A Canadian documentary series about the early days of hip-hop will world-premiere at this year’s Hot Docs Film Festival, happening April 28 to May 8.
Directed by Darby Wheeler and co-produced by Banger Films’ Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn (Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey), Hip-Hop Evolution is part of the fest’s Special Presentations program.
The four-part series follows rapper and CBC Radio Q host Shad Kabango to the Bronx and Harlem, where he meets with Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, Grandmaster Flash, Chuck D, Ice-T, Rakim, LL Cool J, Ice Cube and others to trace the genre’s origin story.
The first two episodes screen at Hot Docs, and all four parts air on HBO Canada in early summer.
“The scope of the project was massive, and it was vital to us that hip-hop’s story was told by the people who were there,” Wheeler tells NOW. “So we’re really proud that we were able to land so many of the pioneers and innovators who created hip-hop. The process also uncovered some stories that have never received major attention.”
Hot Docs will also host the international premiere of Contemporary Color, Bill and Turner Ross’s documentary about David Byrne’s musical pep rally show of the same name that debuted at last year’s Luminato Festival. The film was shot during the show’s Brooklyn run and features Ad-Rock, St. Vincent, Nelly Furtado and Blood Orange performing alongside 10 colour guard teams.
Other music-related Special Presentations screenings include Gary Numan: Android In La La Land, about the electro-pop pioneer I Am The Blues, a musical travelogue about the last of the American South’s original blues legends Strike A Pose, about the backup dancers from Madonna’s concert doc Truth Or Dare and Raving Iran, about Iran’s illegal techno scene, among others.
Hot Docs has also once again partnered with Canadian Music Week to present free live music during the film fest’s opening weekend. Soon-to-be-announced Toronto and Montreal bands will perform at Mill Street Hub (behind Isabel Bader Theatre, 93 Charles) on April 30 and May 1 from 9-11 pm.
Additionally, fans of Toronto experimental music collective Yamantaka // Sonic Titan will be excited to know that drummer/band leader Alaska B scored the music for Michael Shannon Michael Shannon John, the new feature-length film by Toronto’s Chelsea McMullan (My Prairie Home). Debuting at Hot Docs, MSMSJ examines the lives of two sets of doppelganger siblings – who live on opposite sides of the world and didn’t know of each other’s existence – left behind after the death of their father, Hamilton police officer John Hanmer.
More on this year’s lineup here and at hotdocs.ca.
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