Hot Docs 2010 Wrap Up

11 days have come and gone and it all seemed to go by so fast! But it was yet another year of fantastic documentaries at Hot Docs and as always I wish I could have seen even more films but I think this year was a new record for viewings so I'm happy with that. I wasn't the only one who saw a lot of films, the theatres were always packed houses be it mid-afternoon or midnight in sunny weather or escaping the cold and rain, people came out in droves to catch films at this years festival.

Here are some of the highlights of this years Hot Docs from the perspective of the Movie Moxie.

Best Features: Freetime Machos, This Way of Life, The Woman with the 5 Elephants and The People vs. George Lucas

Best Shorts: I didn't see many shorts this year but I was deeply moved by both Flawed and Inuit High Kick

Most Enthusiastic Crowd and Best Q&A: The People vs. George Lucas and David Wants to Fly

Most Inspiring: The ladies take the cake this year with the inspiring women of The Woman with the 5 Elephants, Gaea Girls, Joan Rivers - A Piece of Work, Space Tourists and Leave Them Laughing

Favourite Program: My faves were from all over the place, but I loved the idea of the new Small Acts program that focus on everyday acts of kindness, leadership & change

Best Day: Easily Day 7 which was sport day with films on football/soccer (Geral), judo (B1) and rugby (Freetime Machos).

Repeating themes: Finnish Men (Steam of Life / Miesten vuoro, Freetime Machos), the environment (I Bought a Rain Forest / Jag köpte en regnskog, Into Eternity), making a difference (A Small Act, Listen to This) and awesome women (see most inspiring)

Wasn't expecting: Into Eternity completely hit me out of left field. I never would have predicted the film focusing on a nuclear waste facility would make think so much about human nature, communication, the world and more. It's fantastic. Also - freaking cold weather on the second weekend!

Festival First: Repeat screening - I loved Freetime Machos so much I went again on the 2nd screening. And, more embarrassingly one day I showed up at the *wrong venue*, which I've never, ever done before and as a chronic planner was very embarrassing.

Fullest Screenings: Honestly, almost everything this year was between very full to sold out. In fact the majority of the films I went to were sold out!

Wish I hadn't missed: Shadowplay and everything I missed from the Outstanding Achievement Retrospective Honouring Kim Longinotto

Happy Surprize: Leave Them Laughing I was a little hesitant thinking this one might be too sad, but it made me laugh way more than it made me cry and was worth every giggle and tear.

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival ran from April 29 - May 9, 2010 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada