TIFF ’20 selection CONCRETE COWBOY arrives next month on Netflix! See this new Trailer!

Synopsis:

When fifteen year-old Cole (Caleb McLaughlin) is expelled from school in Detroit, he is sent to North Philadelphia to live with Harp (Idris Elba), his estranged father. Harp finds solace in rehabilitating horses for inner city cowboys at the Fletcher Street Stables, a real-life black urban horsemanship community that has provided a safe haven for the neighborhood residents for more than 100 years. Torn between his growing respect for his father’s community and his reemerging friendship with troubled cousin Smush (Jharrel Jerome), Cole begins to reprioritize his life as the stables themselves are threatened by encroaching gentrification.

Trailer:

CONCRETE COWBOY arrives on Netflix April 2, 2021.

(Photo/video credit: Netflix)

Named by NOW Magazine as one of the top shows of 2018, FARM CRIME is back for a second season.

Synopsis:

Comprised of six episodes, Farm Crime Season 2 explores the largely unseen dark side of Canada’s agriculture industry. The series covers a range of cases; from an invasion of the Asian giant hornet AKA ‘murder hornet’ in British Columbia to the heartbreaking story of a missing mare in Ontario and a million-dollar sting operation in the secretive world of Nova Scotia’s baby eel fishery. Directors for Season 2 include Farm Crime producer Geoff Morrison, Kat Jayme (Finding Big Country), Alexandra Lazarowich (Fast Horse), Conor McNally (IIKAAKIIMAAT), Stephanie Joline (Play Your Gender) and Maya Annik Bedward (The Haircut).

Summary of episodes.

1. Invasion of the Murder Hornets (dir. Kat Jayme)

The Asian Giant Hornet, dubbed by the media as the “murder hornet,” made headlines when it arrived in America in Spring 2020. But nine months before the murder hornet became an overnight sensation, the honeybee’s deadliest natural predator had already arrived in the sleepy town of Nanaimo, BC. When a group of dedicated beekeepers discovered a nest — the first in North America — they quickly hatched a plan to eradicate it, save their honeybees and stem the invasion of the murder hornets.

2. The Million Dollar Baby Eel Deal (dir. Stephanie Joline)

Every Spring, in streams and estuaries in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, small groups of fishers fan out across the region to harvest one of the richest catches per kilogram in the world: baby eels, also known as elvers. A kilogram of elvers can sell for as much as $4,500, largely because it’s virtually impossible to breed eels in captivity and catch limits are strictly regulated to protect the species. In Spring 2018, fisheries officers received a tip about a poacher trying to sell 100 kilograms of baby eels illegally. Knowing they had a chance to lay serious charges, officers set-up a sting operation to stop the person taking hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of elvers out of the river. But to put them away, officers would need to catch them in the act.

3. Missing Mare (dir. Alexandra Lazarowich)

When Rachael Bakker was struck by a sudden illness and unable to care for her two horses, a friend in the equine community introduced her to a woman who agreed to lease the animals. But when Rachael sought to retrieve her horses a year later, they were nowhere to be found. Instead, she discovered a chain of horse theft, illegal sales, and broken promises that stretched from Southern Ontario to Nova Scotia.

4. Canola Caper (dir. Maya Annik Bedward)

No crop has done more for Canadian farmers in the last half-century than canola. Developed in the 1970s by two scientists at the University of Manitoba, canola has become a $26 billion-dollar industry, making it Canada’s most valuable crop. In 2010, Killarney, Manitoba RCMP Cst. Luanne Gibb received a tip about some suspicious canola sales at a grain elevator. The sales had come from an individual who was a suspect in a canola theft years earlier that Gibb was unable to crack. The new case gave Gibb a second chance at finding justice for the victim farmers. But to solve the crime, she would need the help of an innovative grain scientist to put an end to the suspect’s reign of thefts.

