Entertainment / HOT DOCS 2015: ‘Made In India’ Programme

HOT DOCS 2015: ‘Made In India’ Programme

Entertainment Apr 22, 2015

by Daniel Pillai

This Year's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Highlights the Rich Film-Making Culture & Documentary Work from India

The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival announced its full film line-up for the festival's upcoming 22nd edition, taking place between April 23 and May 3. From 2,724 film submissions, this year’s slate will present 210 titles from 45 countries in 12 screening programs.

Each year, the festival showcases a "Made In" program that features films and work from a specific country. This year's "Made In" program focuses on India. The Made In India' film line-up includes: Spandan Banerjee’s Engish India, a look at a country coming to terms with its own identity as it shakes off the weight of its colonial past; Parvez Sharma’s A Sinner in Mecca, a fascinating personal essay on a gay Muslim’s inner-most struggles; and Anuj Adlakha and Farha Alam’s The Superstars of Koti, a coming-of-age tale about three boys united as “chosen ones.”

Programming manager Sarafina DiFelice chatted with ANOKHI about what's different in this year's festival, the impact of the 'Made In India', program and why you should check out the festival this year.

DANIEL PILLAI: 2015 will mark the twenty-second edition of the Hot Docs festival, featuring over 200 documentaries. How has the festival grown from years past?

SARAFINA DIFELICE: The audience has been steadily increasing, growing almost double digits every year. Last year, we welcomed more than 100,000 [film] lovers to Hot Docs and this year we hope to continue doing so. In addition to being our festival, we’ve become a real 360 documentary experience — we continue to grow through our outstanding industry programming as well as our year-round cinema, which program documentaries throughout the year.

DP: Year after year, the Hot Docs festival features a "Made In" program, and this year, it's highlighting the rich film-making culture and documentary work coming out of India. What made India the right choice this year?

SD: As soon as one festival ends, we begin working on the next one. That includes a lot of research and collaboration with various cultural institutions. We put a lot of time into seeing what projects are in progress — we don't just look at finished films. It seems like this year there would be a number of interesting, surprising and unique cinematic works coming to the festival.

DP: What is special about the Made In India program this year? Which films can we look forward to?

SD: It's a large program, lots of diverse stories and voices. I can't select specific films because they really are all wonderful, but it's always great to see a world premiere — a film that's being shown to the world for the first time.

DP: What do you think makes the work from India so different? Unique? Special? Why do you think audiences at Hot Docs this year will find this program a pleasant experience?

SD: It's a large country with so many diverse backgrounds and points of view and a rich culture of film but also, of course, many other artistic mediums. Dance, art, music, et cetera — there is a lot to say in the work and a long history of people finding interesting ways to tell stories.

DP: How do you think this year's Made In India program helps the Canadian film landscape merge with the Indian cinematic world? How will this program help forge new relationships and build new foundations for future collaborations?

SD: We're happy to be able to showcase such great work and bring it to people here in Canada who will continue to explore the work after this. We've built some great working relationships in the process of putting the program together [and we're] so excited to see what the future has in store.

^{_{Feature Image: hotdocs.ca, Illustrator: Cai Sepulis.}}

Daniel Pillai

Author

Daniel is the Digital Media Manager for ANOKHI MEDIA and the host for ANOKHI's entertainment channel, PULSE TV. As part of the dream team, Daniel manages all multiple channels under ANOKHI’s portfolio, while also training new on-air talent, and showing budding p...

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HOT DOCS 2015: ‘Made In India’ Programme

by Daniel Pillai

This Year's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival Highlights the Rich Film-Making Culture & Documentary Work from India

Daniel Pillai

COMMENTS

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