Hot Docs 2010

What better way to kick things off here at Visions of Non-Fiction, a blog dedicated to the world and history of documentary film and television, than reporting on Toronto's 2010 Hot Docs Film Festival.

Founded in 1993, Hot Docs has grown to become North America's largest documentary film festival. Opening last night with Thomas Balmes' Babies, which follows the first year in the lives of four infants around the globe, Hot Docs runs until next Sunday, May 8th.

Babies will be getting a proper theatrical release that same day, and as it was the first documentary to go into rush screenings, I was not able to purchase a ticket with my pass. I am more than happy, though, to be able to see ten other films that might not get the same kind of exposure as Babies already has. After some research, I have uncovered that a couple of my selections are not quite new and have been released in some capacity at some point in time. Nonetheless, Hot Docs is my favourite film festival of the year and I am happy to discover some treasures that are new unto me.

Tonight I am scheduled to see two films: General Orders No. 9 by Robert Persons and Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go by Kim Longinotto. The latter is a part of a retrospective of the filmmaker's work and was completed in 2007. One is of the decline of the American South displayed through experimental techniques, the other about a boy's school in the UK for troubled youth.

Full reviews will be up in the near future!