Toronto – On the last day of Hot Docs 2010, and in this my last review for the festival this year, I want to mention one thing. Ford Fiesta FAILS. For the number of screenings (136,000+ attendance, apparently) Hot Docs could do much better than a half-hearted CG sketch of 3 fake economy vehicles pretending to be fashionable. That type of marketing works well for Ferrari and Porsche – I hardly think men/women drool over a GEO equivalent thinking that it’ll be the next status symbol on their list. Why not hold a competition for short films with the help of NFB for that slot? Or Coca Cola, if short on commercial sponsors, which has found an interesting balance between commercial and short films?
Anyways. Now that my 2 cent is spent, let’s get on to the story of Chris Mburu. A small act follows Chris, a human rights attorney working for the UN, through the turmoil he and other had to go through to set up a local scholarship fund in his native Kenya. The impetus is a diminutive Jewish lady living in Sweden. For years, Hilde Back had given something like $15/month to a foundation, and directly sponsored Chris’ education from primary to secondary school. Since secondary school isn’t mandatory in Kenya, those who do not make it has little chance of learning anything beyond simple concepts. This does not only lowers the productivity, it further opens the population to political manipulations. Having worked in situations like those in Chad, Bosnia, Rwanda, Chris (and his cousin) believe that education is a solution to such problems – so they set up a foundation in Hilde’s honor. The film follows the inaugural year of this scholarship, which unfortunately coincided with an election and ethnic wars between Kenyan groups. It documents not only how the foundation is operated, but also the struggles of 3 top students in getting funded for the secondary education their families cannot afford.
This is a simple and easily sensational story. It’s difficult to not be moved by Kimani, Caroline, and Ruth when they thought they had disappointed their families. Many will cringe at how poor the conditions are, and lament at how many kids are left behind simple because they have no money. But that’s the whole point – how many, after cringing, actually pay forward this small act of kindness? Apparently quite a few. They raised $90,000 at the Hot Docs screenings alone. And when the film crew found out that only one of the students could be funded by the Hilde Back foundation, they pitched into help the other two. It ends Hot Docs for me on a warm note, but it’s not the best film this year by a long shot, not the least because Arnold has chosen an easy topic. But as long as it moves people to donate and volunteer for a higher cause, I will happily enjoy more warm-&-fuzzy documentaries.
Well that’s it. Hot Docs have been very interesting this year, and with age it only gets better. Until next year!
