Hot Docs Forum’s Dorota Lech Reflects on State of the Art: ‘Documentary as an Art Form Is Stronger Than Ever’

Though he is still mostly known for his lyrical, America-set road movie Paris, Texas, which won the Palme d’Or in 1984, Germany’s Wim Wenders does most of his best work when he’s back on home turf. The Berlin Wall, for example, provided the backdrop for his 1987 masterpiece Wings of Desire, in which philosophical angels roamed a divided city that was still trying to reckon with the shame of the Second World War. His new documentary, Anselm, is ostensibly the biography of a fellow artist, but it doesn’t take too much imagination to read it as a veiled autobiography, in that its subject isn’t so much a person as the way that life experience and intelligence combine to create art.

The first images of actress Mischa Barton in the iconic Australian soap Neighbours have been released ahead of her debut on the show. It was confirmed by Amazon Freevee that the 37 year old American actress would be joining the show back in April and now it appears she is settling in well.

Money saving expert Martin Lewis has given fashion fans a great way to add to their summer wardrobes without breaking the bank thanks to a discount website. With all the parties, weddings, holidays and barbecues coming up, most people will be looking for some new outfits to see them through the summer.Thankfully, the Martin-approved website Everything 5 Pounds has come to the rescue thanks to its discount clothes, shoes and accessories that cost – you guessed it – £5.

Shakira has released a very personal song titled ‘Acróstico,’ surprising her fans with a new emotional music video starring her two kids, 10-year-old Milan and 8-year-old Sasha.The proud mom can be seen playing the piano next to her kids, who also share her passion for music. The song is a special tribute to her children, with a series of clips that include adorable photos of them as babies.The video also seems to be a way for Shakira to start fresh, following their recent move to Miami, Florida.

Julie Chrisley, who is presently incarcerated for seven years for financial crimes, was not there for the Chrisley family’s Mother’s Day celebration.

The Great Escape festival continues today with hundreds of acts performing in venues all over the city.We’ve picked out a handful of the artists we’re most excited to see and are sharing them with you here in the CMU Daily, along with a track to check out from each of them.Listen to all of our selections in this Spotify playlist, and read on to find out more about our next five picks…Marina Herlop – MiuUsing cut-up techniques – building melodies and rhythm out of snatches of sound – Herlop’s new material can at first seem chaotic. Listening feels like being dropped and caught repeatedly, but eventually this sensation becomes something more akin to floating.

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic Perhaps you saw the gossip-site reports coming out of the Lovers & Friends Festival in Las Vegas last weekend: Allegedly, Chris Brown and Usher had gotten into some kind of tiff backstage during Missy Elliott’s set. The two singers went on to… Wait a minute. There was a Missy Elliott show? Stop the presses … this seemed like a case of burying the lead, as they say in news circles. Hip-hop fans knew what the real headlines should have been on that story: A unicorn had been sighted during a full solar eclipse, as Halley’s comet made a rare pass over Brigadoon — or other metaphors to that effect — if Elliott was being sighted back on a stage. Something slightly rarer still occurred Tuesday night in southern California’s Inland Empire: a stand-alone headlining show by Elliott. As one tweeter put it: “Why Yaamava’ Theatre?” — wondering, reasonably, why Elliott was following her festival appearance not with a full tour or, say, a night or two at the Hollywood Bowl, but a one-off gig at a 2,500-seat theater at a casino-resort at least an hour outside of L.A. in off-the-beaten-track Highland? The Vegas festival and subsequent casino concert are it, as far as what’s on Elliott’s public itinerary following the news of her impending Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction. The last time she did anything like a standard tour was 13 years ago, and since then, Elliott might not have done much more than a dozen full sets, almost all of them at festivals, none in theaters. So no wonder the cheapest tickets on the day of the show for her SoCal appearance were going for $500-plus.

Dolly Parton loves having a little fun on stage!

In March 2022, Dolly Parton turned down a placement on the voting ballot that would decide that year’s Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees. In a subsequent statement, the legendary country musician said that she did not consider her career worthy of the honor.