5. The Lobster Looting at Long Cove (dir. Geoff Morrison)

In late winter 2018, the price of lobster reached an all-time high, and Nova Scotia fisherman Ken Wyatt and his colleagues along the South Shore had every reason to expect a season of unprecedented profits. But a rash of brazen lobster thefts in their community undermined their earning expectations — as well as their faith in the sanctity of an honest catch.

6. My Father’s Horses  (dir. Conor McNally)

Sykes Powderface raises paint horses on the Stoney Nakoda First Nation on the Rocky Mountains’ foothills. In Spring 2020, three of his horses went missing, so he turned to his daughter, Corleigh, for help. Corleigh posted on social media about the missing horses, spoke with local horse dealers and brand inspectors, and eventually involved an RCMP livestock investigator. The search for the missing horses unveiled the original thief and a string of buyers — as well as a moral dilemma for the family who, unwittingly, ended up in possession of the stolen animals.

FARM CRIME Season 2 premieres April 1, 2021 on CBC GEM.

The 2021 Hot Docs Festival will take place this year April 29 – May 9, 2021.  13 Special Presentations were announced today, some featuring very well-known subjects. The Documentary Festival will use an at-home VOD platform this year in adapting to the Pandemic.

Some of the Films just announced:

7 YEARS OF LUKAS GRAHAM
D: René Sascha Johannsen | P: Sara Stockmann | Denmark | 2020 | 77 mins | International Premiere

Danish band Lukas Graham has an uncanny ability of setting audacious goals and achieving them, but after scoring a hit with “7 Years,” Grammy nominations and a world tour, success and fame may have them changing their tune.

ALL LIGHT, EVERYWHERE
D: Theo Anthony | P: Jonna McKone, Sebastian Pardo, Riel Roch-Decter | USA | 2021 | 109 mins | Canadian Premiere

Exploring the connections between technology, vision and power, this Sundance prize winner offers an illuminating investigation of ever-increasing surveillance technologies, exposing the complexities of objectivity and the biases inherent in both human perception and the camera lens.

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.

COME BACK ANYTIME
D: John Daschbach | P: Wataru Yamamoto | Japan | 2021 | 81 mins | World Premiere

Experience a year in the life of a self-taught Japanese ramen master, who considers his legendary noodle shop more than just a livelihood but his life, and his die-hard customers more than just regulars, but true friends.

CRACK: COCAINE, CORRUPTION & CONSPIRACY
D: Stanley Nelson | P: Stanley Nelson, Cameo George, Naimah Jabali-Nash, Keith Brown, Nicole London | EP: Marcia Smith | USA | 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.

THE DEATH OF MY TWO FATHERS
D: Sol Guy | P: Stine Chrone Moisen, Sol Guy, Travestine Guy – Tuggle | USA | 2021 | 84 mins | World Premiere

The filmmaker turns the experience of watching videotapes that his terminally ill father recorded into an unforgettable contemplation of race, death and the importance of family, composed as a letter to his own children.

DIRTY TRICKS
D & P: Daniel Sivan | Israel | 2021 | 100 mins | World Premiere

At the elite level, bridge—the world’s most popular card game—becomes a million-dollar cut-throat business. When the best competitive player is accused of cheating, the ensuing scandal confounds experts, criminal science, celebrities and basic belief in this hilarious true-crime thriller.

HOMEROOM
D: Peter Nicks | P: Sean Havey | USA | 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 | USA | 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 | USA | 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, USA | 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.

MISHA AND THE WOLVES
D: Sam Hobkinson | P: Jürgen Buedts, Poppy Dixon, Al Morrow, Matthew Wells, Gregory Zalcman | UK, Belgium | 2020 | 88 mins | Canadian Premiere

Misha Defonseca’s 1997 Holocaust memoir about escaping the Nazis as a seven-year-old girl on foot across Europe with a pack of wolves took the world by storm. But when Hollywood comes knocking, an even more audacious story and darker deceptions come to light.

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?

