Must See Films Today at Hot Docs
by Ralph Lucas – Publisher
(May 1, 2023 – Toronto, ON) You’re going to have to forgive us for breaking with our 25+ year tradition of only focusing on Canadian film and filmmakers. Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is not Canadian and the subject has lived most of his life in the United States. Yet we embrace him for the joy he brought in so many productions from playing Alex P. Keaton in 172 episodes of the hit TV series Family Ties to Marty McFly in the Back to the Future series of films and many many more including the Canadian series that helped launch his career when he was just 19, Leo and Me.
Just last week we learned that his life with Parkinson’s—he was 29 when he was diagnosed in 1991—is becoming harder to deal with. He made headlines recently after speaking on CBS Sunday Morning and saying “You don’t die from Parkinson’s. You die with Parkinson’s. So I’ve been thinking about the mortality of it. I’m not gonna be 80. I’m not gonna be 80.”
Produced for Apple TV+ by Oscar-winning American writer, director and producer Davis Guggenheim (pictured), Still is a 95-minute exploration of the life and career of Fox, who was born in Edmonton. In an online interview with the US publication Deadline, Guggenheim talked about how his film came together and the fight he ultimately lost to his editor, Michael Harte. Guggenheim wanted to fill areas where they didn’t have footage of the actor’s early days with re-creations, but his editor thought they could achieve a better result by using footage from Fox’s films and television shows. A mixture of the two approaches was used and the documentary is better for it. Click here to learn more about Michael J. Fox.
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie screens:
May 1 – 6:30PM – TIFF Bell Lightbox
May 5 – 6:30PM – TIFF Bel Lightbox
May 7 – 10:00AM – Hot Docs Cinema
Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie screens in the Special Presentations section of Hot Docs and there are many must-see films throughout the festival’s schedule. It could be argued that all of the docs at this year’s festival deserve to be seen. Today we’re only looking at two.
Our second film is from the prolific filmmaker Barry Avrich. This year his series of filmed profiles expands to include Rosalie Abella, Canada’s first Jewish Supreme Court Judge. Born in a displaced persons’ camp following the Holocaust and an immigrant to Canada at the age of 4, Abella grew up to be at the forefront of major decisions on employment equity, gay marriage, constitutional law, and many other landmark cases. A champion of human rights, she stood for many marginalized communities during her years on the bench. Abella is often considered by many to be the “Canadian RBG.”
We learn many things in the 84-minute Without Precedent The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella. For example, her father was a lawyer in Poland as the Nazis invaded and she wanted to be a lawyer since childhood. She became a judge at 29. In addition to many family and friends interviewed for this documentary, Avrich also interviewed Margaret Atwood and former Prime Ministers The Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, The Right Honourable Paul Martin and The Right Honourable Joe Clark.
Unfortunately both Without Precedent The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie screen at the same time on the same night, but at two different theatres. Luckily, both films will have three showings and you should be able to see both.
Without Precedent The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella screens:
May 1 – 6:30PM – Hot Docs Cinema
May 2 – 6:30PM – TIFF Bell Lightbox
May 5 – 11:15AM – Isabel Bader Theatre
Also see: Hot Docs tickets and passes.
Also see: May 2023 Film Festivals.
Ralph Lucas is the founder and publisher of Northernstars.ca. He began writing about film and reviewing movies while in radio in Montreal in the mid-1970s.