By Chips, soda, Tylenol, and…Plan B?As college students grapple with the potential ramifications of having sex , some reproductive healthcare advocates are working to add emergency contraception to the lineup of essentials distributed via on-campus vending machines. Proponents say putting in a vending machine can help eliminate stigma around acquiring the pill. Vending machines can also make emergency contraception— which differs protection like condoms, birth control pills, or IUDs in that it’s used immediately after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy—easier to access.

Jennie Punter Last year, during an online panel at Hot Docs film festival featuring Ukrainian documentary filmmakers who were staying in place, Oksana Karpovych told attendees how she’d gained knowledge working alongside foreign media crews covering the war, and was now applying that to her own creative documentary projects. This year, at the festival’s 30th anniversary edition, Karpovych attended the in-person Forum market event to pitch “Intercepted” — her observational doc exploring the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — which ended up winning the 2023 CMF-Hot Docs Canadian Pitch Prize. With Ukraine in the spotlight at Hot Docs this year, both audiences and industry attendees are getting wide exposure to the films and ideas of leading Ukrainian documentary creators. The timing of this programming is perfect, said Hot Docs programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk, not only for the obvious reason.

Apparently, Vanderpump Rules producers were just as shocked about scandoval as the rest of us!

Ron DeSantis is claiming victory over silencing Disney following their public feud after the entertainment company openly opposed the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill that was signed into law by the Florida governor.

Seven people are dead — including five teenagers — after a horrific murder-suicide in a rural area outside the tiny town of Henryetta, Oklahoma. On Monday, Okmulgee County Sheriff’s O

Addie Morfoot Contributor “I of the Water,” one of 20 projects presented at Hot Docs’ marquee market event, the Forum, has won the First Look first prize of Can. $50,000 ($36,700), one of four pitch prizes announced Wednesday at the festival. Kimberlee Bassford’s “I of the Water” focuses on acclaimed Samoan writer Sia Figiel’s hidden past of sexual abuse and journey toward healing. The film is produced by Bassford, Marilyn McFadyen, Vilsoni Hereniko, Leanne K. Ferrer, Cheryl Hirasa, and Linda Goldstein Knowlton. The second First Look prize, worth Can. $15,000, was awarded to Kenya-Jade Pinto “The Sandbox,” a Canadian production with a vague tagline: “Your future is being written in the sand.” The doc is produced by Shasha Nakhai, Kenya-Jade Pinto, Jennifer Baichwal, and Rich Williamson.

SPOILER ALERT – Do not read ahead if you have not watched the new episode of The Masked Singer!

Warner Bros. Discovery is lighting the lamp with its first round coverage of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs across TNT and TBS.

A newlywed bride has died and her husband of only a few hours has been severely injured after a golf cart they were riding in was struck by a car on a street in Folly Beach, South Carolina. Samantha “Sam” Hutchinson

Chris Willman Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic “Thanks for coming to my dad’s birthday party,” said Micah Nelson, a few songs into an all-star tribute to Willie Nelson at the Hollywood Bowl, attended by a sold-out house happy that Willie had found a way to schedule the 90th anniversary of his birth on a Saturday night. With roughly seven decades of songwriting and recording to commemorate, though, the party is stretching over two nights, bundled together and sold as a single ticket, where by the end of Sunday night everyone will have heard about 50 artists perform a total of about 75 songs. Ironically, one of the first numbers performed Saturday evening was young Texas country artist Charley Crockett doing a cut that Nelson had a hit with as a budding songwriter in the late ’50s: “The Party’s Over.” That title proved as un-prescient for Nelson’s career 65 years ago as it proved unprophetic for the scope of the Bowl celebration this weekend. But a little irony is always welcome in Willie’s world.

Jennie Punter The Changing Face of Europe, which is presented by European Film Promotion (EFP) in collaboration with Hot Docs, returns to Toronto with the sixth edition of its festival-within-a-festival program—nine features and one mid-length film—exploring themes around identity, belonging and struggle. “Over the years, the Changing Face of Europe has become one of the more impactful programs in the lineup, and also an essential component of our festival programming,” Hot Docs artistic director Shane Smith told Variety in advance of the festival. “Europe has a rich history of and strong connection to the art of documentary filmmaking,” he said. “We are delighted to showcase the powerful work coming out of the continent that sheds light on crucial issues facing Europeans today.”