5 Hot Docs Documentaries you should watch

The Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival is currently running this week and ending on May 6th and I have picked a few Docs you should see at the festival or hopefully wherever they are shown after the festival.  There is a subject of interest to almost anyone and I have picked a few that had a range of subjects that were either entertaining or thought provoking.  I have broken them down by subject.



INFLUENCE & PRIVACY:
The Cleaners

This documentary has a look at the people in the Philippines who scan content from Facebook and decide whether the content should appear on their app or not.  What does "Sin" as they see it do to a person's psyche who watches it for a living.  Does it take a toll on how you look at the world.  Is there such a thing as Privacy and free speech anymore?  When you watch this film it may remind you of 1984 when Big Brother was the future of the way we were going to be watched and controlled and it seems to be a reality and starting to be revealed in the news media and how it affects the world of late.  I wouldn't say this film is the best film of the festival but it is thought provoking and revealing so it's worth a look to see what you may not know about what's put out into the world.

MUSIC:
Bachman

Bachman is the story of Randy Bachman who is best known as a Canadian music Icon from bands such as the Guess Who and BTO.  Randy Bachman is not your typical Rockstar musician but he is 100% Canadian and those roots run deep and have influenced his music and his life over the length of his career. Not much is known about Randy Bachman other than his music but in this documentary he opens up a sliver of his life to show you where he has come from and who he is when he isn't spending most of his time living and breathing music.  I was never a huge Randy Bachman fan but I always respected his long career and obvious work ethic and I found this documentary very interesting and enlightening on what a long career in Canadian Music looks like.  It's probably not what you would expect and you will find it pretty interesting I think.

COMEDY:
Bill Murray Stories

This documentary tells the story of Comic/actor Bill Murray without interviewing Bill Murray but it's told through other people's stories and videos of their experiences with him.  I have known about Bill Murray since I was in High School and the thing to talk about with my friends was what we saw on Saturday Night Live the weekend before. Bill Murray has always been unpredictable and hilarious and he lives his life the same way.  It's no secret that he is elusive and doesn't have "people" running his life and he doesn't even have a cell phone or use a computer, but he does have a 1-800 number that people can leave messages on. Sophia Coppola tried leaving countless messages for him that he never returned so she had to find another way to get him to respond to her request for him to be in her film Lost in Translation.  Bill Murray only does what he wants to do when he wants to do it.  His life is like an endless Saturday Night Live improv sketch.  He has crashed parties and washed people's dishes, and brought fans with him to baseball games and all sorts of random things.  He seems to be a guy that just wants to live life by the seat of his pants and not like a celebrity with it's restrictions. 
Everyone has a Bill Murray story and even I have somewhat of a Bill Murray story.  I was volunteering with my Entourage Team at TIFF a few years ago and during our break while the film was on we went to our regular restaurant across the street from Roy Thompson Hall.  After we had dinner we started walking back to the theatre and Bill Murray was just standing on the corner probably waiting for someone but I don't think anyone recognized him but us.  We wondered if we should say hi to him but we decided to let him just go about whatever he was doing because that's what our team does.  I wish we had asked him for a photo with us but it's still a Bill Murray story even if we don't have a picture.

THE FUTURE:
More Human than Human

This documentary will make you afraid of your future and give you the feeling that you may become obsolete sooner than you think.  With a look at many forms of AI.  Artificial Intelligence, you realize that the future that was pictured in the movies 50 plus years ago is here now and who knows where things will go in the near future.  I have been struggling with the fact that computers are taking over what used to be starter or middle class jobs.  In my own life my job will probably be replaced by a new computer system that will be taking over data entry and processing duties and the only thing that might be left to do will be to answer the phone and fix problems that this new system may create. 
Are we making progress or are we destroying the ability to build a career and a life.  You be the judge.

FOOD:
Chef Flynn

This documentary really got my heart because at the core it was all about the love and obsession of making great food but it was also a look at how a mother puts her own needs aside and supports and encourages her 10 year old son to follow his dream with her never failing assistance.  Chef Flynn McGarry started cooking out of necessity after his mothers divorce and lack of interest in cooking proper meals for Flynn and his sister so he decided to take charge and teach himself how to cook.  But he didn't just cook basic comfort food dishes, he learned how to make Michelin star restaurant worthy meals from cookbooks like the French Laundry and watching everything he could and trying everything he could by researching and obsessing over every dish.  The mother and son started hosting a pop up restaurant in their home and Chef Flynn got noticed by the New York Times which shot up his trajectory but all he wanted to do was move from his California home to open his own restaurant in New York City.  Lofty goals for an 11 year old, but Chef Flynn is a teenager with the mind of a professional chef determined to achieve success in the culinary world but do it on his own terms.

