Do you like documentaries?

If you do, you should join your friendly neighborhood elf (i.e., me) for this year's HotDocs fest.
HotDocs is an international documentary film festival, taking place from April 22 to May 1. Below are the films I'd like to see. If you want to come with, post a comment, e-mail me, phone me, or otherwise get in touch. Please do so quickly, because I would like to buy the tickets in advance.
There are lots of cool films that I couldn't see because of exams/my trip to Boston, but you can find out more about the other films at www.hotdocs.ca

The ALMA Drawings
(Canada, 2004, 48 min)
Directors: Jeremy Munce
Alma Rumball grew up on a dairy farm in Huntsville, Ontario. A devout Christian, she lived as a recluse in the country with the exception of two years working at a pottery factory in Toronto. In her late forties, she had a vision of Christ and subsequently felt that "her hand was compelled to draw." Without conscious volition, she created hundreds of astonishing, vivid, extremely detailed 'automatic' drawings during the next 25 years, drawings that incorporated images from Tibetan iconography that she claimed were influenced by "spirit guides." The contrast between the exotic subjects of her drawings and her sheltered life link her to the practice of psychic automatism heralded by the Surrealists in the early 20th century and the Jungian concept of the collective unconscious. A mysterious, lushly visual journey through a woman's psyche and her art.
Date & Time Thu Apr 28, 6:45pm
Venue ROM Theatre
Tickets $10.00

Bearing Witness
(USA, 2004, 112 min)
Directors: Barbara Kopple
From directors Bob Eisenhardt, two-time Academy Award-winner Barbara Kopple, and Marijana Wotton, comes the extraordinary tale of five female journalists. Freelance photographer Molly Bingham, foreign correspondents Marie Colvin and Janine DiGiovanni (both from the Sunday Times, London), camerawoman Mary Rogers (CNN) and producer May Ying Welsh (Aljazeera) share their experiences from the front lines of the most recent Iraqi-American war. This brutally graphic and honest video diary explores the challenges, sacrifices and dangers experienced by female war reporters. Whether it's being injured on the battlefield, losing friends and colleagues, being held captive in a foreign prison or facing the burden their chosen careers has placed on their personal relationships, these women persist in bearing witness to the injustices and atrocities perpetrated during war.
Date & Time Thu Apr 28, 7:00pm
Venue Bloor Cinema
Tickets $10.00

Cry of the Owl
(Israel, 2005, 72 min)
Directors: Erez Laufer
The powerful women of the Himba tribe in north-western Namibia - often covered in red ochre paste and jewels - are the subject of this penetrating film about a culture on the precipice of change. Israeli filmmaker Erez Laufer spent four seasons documenting one of Africa's few remaining tribes in this intimate, cinema verité portrait. His unfettered access allows us to share in their lives as they speak freely about sex, men and the daily struggles of maintaining their traditional lifestyles as the cattle are dying, the men are leaving and Big Mama is unwell. The film's hypnotic pace, beautiful score and lush scenery captures a people virtually untouched by modern civilization - including the scourge of AIDS that ravages the rest of the continent and looms ominously outside the village gates, threatening to destroy their world.
Date & Time Wed Apr 27, 4:00pm
Venue ROM Theatre
Tickets Free

Frozen Angels
(Finland, France, Germany, USA, 2005, 93 min)
Directors: Frauke Sandig , Eric Black
In Frozen Angels, Los Angeles is not only a location but also a metaphor for the fast approaching future of designer baby making. Built on ideals and illusions, and home to Hollywood and Disneyland, the city is not surprisingly a destination for those who want the perfect child - through science. The hyper-stylized photography of L.A.'s freeways, epic proportion film sets and hard bodies at muscle beaches are a haunting reminder that genetic manipulation as the norm is just around the corner. Following a number of characters, including an infertile couple and the surrogate mother they hire for U.S. $80,000, the owners of a sperm bank that specializes in Nobel Prize Laureates, gene researchers and many more with a stake in this boutique baby biz, the film raises questions about the long-range consequences. How far will parents go for the best baby money can buy?
Date & Time Thu Apr 28, 1:30pm
Venue ROM Theatre
Tickets Free

