In a world where TV networks fight for the opportunity to showcase the best nonfiction content that will keep viewers on their couches, the Toronto-based Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival (April 27 – May 7) is a very, very good place to be.
What began 24 years ago as a modest showcase for Canadian documentaries is now a sprawling international program that screens 230 titles from 58 countries. The festival still favors homegrown product, but also amplifies movies from Sundance (“Chasing Coral,” “Long Strange Trip,” “City of Ghosts”) and Tribeca (“The Departure,” “A River Below”), as well as some international (Joe Berlinger’s “Intent to Destroy”) and world premieres (“A Moon of Nickel and Ice”).
“Hot Docs creates an environment where you can meet with the best in the documentary world,” said director Cullen Hoback, who brought his sharp pollution whodunit “What Lies Upstream” first to Slamdance, then to Hot Docs (Preferred Content is seeking...
What began 24 years ago as a modest showcase for Canadian documentaries is now a sprawling international program that screens 230 titles from 58 countries. The festival still favors homegrown product, but also amplifies movies from Sundance (“Chasing Coral,” “Long Strange Trip,” “City of Ghosts”) and Tribeca (“The Departure,” “A River Below”), as well as some international (Joe Berlinger’s “Intent to Destroy”) and world premieres (“A Moon of Nickel and Ice”).
“Hot Docs creates an environment where you can meet with the best in the documentary world,” said director Cullen Hoback, who brought his sharp pollution whodunit “What Lies Upstream” first to Slamdance, then to Hot Docs (Preferred Content is seeking...
- 5/9/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Thompson on Hollywood
In a world where TV networks fight for the opportunity to showcase the best nonfiction content that will keep viewers on their couches, the Toronto-based Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival (April 27 – May 7) is a very, very good place to be.
What began 24 years ago as a modest showcase for Canadian documentaries is now a sprawling international program that screens 230 titles from 58 countries. The festival still favors homegrown product, but also amplifies movies from Sundance (“Chasing Coral,” “Long Strange Trip,” “City of Ghosts”) and Tribeca (“The Departure,” “A River Below”), as well as some international (Joe Berlinger’s “Intent to Destroy”) and world premieres (“A Moon of Nickel and Ice”).
“Hot Docs creates an environment where you can meet with the best in the documentary world,” said director Cullen Hoback, who brought his sharp pollution whodunit “What Lies Upstream” first to Slamdance, then to Hot Docs (Preferred Content is seeking...
What began 24 years ago as a modest showcase for Canadian documentaries is now a sprawling international program that screens 230 titles from 58 countries. The festival still favors homegrown product, but also amplifies movies from Sundance (“Chasing Coral,” “Long Strange Trip,” “City of Ghosts”) and Tribeca (“The Departure,” “A River Below”), as well as some international (Joe Berlinger’s “Intent to Destroy”) and world premieres (“A Moon of Nickel and Ice”).
“Hot Docs creates an environment where you can meet with the best in the documentary world,” said director Cullen Hoback, who brought his sharp pollution whodunit “What Lies Upstream” first to Slamdance, then to Hot Docs (Preferred Content is seeking...
- 5/9/2017
- by Anne Thompson
- Indiewire
It’s not without irony that two feature-length documentaries creating film fest buzz last week in Park City were about the coming fresh water crisis — even as Utah and other states in the western U.S. currently are experiencing record snowfall. Both cautionary tales, however, make the case that the world’s fresh water supply is in dire straits. Director Cullen Hoback’s What Lies Upstream, which premiered at Slamdance, blows open a water scandal in West Virginia bigger than the more notorious one in Flint, Michigan. In 2014, 400,000 gallons of a mysterious chemical, 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol, used in the processing of coal, was...read more...
- 1/30/2017
- by Greg Ptacek
- Monsters and Critics
Cullen Hoback’s investigative documentary “What Lies Upstream,” which premiered on Inauguration Day at the Slamdance Film Festival, couldn’t be more timely. The detective story takes a look at the largest chemical drinking water contamination in a generation and the failed regulatory framework that created a loss of clean water for hundreds of thousands of Americans.
But while the drinking water element is important, the film goes further and investigates the alarming implications for the future of science and reason in America under Donald Trump. A clip from the doc shows how Trump has appointed Myron Ebell, a top climate skeptic and lobbyist who made his fortune from ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and the tobacco industry, to shape the entire future of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Read More: Slamdance Film Festival Announces 2017 Lineup: ‘Aerotropolis,’ ‘The Children Send Their Regards’ and More
With “What Lies Upstream,” Hoback hopes to show the...
But while the drinking water element is important, the film goes further and investigates the alarming implications for the future of science and reason in America under Donald Trump. A clip from the doc shows how Trump has appointed Myron Ebell, a top climate skeptic and lobbyist who made his fortune from ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical and the tobacco industry, to shape the entire future of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Read More: Slamdance Film Festival Announces 2017 Lineup: ‘Aerotropolis,’ ‘The Children Send Their Regards’ and More
With “What Lies Upstream,” Hoback hopes to show the...
- 1/21/2017
- by Liz Calvario
- Indiewire
Exclusive: Prepare to clinch your fists and yell at your computer screen. The documentary What Lies Upstream from writer-director Cullen Hoback takes an unflinching deep dive into the aftermath of the January 2014 Elk River chemical spill that dumped up to 10,000 gallons of crude 4-Methylcyclohexanemethanol – used as a froth floation agent to separate coal from other minerals in a tank of water – into West Virginia’s Elk River. The incident left up to 300,000 residents…...
- 1/12/2017
- Deadline
Cullen Hoback’s new investigative documentary “What Lies Upstream,” an exposé on the failed regulatory framework that created a loss of clean water for over 300,000 Americans, will screen as the Opening Night Presentation at the Slamdance Film Festival on January 20, the same day as the United States Presidential Inauguration.
Read More: Slamdance Film Festival Announces 2017 Lineup: ‘Aerotropolis,’ ‘The Children Send Their Regards’ and More
The film begins in 2014 when West Virginia citizens learn that a mysterious chemical has leaked into the Elk River, poisoning the drinking water supply for nearly half of the state. Compelled to investigate, Hoback soon finds himself down a rabbit hole he never imagined. Along the way, he encounters scientists, lobbyists, and officials like West Virginia Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman, who serves as the head of the state’s Department of Environment Protection. Meanwhile, a similar water crisis strikes Flint, Michigan signaling that the entire system...
Read More: Slamdance Film Festival Announces 2017 Lineup: ‘Aerotropolis,’ ‘The Children Send Their Regards’ and More
The film begins in 2014 when West Virginia citizens learn that a mysterious chemical has leaked into the Elk River, poisoning the drinking water supply for nearly half of the state. Compelled to investigate, Hoback soon finds himself down a rabbit hole he never imagined. Along the way, he encounters scientists, lobbyists, and officials like West Virginia Cabinet Secretary Randy Huffman, who serves as the head of the state’s Department of Environment Protection. Meanwhile, a similar water crisis strikes Flint, Michigan signaling that the entire system...
- 12/14/2016
- by Vikram Murthi
- Indiewire
Slamdance has unveiled its Special Screenings, Beyond and Shorts programs for the 23rd edition of its festival, which will include 35 world premieres, nine North American premieres and 10 U.S. premieres within the programs. Three films feature in the Special Screenings program including fest alumni Cullen Hoback's investigative documentary What Lies Upstream, which serves as opening night film, while further screenings include doc You Never Had It: An Evening With Bukowski…...
- 12/6/2016
- Deadline
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