Devour Food & Film Fest

I should be at this festival since my Blog is called Film Food Stuff.  I even know the director of Grand Cru.  Anyone want to pay for me to go and cover the festival?   5 Days. 99 Events. 72 Films. 3 Celebrity Chef Dinners. 1 Epic Event. Devour! The Food Film Fest Announces 2017 Programming   - October 25 – 29 in Wolfville, NS -   Celebrated chefs Jacques Pépin, Michael Smith, Bob Blumer and Mark Greenaway are among 2017 participants for the world’s largest culinary film festival Films screenings include the world premiere of David Eng’s Grand Cru and the Canadian premiere of Peter Stein’s Jacques Pépin - The Art of Craft

Wolfville, NS (August 22, 2017) – The world’s largest culinary film festival, Devour! The Food Film Fest (Devour!) today announced initial programming details for the seventh annual instalment. Celebrated chefs Jacques Pépin, Michael Smith, Bob Blumer and Mark Greenaway are joining previously announced festival Guest Curator, Canadian film icon Gordon Pinsent as 2017 participants. Devour! is the world’s largest film festival devoted to all things culinary. Each year, the festival showcases engaging cinema paired with extraordinary food and wine culture over five days in Wolfville, Nova Scotia from October 25 – 29, 2017. The seventh edition of Devour! is themed “A Celebration of Canadian Cinema and Cuisine” and will bring acclaimed filmmakers and chefs from across Canada  and internationally. The festival features 99 events including 72 films in 34 screenings, 23 industry workshops, three celebrity chef dinners, 22 tasting tours, and 20 special events including dinners and parties. “In the span of just eight years, Devour! has grown to become a pre-eminent Canadian film festival and one of the most delicious events in this great country,” says Chef Michael Howell, Executive Director of Devour! “We cannot thank our many partners and supporters enough, as they have shared our vision of becoming one of Canada's must-visit festivals. We are grateful for the ongoing support of The Province of Nova Scotia and their invaluable commitment to helping the festival grow." FESTIVAL TICKETS The first round of tickets to the highly anticipated seventh edition of Devour! The Food Film Fest goes on sale Tuesday, August 29 at 10am AT. Tickets range in price from $10 to $999 (plus applicable taxes) for the exclusive Devour! The Festival Pass (limited quantities available). This all-access pass gives priority entry to the opening gala evening and all films, workshops, tasting tours, celebrity chef dinners, parties and special events. Devour! also offers a round-trip shuttle from Halifax to Wolfville for $20. For more information or to purchase tickets visit devourfest.com. PROGRAMMING HIGHLIGHTS Film Screenings Devour! will showcase 72 films during 34 screenings. The festival’s 2017 Guest Curator Gordon Pinsent will help kick off the festivities during the Opening Gala taking place at the Fountain Commons at Acadia University on Thursday, October 26. The award-winning actor, screenwriter, director and playwright personally selected The Hundred-Foot Journey directed by Lasse Hallström as the opening screening of the festival. Film screenings also include the Canadian Premiere of Jacques Pépin - The Art of Craft directed by Peter Stein, which will be attended by culinary legend Jacques Pépin and Stein, as well as the world premiere of the Canadian film Grand Cru, directed by David Eng, who will be in attendance. Culinary Events  The 2017 line-up of visiting celebrity chefs, industry leaders, and up and comers will have even the most refined culinary palates watering. Among them are Food Network stars Bob Blumer, Michael Smith and John Higgins; top tier Scottish chefs Mark Greenaway – whose cookbook was named the world’s best cookbook at the 2017 Gourmand Cookbook Awards  – and Peter McKenna (The Gannet, one of Glasgow’s leading restaurants). The festival also features some of Canada’s best-known chefs including, Joshna Maharaj (The Drake Hotel; Toronto), Emma Cardarelli (Nora Gray; Montreal), Paul Rogalski (Rouge, Bistro Rouge; Calgary), and CBC’s Ali Hassan. From Thursday, October 26 – Saturday, October 28, these international culinary leaders will pair up with local Nova Scotia sensations to create three decadent meals inspired by select festival films. The Celebrity Chef Dinner on Thursday, October 26 is themed Scotland vs New Scotland as three Scottish and three Nova Scotia chefs face off to create a French-influenced menu in tribute to Pépin. For the first time, Devour! will bring a sample of the Devour! satellite events home with The Devour Roadshow Comes Homes on Friday, October 27.  Each chef will prepare one course inspired by a short film screened right in the dining room in Nova Scotia wine country’s most stunning new venue, Lightfoot & Wolfville Winery. The Spotlight Gala on Saturday, October 28 will be the ultimate Canadian feast inspired by the Canadian film Grand Cru. Eight of Canada’s best chefs will combine their culinary genius to prepare an unparalleled patriotic repast. Faculty and student chefs from the Pacific Institute of Culinary Arts in Vancouver will join returning culinary programs Toronto’s George Brown College’s Centre for Hospitality and Culinary Arts and Nova Scotia Community College’s Culinary Arts and Tourism Management programs at Devour! as part of the festival’s ongoing partnership with renowned culinary schools to help provide real-world experience, skills development and valuable industry connections for Canada’s next generation of culinarians. Workshops Festivalgoers can participate in 23 workshops spanning the film and culinary industry. Highlights include a Food Photography workshop with influencer Dennis The Prescott, an all-day filmmaking intensive with From the Wild filmmakers Kevin Kossowan and Jeff Senger, It's Five O'Clock Somewhere: Cocktails Workshop with mixologists Jeff Van Horne and Matt Jones, culinary workshops with chefs Michael Smith, Mark Greenaway and others. Additional programming will be announced in the weeks leading up to the festival. For full programing details visit devourfest.com. _______________ About Devour! Combining cinematic talent with extraordinary culinary and wine creations, Devour! The Food Film Fest is the world’s largest festival focused on food and film. Taking place in the culinary epicenter of the province, Wolfville, Nova Scotia, the seventh edition of Devour! is slated for October 25-29, 2017. ___________________________ The Location Only one hour from Halifax and Stanfield International Airport, is the agricultural heartland of eastern Canada, a thriving wine region and the home of Acadia University, one of Canada’s pre-eminent educational institutions. A rich cultural landscape infuses the region and its people with a respect for the riches around us. No place could be more perfect as the home of Devour! ____________________________ Acclaim for Devour!  “One of the 23 Top Festivals for Foodies in the World” -American Express Essentials “The New Napa of the North” -Gusto TV “Canada's Secret Foodie Destination” -The Hollywood Reporter