Lost Children
(Germany, Uganda, 2005, 98 min)
Directors: Ali Samadi Ahadi , Oliver Stoltz
In Northern Uganda, the burdens of war are forced onto the shoulders of children. Every year, thousands are abducted by a terrorist organization called The Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). Forced into its ranks as guards, soldiers and concubines, these children must kill and torture their own people, sometimes even their own families, or be killed themselves. An even crueller fate awaits those children who escape: they return home only to be branded as killers, rejected by their villages and feared by their families. In the town of Pajule, a rehabilitation centre provides a haven for youngsters who are fleeing their captors and their consciences. Social workers John and Grace attempt to reunite stranded souls like Jennifer, 15, Kelama, 13, Francis, 12 and Opio, 8, with their families. Threatened by LRA attack, re-abduction and rejection, these children no longer know what to fear. This moving documentary follows their complicated journeys home and asks the heartbreaking question, After being a soldier, is childhood possible?
Date & Time Sat Apr 30, 4:15pm
Venue ROM Theatre
Tickets Free

The Making of Teuntje
(Netherlands, 2004, 52 min)
Directors: Britta Hosman
As if being 15 isn't hard enough, imagine being a teenager with divorced parents and a half-sister. Now imagine one parent has a new partner. Now imagine that all five of you live together in one house. And oh yeah, all three of your parents are moms. Confused? Imagine how adolescent Teuntje feels. The product of insemination, Teuntje is very close with both of her mothers, her half-sister and even her stepmom. This thoroughly modern family is based on very loving relationships and the two teenagers are the best of sisters. Everything is going well enough until Teuntje starts having questions about her sperm-donor father. When he announces he's getting married, Teuntje, the mothers and her sister all begin to take a closer look at what keeps their extraordinary family together.
Date & Time Sun Apr 24, 2:15pm
Venue Innis Town Hall
Tickets Free

Private Practices: The Story of a Sex Surrogate
(USA, 1986, 75 min)
Directors: Kirby Dick
This early film from Academy Award-nominee Kirby Dick offers viewers a once in a lifetime glimpse into the world of sexual surrogacy, the "hands-on" practice of dealing with sexual dysfunction that had its heyday in the late '70s and early '80s when psychotherapy was catching up with the sexual revolution. Private Practices grants us unparalleled access into the lives of three people, a sexual surrogate and two of her male clients, and takes us into situations we'd rather not be in, from family revelations to dinners with ex-wives and from the therapist's office to the surrogate's bedroom. While the film is undeniably voyeuristic, the subjects are never pathologized. Instead, we're left awestruck by what we get to see, and by a time when modern psychotherapy was still finding its footing.
Date & Time Sun Apr 24, 2:00pm
Venue Bloor Cinema
Tickets Free

Sentenced to Marriage
(Israel, 2004, 60 min)
Directors: Anat Zuria
Personal rights of freedom and independence clash with centuries of orthodox Jewish law when two young Israeli women struggle to obtain legal divorces in a country that has no separation of church and state. Through audio recordings and hidden camera footage, Anat Zuria takes us behind the closed doors of the Israeli rabbinical courts to track the Kafkaesque web of religious and governmental bureaucracy. Although separated husbands are permitted to couple with new women and even withhold child support, under Jewish law, wives are prohibited from contact with other men and are fated to be chaste until an official divorce is issued. The barren and gloomy rooms of the courthouse provide a bleak backdrop for the tireless efforts of, on one side, the aggravated wives and their solicitors and, on the other, the rabbinical judges who regularly side with the husbands and their lawyers. Sentenced to Marriage is a powerful indictment of a legal system that, Zuria suggests, is at best an anachronism and at worst a demoralizing labyrinth of misogynistic inequity.
Date & Time Wed Apr 27, 7:45pm
Venue Isabel Bader Theatre
Tickets $10.00

