Music

Five music films to see at the Hot Docs documentary festival

by Nicole Villeneuve

Hot Docs is the largest documentary film festival in North America and on April 28, it returns to Toronto for its 18th year. With a slew of more films and locations added this year, there’s a lot to take in; we rounded up some of the highlights from the music docs this year, featuring talent and subjects from right here in Canada and beyond (sort of like the festival itself).

If you happen to be in town for the festival, full scheduling, ticket, and film information can be found on the Hot Docs website. If you won’t, consider this a sneak peek before the wider release of some of these films.

Love Shines (Director: Douglas Arrowsmith): Called “a complex portrait of one of Canada’s greatest songwriters,” Love Shines follows revered Canadian singer/songwriter Ron Sexsmith through the recording of his most recent album, Long Player Late Bloomer. Working with legendary producer Bob Rock, Sexsmith turns analytical during the making of the album and captured here is not only the process, but Sexsmith’s reflection on success in the music industry he’s been a fixture in for twenty years. It features a roster of stellar guest musicians including Feist, Daniel Lanois, and Elvis Costello.

Beats, Rhymes, and Life: The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest (Director: Michael Rapaport): It’s been a long time in the making and after a standing ovation and glowing reviews from its Sundance premiere earlier this year—not to mention a little ire from group member Q-Tip—anticipation is high for the Tribe Called Quest Documentary. Director Michael Rapaport, a Tribe fan first, sets out to get the full story from the seminal hip-hop group themselves upon their reunion in 2008; turns out their story is still hindered by personal differences and tension.

National Parks Project (Director: various): Captivatingly grand and breathtakingly beautiful, the National Parks Project is a film and music collaboration between fifty-two of Canada’s musicians and filmmakers and thirteen of its parklands. Filmed between May and October of 2010, musicians traveled with a film crew to various parks across Canada, improvising musical compositions and creating short films that would ultimately be informed almost entirely by their surroundings. With appearances by Jim Guthrie, Sarah Harmer, Bry Webb (Constantines), Melissa Auf der Maur, and Shad, just to name a few, this is a film not to be missed by just about any Canadian.

Who Took the Bomp? Le Tigre on Tour (Director: Kerthy Fix): Ostensibly a concert film, Who Took the Bomp? follows underdog-done-good feminist icons Le Tigre on their This Island (their only major label album) world tour in 2004. The electro-punk trio—featuring riot grrrl hero Kathleen Hanna, guitarist/vocalist Johanna Fateman, and keyboardist/vocalist JD Samson—get up to politics and pranks and it was all compiled by director Kerthy Fix into this hour-long document of the band on and off stage. Who Took the Bomp will get a DVD release on June 7.

Bob and the Monster (Director: Keirda Bahruth): Tracing the indie-rock-junkie turned Celebrity-Rehab-counselor trajectory of Thelonious Monster frontman Bob Forrest, Bob and the Monster features testimonials from Courtney Love, Flea, Guns N’ Roses, and a host of others on the impact his life has had on them. Bob and the Monster is also stacked with archival performance and home-movie footage showing how exactly Forrest avoided a predictable place as an underground L.A. rock statistic to a prominent addiction specialist.