Deli Man - Where did they all go?

 I spent an enjoyable couple of hours at the Toronto Jewish Film Festival on a sunday afternoon on Mothers Day.  I went to see DELI MAN at the ROM in Toronto.  This film was enjoyable for so many reasons.  The main subject of the film was a guy named Ziggy who has owner a Delicatessen in Austin, Texas for the past 15 years.  An unlikely place for a Jewish New Yorker to set up shop but as it turns out the perfect place for him to be.  This Deli Man has a heart as big as his stature and his smoked meats.  He has given his life to making his Deli a successful venture where it's all about feeding his community and building his deli family.

The film follows Ziggy's journey mostly through winning a Chicken soup contest and finally getting married to the right person for the right reasons.  He is a very charismatic person and it all goes into his food which has brought the best of Deli food to Texas.   Also seen in the film are Deli Men from all over the U.S. and Canada, including the most famous Delis like Katz's Deli, Carnegie Deli, 2nd Ave Deli and Toronto's own Caplansky's and Yitz'.  Once thing all of the Deli Men agree on is the fact that they put in their whole life into their restaurants and they would probably all do it again if given the chance.
Zane Caplansky jokingly says "you have to be Insane to go into the Deli business".

The film was full of historic photos and explanation of the Jewish delis provided by David Sax.
The couple sitting behind me laughed out loud so loud it filled the theatre through most of the film.  The characters are charming and there is a lot of Food Porn with the abundant deli dishes.
I really appreciated the film for it's heart and the focus on the men that keep the old school deli's alive.  This kind of restaurant is almost becoming extinct.   There use to be a couple thousand deli's in the U.S. and now there are probably under a couple hundred.

In Toronto there are probably less than a dozen scattered around the city but mostly in the Bathurst St. area where there are a large concentration of Jewish residents still.

A lot of the traditions of how the deli food is made is still done the same way today, although there a are a couple of guys in San Francisco who are trying to modernize traditional deli food and put their spin on things while still retaining the way it was done for years.

 After the film Toronto Jewish Film Festival director Helen Zuckerberg introduced the films director Erik Greenberg and also Zane Caplansky and David Sax for a Q&A.  Most of the people asked questions about restaurants in Toronto though.

The best part though was that Caplansky provided smoked meet on bread and pickled in the lobby of the theatre after the screening.

