Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market, proudly returns for its 18th annual edition from April 28 to May 8, 2011. Showcasing the best Canadian and international documentaries, Hot Docs is set to welcome delegates, filmmakers and audiences to Toronto for this 11-day event. This year, Hot Docs will screen over 199 documentaries from 43 countries on 16 different screens across Toronto.
This year is something of a game-changer for Hot Docs,” says executive director Chris McDonald. “We are expanding the number of film presentations by one third, we are screening in new neighbourhoods across the city, and we will be providing more direct financial support to filmmakers. The doc-making marketplace has changed dramatically, and so has our role within it. We are not just screening great work, we are helping to finance and distribute films in a meaningful way. Stay tuned for the announcement of a major new international initiative in the coming weeks. Until then, we look forward to sharing a staggering array of quality docs with our unbeatable Toronto audiences at this year’s Festival.”
The 2011 Festival will feature 199 official selections and retrospective titles in ten programs, as well as eight films by young filmmakers aged 14 to 18 screening in this year’s Doc It! showcase, and films selected as finalists in the International Documentary Challenge. In addition to screenings, international buyers and industry professionals will attend the Festival to participate in a full slate of conference and market events. These events include the world-renowned Hot Docs Forum and a vast number of other market and networking opportunities.
HotDocs 2011 brought five documentaries on the theme of Brazil or made by Brazilians.
I’m Jesus, depicts the lives of three people presenting himself as the son of the almighty, it’s worth checking out.
Senna, the trajectory of the Brazilian motorsport hero in the comment of riders who shared the runway with the daring pilot.
The Samba Within Me, a poetic vision of the inhabitants of the hills and followers of GRES Mangueira.
The Valley of the forgotten, which offers access to a frank bloody land conflict between Indians, farmers, squatters and government, unfolding deep in the Amazon forest of Brazil.
Because We Were born, the life story of two boys, Cocada and Nego, in rural pernanbucano where, at a gas station, the two boys meet to talk about their lives.
An incredible mix of cultural backgrounds will feed your eyes and soul.
A booklaunch of Indian Voices, volume one, and Hearts & Souls, a book of poetry by the Brazilian Poet, Leopoldo Paradela will happen on Venue: Supermarket Art Bar, 268 Augusta Avenue, Toronto, with live band by Mark Sepic and Gang, Percussion by Indian and Brazilian percussionists.
If you like the richness of documentaries, specially the ones related to Brazilian culture, you can’t miss the hot shots of 17thHot Docs. There are several good docs like, Beyond Ipanema, B1, Citizen Boilesen. Waste Land and Secrets of the tribe.
Those are only some of the great choices you can’t miss.
Do you want to know about schizophrenia, osteoporosis, arthritis, depression, family health and diabetes? These are some of the topics presented by health care professionals from UHN.
The monthly health talk is a presentation for patients, families and community members. Each month, a presenter will explain a health topic in language that is easy to understand.
The goal is to give you information on how to prevent disease or how to take care of your health issues.
Some examples of topics covered in the Monthly Talks are:
•During the 2hour session, 1 hour will be put aside for the presentation.
•Ask the speaker(s) for more information during the question and answer period in the second hour of the presentation.
•Pictures and video clips may be used to better explain the topic.
•Handouts are also available for you to take home.
This event is brought to you by the Patient and Family Library and Patient Education at the Toronto Western Hospital (TWH).
An icon of the Brazilian music, Gal Costa will perform for the first time in Canada at Massey Hall, on November 15th
Toronto, ON, October 20th, 2009 – Gal Costa is a true icon of the Brazilian Tropicalia movement in music. With more than 30 recordings spanning a career of 40 years, she will be making her Canadian debut at Massey Hall, on November 15th, after the past successful Toronto run of her fellow Tropicalistas Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso. Gal’s one night performance in Toronto is preceded by four nights at the legendary Blue Note Jazz Club, in New York, and closes her North American tour.
The grace and style of Gal, her signature voice, heard in every delicate, yet forceful note, symbolizes one of the world’s most passionate places. A Brazilian musical legend, Gal will be singing the music of Brazil’s greatest composers, and she will be joined by Romero Lubambo, a master in his own right, on Brazilian guitar.
A fundamental presence in the Tropicalia movement, Gal, as she is called in her home country, has been part of Brazil’s leading group of singers since the 1960s. At the age of 19, in 1964, Gal initiated her performing career with Caetano Veloso in the presentation of the opening of the Teatro Vila Velha in Salvador, Brazil. The show, called “Nós, por exemplo”, brought together the founding members of a movement that would become iconic in Brazilian music history: Caetano Veloso, his sister Maria Bethânia, Gilberto Gil, and Gal Costa (still under her name Maria da Graça). The show would spark an artistic relationship that would mark a generation.
She gained international exposure in the 1980s, touring Japan, France, Israel, Argentina, the United States, Portugal, Italy, among others. Gal Costa continues to be a viable and active artist in the 21st century, issuing new recorded material. However the repackaging of her previous work, which is becoming renowned in the category of Brazilian classics, is currently hitting the market by storm. Gal’s newest recording, Live at the Blue Note, features the consummate Brazilian diva performing a selection of Bossa Nova songs in an intimate setting at this New York legendary club in 2006. Delicate, yet with an underlying tough sexiness, Gal Costa’s voice is the perfect vehicle for such Bossa classics as “Corcovado” and “Garota de Ipanema”.
Romero Lubambo, guitar
Born in Rio de Janeiro in 1955, Romero Lubambo studied classical piano and music theory as a young boy. From the time he played his first notes on the guitar at age thirteen, he devoted himself to that instrument. Lubambo graduated from the Villa-Lobos School of Music in Rio in 1978, as an outstanding student of classical guitar.
The rhythms and melodies defining Brazilian music and American jazz fascinated Lubambo. He taught himself through intense research and practice, developing exceptional skill, versatility and fluency in both jazz and Brazilian idioms. In 1985, Romero left Brazil for New York, where he became very popular, not only for his authentic Brazilian sound, but also for his command of a variety of styles. After reconnecting with fellow Brazilians Duduka da Fonseca and Nilson Matta, their impromptu sessions eventually led to the formation of Trio da Paz, a Brazilian Jazz trio widely recognized for their innovation, creativity and dynamic intensity. The group has become a major force in revitalizing and evolving the rich Brazilian musical legacy. Since their successful debut album “Brazil from the Inside” Trio da Paz has continued to break new ground with their special blend of traditional Brazilian rhythms and jazz improvisation.
Romero has also established himself as a composer and performer on his own critically acclaimed recording projects and collaborations with many outstanding artists, including Diana Krall, Herbie Mann, Wynton Marsalis, Grover Washington Jr., Vernon Reid, Flora Purim and Airto Moreira, Sadao Watanabe, Paquito D’Rivera and Harry Belafonte among many others.
Samba Toronto presents Gal Costa in Concert
$49.50 to $69.50 (now on sale)
Massey Hall (capacity 2.700)
7:30 pm
Sunday November 15, 2009
Tickets available at: Massey Hall & Brazil Remittance
Performing acts: Opening act by Filo Machado & Sambacana; Main performance by Gal Costa & Romero Lubambo