PLAYING WITH SHARKS
D: Sally Aitken | P: Bettina Dalton | Australia | 2020 | 91 mins | North American Premiere

From filming Jaws’ near-lethal live scenes to saving a great white with her bare hands, underwater filmmaking legend Valerie Taylor faces her biggest challenge yet: fighting to conserve the world’s remaining sharks.

REBEL HEARTS
D: Pedro Kos | P: Shawnee Isaac-Smith, Kira Carstensen, Judy Korin | USA | 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.

THE RETURN: LIFE AFTER ISIS
D: Alba Sotorra Clua | P: Alba Sotorra Clua, Vesna Cudic, Carles Torras | Spain, UK | 2021 | 90 mins | Canadian Premiere

This provocative doc reveals the deeper stories that drove several women to uproot their lives in the West and join ISIS in Syria. Now, infamous and reviled in the media, they yearn for absolution and the homelands that bar their return.

ROCKFIELD: THE STUDIO ON THE FARM
D: Hannah Berryman | P: Catryn Ramasut | UK | 2020 | 91 mins | North American Premiere

Featuring candid interviews with rock legends Robert Plant, Ozzy Osbourne and Liam Gallagher, this is the unlikely tale of how two Welsh brothers turned their dairy farm into one of the most successful recording studios of all time.

THE ROSSELLINIS
D: Alessandro Rossellini | P: Raffaele Brunetti, Uldis Cekulis | EP: Philippa Kowarsky, Laura Michalchyshyn | Italy, Latvia | 2020 | 90 mins | Special Screening

In this fascinating look inside a complicated cinema dynasty, the eldest grandson of Roberto Rossellini, one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, picks up the camera for himself and explores his family history.

STREET GANG: HOW WE GOT TO SESAME STREET
D: Marilyn Agrelo | P: Trevor Crafts, Ellen Scherer Crafts, Lisa Diamond | USA | 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.

SUBJECTS OF DESIRE
D: Jennifer Holness | P: Jennifer Holness, Sudz Sutherland | Canada | 2021 | 103 mins | Canadian Premiere

A much-needed deconstruction of race and the power of beauty, this thought-provoking doc lifts up the experiences of Black women in a moment when beauty standards are undergoing a cultural shift towards embracing Black aesthetics and features.

THE TASTE OF DESIRE
D: Willemiek Kluijfhout | P: Olivia Sophie van Leeuwen | Netherlands | 2021 | 87 mins | World Premiere

In this poetic trip around the world, the oyster acts as metaphor for life’s passions and frustrations, linking stories of a New York burlesque dancer, French Michelin-starred chefs, a Swedish oyster diver, a Japanese pearl maker and a terminally ill English psychologist.

THROUGH THE NIGHT
D: Loira Limbal | P: Loira Limbal, Jameka Autry | USA | 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 | USA | 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.

WITH DRAWN ARMS
D: Glenn Kaino, Afshin Shahidi | P: Glenn Zipper, Sean Stuart, Glenn Kaino, Afshin Shahidi | USA, Mexico | 2020 | 84 mins | International Premiere

When track star Tommie Smith and his teammate raised black-gloved fists at the 1968 Summer Olympics, their defiant gesture would reverberate through generations of civil rights activists. Fifty years on, the full breadth of his impact—and depth of his sacrifice—is revealed as America still reckons with racial injustice.

WHO WE ARE: A CHRONICLE OF RACISM IN AMERICA
D: Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler | P: Jeffery Robinson, Emily Kunstler, Sarah Kunstler, Gbenga Akinnagbe, Andrea Crabtree-Keller, Vanessa Hope, Susan Korda, Katharine Nephew, Jayashri Wyatt | USA | 2021 | 117 mins | International Premiere

Interweaving lecture and personal anecdotes, ACLU deputy legal director Jeffery Robinson draws a stark timeline of anti-Black racism in the United States, from slavery to the modern myth of post-racial America.