I have been to many film festivals in Toronto and this is a practice unique to the Toronto Jewish Film Festival.  They are becoming known for the food they sometimes have provided for people attending screenings or standing in lines.   The film will have a limited release so I suggest you go see it if it's in your area and plan to go to a Deli for some smoked meat after the screening.  You will be hungry.

Foodies at Hot Docs

I was very interested in checking out the Documentary FOODIES at the Hot Docs Film Festival this week in Toronto since I also have a blog called Starving Foodie and have a lot of food blogger friends.  It wasn't the film that I expected though.

It's a documentary made by a Swedish production company and 3 directors,  Thomas Jackson, Charlotte Landellus and Henrik Stockare who became interested in exploring the world of foodies after speaking with some high profile chefs who follow where these global foodies go and what they say about the food.  It focuses on 5 different Foodies, an outspoken New Yorker, Steve Plotnicki, who used to work in the music business.  A demanding Brit Andy Hayler, who thinks his opinions are extremely important.  A younger Asian male Perm Paitayawat and the female Katie Keiko, who should totally get together and go to these restaurants together.  And a European fashion model Aiste Miseviciute, who loves to travel and explore different restaurants and take photos of her travels and meet up with friends along the way.

It was filled with a lot of "food porn" though and a lot of "what is that" kind of food.

They all say that they pay for their own meals and write whatever they want on their blogs.  They seem to have an endless supply of cash to travel the world and eat at all of the Michelin Star restaurants.  One is funded by his parents,  the young Asian girl saves her money to travel.  The fashion model also pays her own way.  The 2 older gentleman seem to have amassed their fortunes and now spend it travelling anywhere they want to.   One of the gentlemen has been to all of the Michelin star restaurants in the current years guide and is creating his own guide from an algorithm  he created based on the number of times the foodies eat at the restaurants.

Personally I couldn't relate to these Foodies.  They are nothing like the group of food bloggers that I meet up with at local media events and festivals in the city.  Maybe that's because we are Canadian and we are all very polite and grateful for a good meal.  We don't have deep pockets although a few are able to travel they aren't hitting up all of the Michelin star restaurants.  I only know one foodie who works in the medical profession who can afford to go to some of these restaurants.

Other than the model who seemed very personable and gracious I found a lot of the other ones kind of obnoxious and a bit rude.  The 2 younger Asian foodies seemed to be very withdrawn even.

My foodie friends are all very social and friendly so it was a bit odd for me to watch some of them.

What I enjoyed about the film was seeing all the different restaurants around the world.  Places I had never heard of in a lot of remote locations even.

It seems to be very popular at Hot Docs and I know that there are a whole lot of foodies in Toronto so I bet they were interested in seeing this film.

The film didn't have the heart that the other film I saw FOR GRACE  did but if you are into looking into the world of a few global food travellers then this is the film you should check out.

The New York man Steve Plotnicki was in attendance with the director for the Q&A after the film.  When asked where he had lunch he said Dynasty in Yorkville.  The audience just hummed...  not exactly where everyone expected him to go but he said it was his friend that chose the restaurant.

One thing of note.   Most of the scenes were shot of the foodies dining alone because the restaurants wouldn't let them film the other diners so it seemed a bit weird.  They said that they don't normally dine alone.

Dinner and a Movie

When people ask me what I do I find it hard to say one thing because I always have multiple things that I have on the go at the same time.  Right now my main focus is Food Blogging while I am also trying to finish a documentary that I started many years ago.

I have a  Food Blog called Starving Foodie  and I also have a documentary in post production for my film production company Integrity Films.

My documentary is called You Know Harvey and it's about a Film Festival Volunteer that lives and breathes film festivals only.  He has volunteered at over 50 film festivals including the Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

The documentary was filmed sporadically over about 5 years and is currently in the first editing stages.

I started my food blog after I finished my day job contract and was at home cooking a lot and posting food photos onto facebook and my friends kept telling me to start a food blog so I did.  I already had a blog for random stuff and my film stuff so I created my food blog just to post my food experiments and other things about food that interested me.   It's been over 3 years and it has grown to include festivals,  restaurants, new products and cookbook launches and more.  I have become friends with a bunch of really great food bloggers in the process.

So if you want to find me in my happy place you might find me at the Hot Docs Film Festival watching a Food Documentary and eating some tasty treats.

Please comment below on what is your favourite Food Film that you have ever seen.  I have given you a list of a few of mine in a list on this blog.

And follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to see what I have cooking up.