(April 29, 2016 – Toronto, ON) There are several Canadian films on today’s schedule as the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival swings into high gear after last night’s success launch. Pictured is a still from the riveting production, How to Prepare for Prison. This is the film’s World Premiere and it’s the brainchild of Toronto-based director and writer Matt Gallagher who also served as cinematographer on the 90-minute feature.
The main focus of the film follows the paths of three people as they get set for their sentencing. How Gallagher convinced these people is a remarkable feat in itself. These just aren’t talking heads in some studio with a neutral backdrop and good lighting. The camera follows them into their homes, into their families and is witness to their strength, determination, shame and sometimes overwhelming pain. Look for snippets from a US correctional officer who in the end seems to be the smartest person in the film.
This 90-minute documentary took three years to make and travels from Ontario to Alberta and to the United States to capture the at times highly intimate look into lives that hang in the balance as justice slowly but surely takes its toll on the human spirit.
Tonight’s screening at 6PM at the Scotiabank Theatre is the first of three chances you have to catch this film. How to Prepare for Prison also plays tomorrow, Saturday April 30 at 10:15AM at the Isabel Bader Theatre and on Sunday, May 8 at 3:30PM again at the Isabel Bader.
Other Canadian films screening today at Hot Docs include Kevin McMahon’s Spaceship Earth, Viveka Melki’s After Circus, A Centre-Sud Tale from Montreal director Danic Champoux and Koneline: Our Land Beautiful from Nettie Wild.
For a complete list of all the films screening today at Hot Docs, click here.