WUHAN WUHAN
D: Yung Chang | P: Peter Luo, Donna Gigliotti, Diane Quon | USA | 2021 | 90 mins | World Premiere

With unprecedented access to Wuhan, China, at the peak of the pandemic lockdown, award-winning director Yung Chang looks beyond statistics and headlines to reveal the emotions and resilience at the core of our shared humanity.

More updates to come March 23, 2021. Here for more.

Review by David Baldwin

Nick (Ben Coleman) and Leah (Ali Vingiano) have been growing apart when we first meet them. One evening, Leah decides she has finally had enough and breaks up with Nick. She wants him to move out of the home they share, but the morning after brings a new unforeseen hiccup – a statewide stay-at-home order called due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Now the broken- up couple is stuck living together, unsure of what the future holds for themselves and whatever remains of their fragile relationship.

THE END OF US is a super-depressing title, built on the foundation of a super depressing subject. COVID-19 hovers over the Film influencing both characters’ decisions, as well as their hyperreal fears and anxieties. Despite this, it thankfully puts more emphasis on the characters’ relationship, injecting a heightened sense of honesty and truth into the Film that so many of us can identify with as our own experiences since last March. There is a poignancy to many of these moments, and even a little bit of dry humour to offset how stark the reality of their situation is. With everything we get to see and learn about Nick and Leah, I could not help rooting for them to start fresh and forget the past. At least, that was how I felt before THE END OF US stumbles in a late second act pivot that feels like it was ripped out of a bad sitcom. I understand why it happens and what it accomplishes in terms of the narrative, but it feels inorganic and forced. There was definitely a way things could have played out differently and still felt true to the rest of the film.

Whether they are together or alone, Coleman and Vingiano deliver solid performances that really tap into the current cultural zeitgeist. They understand and are finely in tune with their characters’ plight because they are actively living through it. Watching their growth as characters alternates between being wonderful and miserable; there is no real middle ground. If the Second Act shift were more organic, their performances likely would have been even stronger. While the Film is mainly a two-hander, I did get a kick out of Derrick DeBlasis’ character Tim, Leah’s co-worker. The way he plays the pretentious Film Bro douchebag worshipping at the altar of the Criterion Collection gave me a good laugh or three, and he revels in making Tim the kind of shit weasel you love to hate.

THE END OF US screens at SXSW Tuesday, March 16, 2021 starting at 5 PM.

By Amanda Gilmore

This shocking Documentary tells the story of Paul Fronczak and his family. In 1960s Chicago, the Fronczaks had their baby stolen from the hospital. Fifteen months later a toddler is abandoned in New Jersey. The FBI claimed this toddler was Paul Fronczak, but was he?

The Lost Sons is a compelling watch that keeps its audience gripped from beginning to end. Director Ursula Macfarlane documents this unbelievable story to the screen with powerful interviews from the Fronczak family and those who helped Paul investigate his true heritage. There are twists and turns throughout the story. Some mysteries become solved while other dark family secrets remain unveiled.

This is a powerful Film which examines one man’s desire to find his biological family. Along Paul’s journey, we are reminded about the importance of biological history and heritage. In the end, we understand that knowing our family and their history helps inform our identity. 

Overall, Macfarlane brings her audience on an emotional journey of an entire family that experienced something unimaginable.

The Lost Sons screens at SXSW: Tuesday, March 16 5PM ET.

By Amanda Gilmore

In a dystopian near-future Brazil, an authoritarian government orders all citizens of African descent to move to Africa. This creates chaos that results in Antônio (Alfred Enoch) being separated from his pregnant partner Capitu (Taís Araujo). Although Antônio isn’t aware that Capitu is still in Rio de Janeiro with an underground resistance movement, he stays in their apartment and refuses to leave the country without her.

