Hot Docs Eve

Oh boy oh boy oh boy. I'm like a little girl on the night before the eighth night of Hanukkah. It's Hot Docs eve, or, as my people say, eruv Hot Docs.

In preparation for the festival, I dehibernatated my bicycle tonight in order to make sure i could get from point A to the Cumberland Theatre. Flat tires? Persistent and embarrassing squeak? Woefully inadequate brakes? I'm ready to roll. Through red lights.  

The reviews of my most recent entry, "A Roughly Slotted Schedule" are in! Occasional Dock Buddy writes: "Nice lineup, based purely on quantity and movie titles." Thanks ODB! And now to answer one lucky reader's e-mail. Jimmy from Toronto writes: "are we going out on friday? That would be swell [sic]" To which I reply, yes!

So...I better get going. I need to put together my festival survival kit tonight, which I'm excited to assemble this year because for the first time since I was five years old, I've started eating granola bars. Those little cartoon peanuts inside the no-entry signs are so persuasive, and not having to carry three pounds of ziplocked noodles in my purse is really going to lighten the load this year!

Hey, does anybody want to see Fightville at 9:30 tomorrow night? Come on, you know you want to. You know how much you love mixed martial arts. I know how much you love mixed martial arts. It's just like capoeira, only snuffier! But seriously, I'm hoping there will be footage of the women's MMA leagues - it's indisputably hot. My final point is that the movie is playing at the Winter Garden Theatre, an oasis of dollar store decorative foliage which is a must see, especially for those of you who suffer from a phobia of being stuck in a concrete stairwell for five flights of stairs with 640 strangers. You'll see what I mean.

Whatever, I'll just scalp them. 

A Roughly Slotted Schedule

Ok, ok, everybody settle down. After a minor setback (drool on the keyboard) I am ready to share my selections for hot docs 2011!

To begin with, I must apologize for the delay. I’ve been busy working on my other internet endeavour, Downward Blog. I find that blogging about yoga is a marvelous way to deepen my practice. You may have noticed some changes around here, including a white background and oh, i don't know, a new name! See, somebody in Kensington took a liking to my bicycle last summer, breached the two dollar lock that I bought in Delhi, and made off with my Schwinn and its eponymous pink milkcrate. I’m sure if the thief had known that my elevated social stature was based entirely a blog called Pink Milkcrate, he would have graciously spared the crate. But alas, he didn't get the memo, so I took it as an opportunity to rebrand, and here we are, aren't we? If anyone steals my dock I am in big trouble because I'm running out of awesome names for my blog.

I digress (writers like to say that).

As I teased you before, I have roughly slotted in (don't you like the sound of those words together?) most of my movies for this year’s festival. Visit the hot docs website to read the descriptions. Many of the screenings have already gone rush, but I have an extra ticket to each film that I see so hit my on my beeper if you want to be my date. And remember, this schedule is a living, breathing organism, so if you're planning on stalking me, you should confirm my whereabouts before you look for parking - just text me at 416.555.5555.

Thursday April 28
6:30 - POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
9:30 - Fightville

Friday April 29
9:30 - Guantanamo Trap

Saturday April 30
1:00 - El Bulli - Cooking in Progress
3:45 - Mothers of Bedford
6:30 - Beats, Rhymes & Life
9/9:30 - The National Parks Project or Maids & Bosses
1:45 - Empire North

Sunday May 1
11:00 - Jig
1:30 - Battle for Brooklyn
4:30 - Boy Cheerleaders
9:15 - The Pirate Tapes
11:45 - Conan O'Brien Can't Stop

Monday May 2
6:15 - El Sicario, Room 164
9:30 - The Castle

Tuesday May 3
7:00 - Hot Coffee

Wednesday May 4
6:30 - Melissa-Mom and Me
9:45 - Memoirs of a Plague

Thursday May 5
6:00 - Limelight
9:45 - Recessionize!

Friday May 6
7:15 - Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey
9:45 - Inside Lara Roxx

Saturday May 7
10:45 - How To Die in Oregon
9:45 - Dolphin Boy

Sunday May 8
1:00 - The Hollywood Complex
3:30 - Kumare
9:00 - Knuckle

First Picks

The schedule is out!

I prefer to wait until the fancy printed program guide is released before I start choosing my movies, but two of my flicks are always selected for me - the two on opening night, which don't run simultaneously with any other movie. Easy.

POM Wonderful Presents: The Greatest Movie Ever Sold
I'm looking forward to this one - same director of Super Size Me, which people seem to have liked (I didn't see it). This time director Morgan Spurlock explores the world of product placement and advertising. I like this subject matter - it's something we are all consumed by on a daily basis (especially those of us who partake in privately funded film festivals), and it feels healthy to speed-check one's immunity to all of the branding and placement that seeps into our surroundings. Apparently, Sao Paulo in Brazil  has a strict no-advertisments policy; maybe that will come up in this flick.

And I wanted to tell you about the next movie on April 28th, which is about mixed martial arts, but I can't remember what it's called and now the hot docs website is telling me this:

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Sounds good! I hope it has subtitles.