Toronto's Hot Docs festival is a celebration of insightful and enlightening documentaries from around the globe and the festival has selected 3 worthy Irish candidates.
Under the direction of Brendan J Byrne comes Bobby Sands: 66 Days, the poignant and hard-hitting documentary that gives a cinematic portrait into the hunger strike of the devoted Republican. The story of Sands captured the globe and his passing was the epicenter of the turbulent and devastating Northern Irish Troubles. Through eye-witness accounts, unseen archive footage and vivid reconstructions Bobby Sands: 66 Days will serve to honour the self-made martyr and the impact his death had on Ireland's violent and troubled history with the North. It's release is timely as it will coincide with Sands' 35th anniversary. The film has also been acquired by Wildcard Distribution and is set for release in Irish cinemas this summer.
Although it had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, Irish co-production The Land of the Enlightened will make its way to Canadian shores for the Hot Docs festival. This visionary taken aboard by Pieter-Jan De Pue takes the brave journey into a war-torn Afghanistan. Behind the bombs and desolation that pervades Afghanistan is a wartime economy run entirely by children. In order to survive Nomadic Kuchi youngsters roam the lands infiltrating trade routes, selling explosives from mines left over from the war and smuggling precious blue stones through the mountains of Pamir. De Pue follows these children on their day-to-day activities and through these observations acquires a real understanding on their beliefs and thought-process. Partly funded by the IFB, The Land of the Enlightened took home the World Cinema Cinematography Award at Sundance.
The release of the 3 documentaries will only serve to bolster the already booming year that Irish cinema has had this past year. Hot Doc's is Canada's biggest largest film festival, drawing in audiences of 200,000 each year.