Films on designer Bruce Mau, women in stand-up comedy and disgraced Nike track coach Alberto Salazar will screen at the 2021 Hot Docs film festival.
The titles are part of the latest round of films announced for the festival’s Special Presentations program.
In Mau, Austrian directors Benji and Jono Bergmann profile the Ontario-born designer who has become an influential global figure whose work spans architecture, film, environmental design and more.
Director Andrea Nevins looks at women working in the male-dominated stand-up comedy world in Hysterical, which will air on FX in Canada later this year. The subjects featured include Margaret Cho, Fortune Feimster, Marina Franklin, Nikki Glaser, Jessica Kirson, Sherri Shepherd and Iliza Shlesinger.
One of the buzziest titles out of Sundance will also play in Toronto. Nanfu Wang, who won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize for One Child Nation, returns to Hot Docs with In The Same Breath. Billed as “a searing investigation into COVID-19’s origins and spread [that] exposes not only a global crisis of misinformation, but the leadership that misled the world about a still-unfolding emergency.”
With Nike’s Big Bet, Canadian director Paul Kemp takes a look at the doping scandal that resulted in Nike track coach Alberto Salazar getting hit with a four-year ban.
Veteran American documentary filmmaker and Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award recipient Stanley Nelson will also (virtually) attend a special screening of his Netflix documentary Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy.
And while Elmo and Big Bird have been the subject of their own docs, the team of creators, artists, writers and educators responsible for the long-running kids show Sesame Street get their due in Street Gang: How We Got Sesame Street.
Last week, the festival confirmed Yung Chang’s Wuhan Wuhan and Jennifer Holness’s Subjects Of Desire – both Toronto directors – would play at this year’s festival, which runs online from April 29 to May 9.
The full list of today’s 2021 lineiup announcements is below, with descriptions courtesy of Hot Docs:
Behind The Headlines
D: Daniel Andreas Sager | P: Marc Bauder | Germany | 2021 | 90 mins | North American Premiere
For the first time, cameras embed with the German investigative unit that broke the explosive Panama Papers story, following the journalists’ pursuit of the truth behind the political assassination of a Maltese reporter and yet another history-making financial scandal.
Crack: Cocaine, Corruption & Conspiracy
D: Stanley Nelson | P: Stanley Nelson, Cameo George, Naimah Jabali-Nash, Keith Brown, Nicole London | EP: Marcia Smith | U.S. | 2020 | 90 mins | Special Screening
A cheap, powerful drug emerges during a recession, igniting a moral panic fueled by racism. Acclaimed filmmaker Stanley Nelson explores the complex history of crack in the 1980s. Includes exclusive Q&A with Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award recipient Stanley Nelson.
Homeroom
D: Peter Nicks | P: Sean Havey | U.S. | 2020 | 90 mins | International Premiere
The resilience and optimism of Oakland High School’s 2020 senior class is captured in verité footage and social media videos as they confront anxieties over test scores, growing demands for social justice and the unprecedented uncertainty of a rapidly spreading pandemic.
Hysterical
D: Andrea Nevins | P: Rebecca Evans, Carolina Groppa, Ross M. Dinerstein | U.S. | 2021 | 88 mins | International Premiere
Hysterical is a backstage pass into the lives of the hilarious, boundary-breaking women shattering stand-up comedy’s glass ceiling. Featuring Margaret Cho, Fortune Feimster, Marina Franklin, Nikki Glaser, Jessica Kirson, Sherri Shepherd, Iliza Shlesinger, and more. Premiering on FX Canada this summer.
In The Same Breath
D: Nanfu Wang | P: Nanfu Wang, Jialing Zhang, Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, Carolyn Hepburn | U.S. | 2021 | 95 mins | International Premiere
Nanfu Wang’s (director of One Child Nation, winner of Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize) searing investigation into COVID-19’s origins and spread exposes not only a global crisis of misinformation, but the leadership that misled the world about a still-unfolding emergency.
Mau
D: Benji Bergmann, Jono Bergmann | P: Karol Martesko-Fenster | Austria, U.S. | 2021 | 76 mins | International Premiere
Revolutionary Canadian designer Bruce Mau reveals truths that have shaped his long and expansive career, from designing sustainable platforms to social movements. His way of seeing could be just what’s needed in this critical time in history.
Nike’s Big Bet
D: Paul Kemp | P: Corey Russell, Paul Kemp | Canada | 2021 | 80 mins | North American Premiere
Alberto Salazar was a coaching legend until his recent doping ban shocked the running world. Did his “Just Do It” attitude and questionable practices push the limits of human performance and technology too far?
Rebel Hearts
D: Pedro Kos | P: Shawnee Isaac-Smith, Kira Carstensen, Judy Korin | U.S. | 2021 | 103 mins | International Premiere
A group of pioneering nuns in 1960s Los Angeles stood up to the patriarchy in such revolutionary ways, demanding pay cheques, marching on Selma and making political pop art, they would change Catholicism and the face of faith forever.
Street Gang: How We Got Sesame Street
D: Marilyn Agrelo | P: Trevor Crafts, Ellen Scherer Crafts, Lisa Diamond | U.S. | 2021 | 107 mins | International Premiere
Featuring exclusive behind-the-scenes footage, this inspiring journey takes us inside the minds and hearts of Sesame Street creators, artists, writers and educators, who together established one of the most influential and enduring children’s programs in television history.
Through The Night
D: Loira Limbal | P: Loira Limbal, Jameka Autry | U.S.| 2020 | 72 mins | Ontario Premiere
Working multiple jobs, desperate to make ends meet for their families, two New York mothers drop off their children at a 24-hour daycare centre run by a woman that binds the neighbourhood together.
Viral
D: Sagi Bornstein, Udi Nir | P: Christian Beetz, Sagi Bornstein, Udi Nir | Germany, Israel | 2021 | 75 mins | World Premiere
Seven young people from across the world were innocently uploading shiny bright 2020 plans when “virus” started trending. Over a year’s worth of real-time posts and massive reality checks chart their innocent optimism and surprising resilience to a global change no one saw coming.
We Are As Gods
D: David Alvarado, Jason Sussberg | P: David Alvarado, Kate McLean, Jamie Meltzer, Jason Sussberg | U.S. | 2021 | 95 mins | Canadian Premiere
Environmental iconoclast Stewart Brand believes re-engineering woolly mammoth DNA and “de-extinction science” could reverse climate change. Is he an oracle envisioning a brave new world or will his controversial views cement him as eco-pariah?
WeWork: Or The Making And Breaking Of A $47 Billion Unicorn
D: Jed Rothstein | P: Ross Dinerstein | USA | 2020 | 101 mins | International Premiere
Utilizing interviews with journalists, experts, high-ranking former employees and former members Wework: Or The Making And Breaking Of A $47 Billion Unicorn explores the rise and fall of one of the biggest corporate flameouts and venture capitalist bubbles in recent years – the story of WeWork, and its hippie-messianic leader Adam Neumann.
