Hot Docs: The Songs Of Rice, Doc Of The Dead, Shield And Spear

If you can sit through the first 7 minutes of this dialogue-free film, then you will be able to enjoy the agrarian charms of the Thai countryside. It is chock full of old-world (read: Song dynasty China) customs mingling with new-world (read: Japanese engineering) know-hows. Plus cross-dressers. Watch out for Ultraman-ish harvesters, ridiculously fireworks, and of course, rice.

George Romero, Simon Pegg, Bruce Campbell, Max Brooks, and creators of infamous series like The Walking Dead were all once zombies. Fine, they all once thought like zombies (… zombies don’t think). Some of them gave birth to the modern zombies (… and zombies don’t fuck). Others can’t stomach another’s take on zombies (… but zombies eat brains). Watch, and find out just how these zomb-pioneers turned millions into zombies on a city corner near you. Hint: BRAINZZZ.

Artists, musicians, designers, journalists, activists, and community workers do not operate the same way in South Africa as they do here. Just like the Civil Rights movement didn’t resolve the race issue, the end of Apartheid in 1994 didn’t elevate everyone to an equal footing. Art is already vulnerable due to its intangible nature. Throw politics into the mixture, then even a single oil painting can become explosive and divisive for 50 million people. Shield and Spear documents the confessions and the trials of those who are trying to rebuild South Africa, against rampant corruption and political manipulation, in the image of their ideals. It’s a surprisingly uplifting piece that deserves serious thoughts, while you sip imported espresso sarcastically on College St.

TIFF Bell Lightbox 3, Sun, Apr 27 7:00 PM
Scotiabank Theatre 4, Tue, Apr 29 1:30 PM
ROM Theatre, Fri, May 2 9:30 PM