At the core of the Film is the outstanding performances from Enoch and Araujo. Enoch shines in moments both quiet and loud, such as conversing with his loved ones and making speeches to the public on his balcony. Araujo is captivating, particularly in scenes involving her being quiet and expressing her emotions through movement. Her standout moment is towards the end when she demands her fellow resistance fighters listen to her.

Executive Order is a powerful film and Director Lázaro Ramos has created good pacing that conveys the script’s overall message about the power of fighting peacefully against a government using violence and force. 

Executive Order screens at SXSW: Tuesday, March 16 at 3 PM ET.

By Amanda Gilmore

This informative Documentary uncovers the story of how a network of pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and retailers worked together to create the opioid crisis.

Co-Directors Brendan FitzGerald and Nick August-Perna dive deep into the corruption from people at the top to the victims. We get to hear from people who illegally sold oxycontin, a lawyer attempting to hold the corporations accountable and one recovering addict. Through these subjects’ stories, a line is drawn directly from the pharmaceutical companies who know the drug is highly addictive, to the doctors who over-prescribe it, to the pharmacists who turn a blind eye. This clear line exposes a system of corruption and an atmosphere of claiming ignorance when approving suspicious requests.

This enthralling Documentary delivers complex information in a clear, easy way to understand. Unfortunately, there is so satisfactory resolution for The Oxy Kingpins, as the epidemic is ongoing. However, it leaves you with the hope that an upcoming Nevada court case brought against the companies will hold them accountable.

The Oxy Kingpins screens at SXSW: Tuesday, March 16 at 1 PM ET.

By Mr. Will Wong

Directed and written by Wes Hurley, this autobiographical Dark Comedy details his journey from a child fleeing the USSR with his mail order bride mother, to the United States. The Film through its central character Potato (Tyler Bocock), looks at his sexual identity and awakening with quirky humour as he goes through high school trying to conceal this part of his life from his adoptive father and homophobic schoolmates.

It also examines the American fetishization of Russians, but at the heart of the Film is the love story between mother (Marya Sea Kaminski) and son, her courage to create a better life for him at all costs even if it means being in a loveless union. And what would happen to Potato and his mother should his homophobic father John (Dan Lauria) find out about his sexuality?

The Film takes on a unique tone which goes from comedic to suspenseful but all parts entertaining. A few surprise appearances also including Mean Girls’ Jonathan Bennett as Jesus Christ!

POTATO DREAMS OF AMERICA streams at SXSW Tuesday, March 16, 2021 at 11:00 AM is in-competition in the Narrative Features category. More here.

HOLLYWOOD SUITE announced today that it will be premiering Documentary Short What About Our Future? on Sunday, March 21, 2021 at 9pm ET.

Directed by Jaime Leigh Gianopoulos and Cláudio Cruz, the Film follows a group of teens who organized the largest climate strike in Vancouver’s history, which included appearances by famous environmental activists Greta Thunberg and David Suzuki.

There also will be a conversation brought to you by David Suzuki Foundation and Hollywood Suite taking place which you can register to be a part of, on April 29, 2021 at 7 PM ET. You can register here.

By Mr. Will Wong

Rachel Fleit directs this heartfelt and intimate portrait of the talented Selma Blair. After going public with her Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis in 2018, the Actress known for her roles in Cruel Intentions, Legally Blonde, Hellboy and many more fan favourites, has lived her life as an open book as she bravely battles against the illness.

Just picked-up by Discovery + in the U.S., the Film first will premiere at SXSW this week and without giving too much away, it grapples with a few things. Her relationship with her ailing mother, her love of her son Arthur and her own mortality as she elects to undergo Stem Cell Therapy, which has a 7% mortality rate.

Blair doesn’t hold back and we get all of her and her vulnerability – emotional and physical – which is almost too heartbreaking to watch at times. It is impossible not to love her even more after seeing this as she navigates her grief with a dash of humour. We can’t wait for you to see this too!

The concisely-told Film screens at SXSW Tuesday, March 16, 2021 3:00 PM to 4:29 PM and is part of the Documentary Feature Competition.