TORONTO FILM. NET

Click images to enlarge... Michael Stevens reporting from Toronto... The 16th edition of Toronto's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, opened April 30 and will run to May 10. From a record 1948 film submissions, this year’s slate offers 171 titles from 39 countries in 10 programs. Thursday, April 30, for the first time "Hot Docs" expanded its Opening Night celebration to include a VIP cocktail reception at the historic Elgin Theatre on Yonge, followed by a screening in the Winter Garden of Jennifer "Manufactured Landscapes" Baichwal's "Act Of God". "Act Of God", a Canwest-Hot Docs Funds Recipent, best described as 'a visually and aurally seductive reverie' is an electrifying new film, exploring the metaphysical effects of literally being struck by lightning. "I can't accept that it happened for a reason," said James O'Reilley, who was hit by a strike and survived. "Nor can I really accept t

Click images to enlarge... Directed by Paul Cowan, produced by Gerry Flahive, Paul Saadoun and narrated by Canadian actor R.H. Thomson, the doc "Paris 1919", a National Film Board of Canada co-production had its North American premiere May 1 @ Toronto's "Hot Docs", with an encore screening scheduled for May 10. "...For six months in 1919, Paris was the capital of the world. The last shots had just been fired in the most devastating war of all time - and the old global order lay in tatters. Delegations from over 30 nations urgently descended upon Paris for the most ambitious peace talks in history. At the helm were the Big Four - President Woodrow Wilson along with leaders of France, the UK and Italy. They endeavored to engineer a peace treaty 'for all time', creating instead an embittered Germany already dreaming of retaliation - and creating contentious new entities like Iraq and Yugoslavia..." Inspired by author Margaret MacMillan's novel