Alexandra Fitzpatrick
Contributor
The Toronto International Film Festival is approaching — this year, with much more to offer in the documentary department. Enjoy a guided list of previews from a fellow cinephile, with films spanning modeling agencies, water, dogs, and societal progress.
Girl Model
Ashley Sabin and David Redmon co-direct this documentary about young female models scouted in Siberia to work in Japan. The film explores the inner workings of the modeling industry, with a human focus on the girls. Most come from very poor families and enter the modeling world in hopes of supporting their families. The mood of this film is somber, filled with vulnerability, naivety, desperation, and aspiration, with the atmospheric music adding depth to the film. This movie is informative yet gripping, providing insight into what many girls go through to model. Better yet, it reveals what the fashion industry doesn’t want its consumers to see.
Last Call at the Oasis
Jessica Yu’s documentary will make you rethink the way you use water. This movie explores the importance of this planet’s most valuable resource, a substance that first-world countries take for granted, as well as the impact that it has on the world. Clean water is becoming scarce, as explained in Yu’s alarming, educational work. The cinematography of the film is breathtaking, and the editing, top-notch, exceeding the standards of most documentaries. It takes on a professional voice while expressing opinion and outlines what the average person can do about the disappearance of water. Last Call satisfies general interest, but also fits the “environmentally friendly” quotient.
The Last Dogs of Winter
New Zealand-based director Costa Botes makes a documentary that is sure to attract animal lovers, particularly those who love dogs. This film tracks Caleb Ross, an Eskimo dog enthusiast from New Zealand, on his trek to Churchill, Manitoba, where lies a refuge for endangered Canadian Eskimo dogs. Ross, upon arrival, focuses on the preservation of the endangered species. Ross is determined to change the future of the dogs, whose shining, original personality carries the film along. Set against the beauty of Western Canada, The Last Dogs will draw in a Mother Nature crowd to boot.
Surviving Progress
Mathieu Roy and Harold Crooks present material for intellectuals, posing the question of whether or not societal progress, be it technological or political, is a legitimate indicator of growth for a civilization. It explores the current economic model, the ways people find and use energy sources, and the way our consumerist society functions. Celebrity brains like David Suzuki, Margaret Atwood, and Stephen Hawking appear in this documentary, one of the few Canadian films in the TIFF lineup this year. This movie would be well-suited to students pursuing environmental studies, economics, sociology, and philosophy degrees.
All photos courtesy of TIFF Media
