First things first: Let’s congratulate the award winners at Hot Docs this year. The winner of Best Canadian Documentary went to Out of Mind, Out of Sight, a look at criminals with mental illness as they try to rehabilitate themselves in an asylum. Best International Documentary went to Waiting for August, a look at a Romanian teenager raising 6 siblings while her mother goes to work in a different city. The Audience Award has gone to The Backward Class. You can see all of the award winners here.

After seeing over 25 documentaries at the festival, I’m both exhausted and disappointed that I couldn’t see more. The most surprising part of the festival was how, for its size, there weren’t a lot of duds. As someone who approaches documentaries with hesitation, largely because of how the format can lead to uninspired filmmaking, I was surprised at how many documentaries found terrific subjects and innovative ways to tell their story. Below are my 10 personal favorites of the festival, along with a bonus pick. Information on distribution/availability is below as well, in case you’d like to find out if/when you can watch these great documentaries.

The Overnighters

By far my personal favorite of the new documentaries playing, The Overnighters is a roller coaster ride of a film. What starts out as a simple tale of a pastor trying to help out people in need spins out of control into something far more complex and devastating.

Availability: The film will be out in theaters this fall, presumably to give it an Oscar push. Be on the lookout for our interview with director Jesse Moss this fall.

Watchers of the Sky

Using the life of the man responsible for creating the word “genocide,” Watchers of the Sky is a moving look at people tirelessly fighting for justice, even though it’s unlikely they’ll succeed in their lifetime. Hopeful without being mawkish, wide-ranging without feeling spread thin, Watchers of the Sky is one of the year’s best documentaries.

Availability: In theaters this fall.

The Creator of the Jungle

The story of a true genius and artist, a man who simply wants to play with his toys and be left alone. In this case the man’s toys are an entire forest, and the results are jaw-dropping. A true definition of a festival gem, The Creator of the Jungle is well worth your time if you can see it.

Availability: Currently without distribution. Hopefully a distributor will snatch it up in due time, but if not be on the lookout for it on the festival circuit.

Read our interview with the director of The Creator of the Jungle HERE

No Lullaby

A mother and daughter’s attempt to break a cycle of abuse is simultaneously gut-wrenching and infuriating to watch. It’s the kind of story people need to see, no matter how hard it is to watch.

Availability: No North American distribution, but it will air on German TV next year.

Read our interview with the director of No Lullaby

Guidelines

A sort of more artistic take on Frederick Wiseman’s High School, Guidelines is a fascinating snapshot of a high school over one year. Through its striking cinematography, the film shows teenagers trying to find themselves between the freedom of youth outside of class and the strict rules imposed by their superiors in school.

Availability: There might be distribution in Canada through the National Film Board, but US distribution seems unlikely.

Actress

Robert Greene’s profile of his neighbor trying to get back into acting expands into something far more fascinating and complicated. Greene’s experimental approach, along with the haunting beauty of his film’s star, makes for a fascinating look into the artifice inherent in documentary filmmaking and our own lives.

Availability: Hopefully a release this year, but details are still unknown. Keep your eyes peeled for our interview with director Robert Greene and star Brandy Burre closer to the film’s release.

Whitey: The United States of America v. James J. Bulger

Documentary pro Joe Berlinger continues to prove why he’s one of the best in his field. Taking one of the most notorious criminals in US history, Berlinger makes a truly compelling argument against the status quo when it comes to Bulger’s sordid past. Fans of true crime stories shouldn’t miss this.

Availability: Expect a theatrical release this summer, and be sure to visit us closer to its release for our interview with director Joe Berlinger.

The Case Against 8

A look at the long, intense battle to declare California’s Proposition 8 as unconstitutional, The Case Against 8 is surprisingly involving despite its well-known outcome. Through its detailed look at the process of building an argument against Prop 8, The Case Against 8 shows how its central issue is more about human rights than politics.

Availability: A limited theatrical release in June, before airing on HBO in the US at the end of the month.

Joy of Man’s Desiring

I’ll admit, the film has slowly gone up in my estimation since seeing it. It’s a mostly wordless, but never boring look at human labour and the way people try to find happiness with dull, repetitive work.

Availability: Unknown at this time. Considering its brief length and 40+ minutes of nothing but operating machinery, don’t expect this to get a big release.

Private Violence

A well-done advocacy doc using two women, one an advocate for protecting abuse victims and the other a survivor of abuse, to highlight the complexities of trying to escape an abusive relationship. Anyone thinking a victim of domestic abuse can just walk away should watch this.

Availability: HBO has it, so expect a release sometime in the near future (fall/winter seems likely). Thankfully since HBO has this it should mean it’ll get plenty of exposure to the public.

Portrait of Jason

I included it as a bonus pick because it’s an older title, but it was overall the best documentary I saw at the festival. Both a fascinating look at one man’s life and a self-aware critique of documentary filmmaking, Portrait of Jason is challenging but essential viewing.

Availability: Milestone Films says they will be releasing the new, restored version of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray this year.

Now that I’ve seen over a dozen of Hot Docs’ selections so far, I can see patterns begin to emerge between films. The three films profiled in today’s piece, all of which are the best documentaries I’ve seen so far at the festival, share a common narrative. The subjects in The Overnighters, Watchers of the Sky and The Creator of the Jungle are all people wanting to do what’s right for them or others, and despite constant resistance from everyone else they never stop fighting. These narratives form in different ways; a pastor tries to “love thy neighbour,” even if it destroys his life; a group of people try to prevent genocide, and bring those responsible to justice; and one man refuses to give up his childlike sense of imagination and creativity even as outside forces give him no choice.

