strangest Cinematic Moment: Even though I watched it at home via screener, there came a point in John Maringouin’s Big River Man where I thought that the unhinging of Slovenian distance swimmer Martin Strel’s mind might just take mine with it.
- Best Party: The day job kind of precluded my full immersion in the nighttime scene, but luckily my pal Joel Heller (producer of the hilarious and utterly charming Winnebago Man) invited me to a couple of post-screening gatherings. I was at the infamous Conference Room F party while it was still coalescing in Joel’s suite. I got to meet some amazing people (including, finally, the above-mentioned meme-tagger herself!) even though I could only stay an hour.
- Overall High Point: Probably for me, the final post-Winnebago Man party on Saturday night. There was a rumoured trip to Toronto Island that didn’t come off, but I had a great time at the Victory Café instead and got to meet some really interesting people. I did skip the post-party karaoke, which was probably best for everyone.
- Favourite Pitch: You see, this is where I show how much of an imposter I really am. I did not attend the Toronto Documentary Forum, the Dragon’s Den of documentary pitching, and therefore I have no opinion on this at all. Hopefully after my experience at SIFT in a few weeks, I’ll know a good pitch from a bad one (and hoping mine won’t be one of the bad ones!)
Now, I’m supposed to tag another five people who can continue this thing. Unlucky victims: Bob Turnbull, Shannon Ridler, Trista DeVries, Sarah Gopaul and Kurt Halfyard.
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