Four WorldView films at 2015 HotDocs

HotDocs ProgramFour WorldView-supported films have been announced as part of the 2015 HotDocs Line-up.

Elephant’s Dream, Speed Sisters, Democrats and The Shore Break will all be screened at the 2015 festival from April 23rd to May 3rd and will feature in a program of 210 documentaries from 44 countries.

This will be the international premiere for Speed Sisters and director Amber Fares is delighted: “We are really looking forward to our International Premiere at the Hot Docs international film festival, and are eager to see first-hand how the film will be received in North America! We hope that this film will resonate with people here, and around the world, and will engage them with a side of Palestine and the Middle East that is rarely seen in popular media. We are grateful for CBA Worldview’s support and look forward to continuing this journey together as we introduce the film to audiences near and far.” The film is the story of the first all-women motor racing team in the Middle East: the “Speed Sisters.”

Elephant’s Dream, directed by Kristof Bilsen, offers a beautiful and rare look at the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where, after a lengthy and devastating civil war, the capital city of Kinshasa is rebuilding. Through the eyes of three civil workers struggling to reconstruct the foundation of the city’s public services, we witness a tale of national transformation—at a snail’s pace. www.elephantsdream-film.com

In Democrats, director Camilla Nielsson has been given enviable access to Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe’s political inner circle as a new constitution is drafted, negotiated and signed into law. Democrats shows the back-and-forth battles between Douglas Mwonzora and Paul Mangwana, sworn political enemies who must work together for the common good as they produce a document to steer the country towards founding principles that will define its future. Click here for more information

Ryley Grunenwald received the IDFA WorldView Summer School grant in 2013 for her film The Shore Break. The film follows two cousins, one proposed mining project on tribal land and a battle of epic proportions. In Amadiba—on South Africa’s stunning Wild Coast—the Pondo people have tended their traditional way of life for centuries. Nonhle, a young local eco-tour guide, is a staunch supporter of her people and the endangered environment on which their livelihood and culture depend. Her cousin Madiba, a local entrepreneur and self-proclaimed modernizer, is fully supportive of a titanium mining proposal and the government’s controversial plan to build a highway across their tribal ground. Click here for more information. 

Go to the HotDocs website for tickets to the screenings and to see the full 2015 program.