WebCam Girls
(Canada, 2004, 53 min)
Directors: Aerlyn Weissman
WebCam Girls is a smart, cheeky cyber-loving visit with four of the pioneers of the girlcam frontier. Ana Voog, electronic musician and performance artist describes herself as "Hello Kitty with a gun," and builds her cam as a 24/7 performance art vehicle. Ducky Doolittle - "If Gypsy Rose Lee and Mae West had a baby...it would be Ducky" - is a sexologist and modern burlesque queen who seduces cyber-fans with a heady mix of fun and sexuality. Dionne Loewen quit her job as car salesperson to open an ethical porn site and now teaches girls how to use the technology to make decent money. Teresa Senft, a feminist, cultural critic and author adds her notions of biography, privacy and micro-celebrity, and tells us that in the future it's not that everyone will have their 15 minutes of fame, but that "everyone will be famous to 15 people." Animation, text, hyperlinks and streaming video combine with a great soundtrack and wonderful interviews to show a dynamic sexy cyber-culture where women are calling the shots.
Date & Time Mon Apr 25, 9:15pm
Venue Bloor Cinema
Tickets $10.00

Reasons I am happy:

• I got to sleep in.
  
• I have no class today.
  
• I have an awesome new camera, which my awesome boyfriend got for me.
  
• I can have a leisurely breakfast.
  
• I'm gonna hang out with Sean.
  
• I'm gonna watch "Spring Deports" at Trinity College, when naive first-years will try to physically remove Jerod from the Quad.
  

By the way, for those who don't know: I noticed that in the survey I just did, I mentioned my puffer and nasal rinse etc., but some of you may not know that two weeks ago I found out that I have asthma due to allergies. I suppose that's no surprise to those who have herd me struggle to breathe. I'm gonna get getting weekly injections for the allergies, as well as having a nasal spray and nasal rinse. The puffer is directly for the asthma.

We all know my now that I love surveys. It's a sick, filthy obsession really, but until kittens start dying because of it, I don't think I'll stop.
This one is stolen from Katt.

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Vega
2. Elf
3. Biljana

THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. elf18
2. Velf18
3. janicbil

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. My pelvic bone.
2. My hair.
3. My breasts.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS YOU DON'T LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. Arms.
2. Skin on my face and thighs.
3. Trachea - internal things are fair game right? 'Cause this one tried to strangle me, so I have the right to dislike it.

THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. Serb from Shumadija.
2. Serb from Voljvodina.
3. Lawyer.

THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. The future.
2. Extraction of blood, by a needle, from a major vein.
3. Ordering pizza over the phone.

THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. Milk.
2. Puffer, nasal rinse, and birth control pills. My retainer should be here, too, but sometimes I'm a rebel. ^_^
3. Tea.

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. Yellow "towel" shirt.
2. Around-the-house pants.
3. Pink bra with happy faces and random colours all over.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE BANDS OR MUSICAL ARTISTS:
1. Rammstein.
2. VAST.
3. JJ72.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS:
1. "You Don't Love Me" by the Philosopher Kings.
2. "Tainted Love" by Marilin Manson.
3. "My Way" by Frank Sinatra.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. Respect.
2. Great conversations.
3. Being able to make each other laugh.
note: Score! I win!

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE (in no particular order):
1. I once fell asleep under my crib, and everyone thought I was lost.
2. I love action-adventure movies.
3. I got rained on my clouds formed over Chernobyl, and my dad says that's why I'm so smart.

THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE OPPOSITE SEX THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. Strong, wide shoulders.
2. Style.
3. The whole penis situation.

THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. Reading.
2. Poetry.
3. Walking.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. Open my god damn window. (It's stuck.)
2. Drink something cold.
3. Anything other than prepare for school.

THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. Physics/Calc teacher.
2. Journalist.
3. Social entrepreneur.

THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. Germany.
2. India.
3. Someplace tropical.

THREE KID'S NAMES YOU LIKE:
1. I'm not telling, because I recently met someone with on of them.
2.
3.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. Rock concert tour of Germany.
2. Get good enough with my poetry to publish something.
3. Do something for the cause of human rights.

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A BOY:
1. I don't understand women.
2. I swear too much.
3. I like math.

THREE WAYS THAT YOU ARE STEREOTYPICALLY A CHICK:
1. I over-think things.
2. Having pretty hair makes me very, very happy.
3. I like pretty colours.

THREE CELEB CRUSHES:
1. George Stroumboulopoulos.
2. Robbie Williams.
3. Enriqe Inglesias.

THREE PEOPLE WHO HAVE TO TAKE THIS QUIZ NOW:
1. Katt.
2. Your mom.
3. That guy. Over there.... BEHIND YOU!!!!