Hot Docs (HD) is the largest documentary festival in North America and responded to the pandemic like other prominent international film festivals such as Berlinale and Sundance which set the stage for an effective transition to an online virtual festival. HD screened in 2020 more than 135 films, drawing more viewers  from Ontario, participants to its professional market, and a growing subscription audience. The  expectations for 2021 by the organizers were met. In its 28th edition, ...

    THE PETROV FILE (Bulgaria/Germany) directed by Georgi Balabanov (screenplay: Georgi Balabanov, Jean-Claude Carriere) A prominent stage actor makes his return after the fall of the communist regime. Soon after, he gets an offer to lead a new political party. Can art and politics be separated under the "new" regime?  Balabanov’s clever approach to his story and characters created a piece that immediately captures the viewer's attention, w...

THERE were many good lines in Chaplin's first "talking" movie, The Great Dictator. But the one that has stuck in my mind over the years comes from the final scene (or was it the penultimate scene) in which the barber is mistaken for Adenoid Hinkle and has to make a speech. "We think too much, and we feel too little", says Charlot as he addresses the massed ranks of soldiers who have been rallied to hear a pro-Nazi anti-Jewish rant. ( no problem here for the programmer...