Three different stories, all of them containing a fundamentally strong narrative. These are the kinds of films deserving a bigger audience, and the reason why festivals like Hot Docs exist. To learn more about the three films, including how to get tickets, go to www.hotdocs.ca.

The Overnighters

“I don’t say ‘no’ very well…so it’s easier to say ‘yes’ and live with the consequences.”

Virtue is a burden in Jesse Moss’ The Overnighters. Taking place in Williston, North Dakota, Moss begins his film by exploring the town’s increase in popularity as oil companies in the area hand out high-paying jobs to anyone willing to work. This leads to an influx of people from all over America, arriving with the hope of getting a job. Pastor Jay Reinke starts allowing dozens of new arrivals to sleep in his church (or in their cars in the church’s parking lot) until they can get back on their feet. Moss then shifts the focus of his film to Reinke’s battle with the town, as their hostility to the out-of-towners (fueled in part by the murder of a local teacher) begins a campaign to shut down Reinke’s program.

Moss clearly has one hell of a story to tell, and watching Reinke’s world fall apart as he stubbornly continues to help new arrivals is riveting. Sometimes The Overnighters feels like Moss is forcing what he has into fitting the narrative he wants to tell (some moments feel rehearsed or set-up, giving a reality TV vibe), but for the most part Moss does an excellent job weaving his footage into a gripping drama. And if the insanity Moss captures from Reinke’s battle with his town isn’t enough, a devastating last-minute revelation ends up redefining everything that came before it. The Overnighters is a roller coaster, and will most likely end up being one of the best documentaries this year.

Watchers of the Sky

Raphael Lemkin was a Polish lawyer who spent his life trying to make the crime of genocide punishable by law. Lemkin actually coined the term genocide, and his own experiences (deportation in WWI, losing his entire family to the Nazis in WWII) fueled his desire to see that people responsible for mass killings would face justice for their actions.

Director Edet Belzberg uses Lemkin’s story to examine how society still remains apathetic to acts of genocide occurring around the world, using a narrow focus to address a topic of such a large scale. US Ambassador Samantha Power (whose book inspired the doc) tells Lemkin’s life story while detailing recent examples of atrocities; Rwandan Emmanuel Uwurukundo tries to help refugees in the current genocide occurring in Darfur; Ben Ferencz tries to continue Lemkin’s legacy, lobbying the UN to consider war-making a crime against humanity; and Luis Moreno Ocampo, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court at The Hague.

Belzberg uses her four subjects well, with Power covering history/context and the other three showing their difficult battles to continue in Lemkin’s footsteps. The result is a beautiful tale of people fighting valiantly for what they know is right, even if they might never live to see any results. The film’s moving ending (and one of my favourite moments of the year), where Fenecz explains the title’s meaning, is a perfect summation of the grueling hopefulness these four people put themselves through. All these people can do is hope that, if they don’t succeed, their work will make it easier for the person who does.

The Creator of the Jungle

The Creator of the Jungle is the kind of story that needs to be seen. Garrell has spent 45 years of his life building his own world in a forest near his house, only to see it repeatedly attacked by others. The documentary chronicles over 2 decades of Garrell’s life, as he continues destroying and rebuilding his creations just so he can keep playing on his own. It’s a can’t miss title at Hot Docs, and one of the more delightful films of the year so far.

Read our full-length review of The Creator of the Jungle HERE and stay tuned for an interview with director Jordi Morató.

The Creator of the Jungle tells the story of Garrell, a man who has spent 45 years building a giant playground in a forest. He started as a child, and with age the scale of his work increased dramatically. He first manipulated the stream running through the forest, making dams and ponds as he saw fit. He soon brought animals into the forest, building increasingly large structures out of whatever he could grab in the forest. Over time, Garrell’s playfulness turned his forest into a bizarre ghost town of sorts.

Through camcorder footage taken in the 90s by Aleix, an unseen teenage boy who admired Garrell’s work, director Jordi Morató unveils one piece of incredible footage after another to tell his subject’s story. Aleix and Garrell spent their days making Tarzan movies in his forest, and even through the grainy VHS images the scale of Garrell’s work is jaw dropping. Problems start for Garrell once his creations, including a kilometre long labyrinth made entirely from tree branches, attract the attention of local vandals.

Morató narrates over Aleix’s footage, filling in details about Garrell’s life. He used Aleix’s camera to direct and star in Tarzan movies, using the forest as a set for Tarzan’s jungle. These short films, containing an infectious lo-fi DIY charm to them, were a way for Garrell to vent his frustrations about his work being destroyed. Each Tarzan movie would involve the “civilized man” trying to invade the jungle and ruin his home. Garrell is, essentially, a kid at heart just wanting to play on his own, and his dogged enthusiasm to expanding his ‘world’ makes it hard to not admire him.

And as time goes on, watching Garrell’s resilience turns those feelings of admiration into amazement. At one point Morató stops narrating over Aleix’s tapes, letting the last Tarzan movie (titled “The Last Two of the Tribe”) play out uninterrupted. It’s the high point of the doc, showing how good Garrell is when it comes to expressing his visions. Even more amazing is what happens afterward; after being attacked by vandals, Garrell simply destroys everything and rebuilds from scratch, and ends up making everything bigger and better than it was before. As the years begin to pass, and Morató starts filming Garrell’s playground, the sights are even more impressive through the HD photography.

Morató’s focus on Garrell’s work does leave a little to be desired over its scant 75 minute length, but the basic approach and terrific subject are enough to make for a seriously impressive documentary. At its core, The Creator of the Jungle is about one man’s decades-long battle to preserve his sense of playfulness from the world around him. It’s captivating, delightful, tragic at times and ultimately a story one needs to see to believe.