Hot Docs 2021: Bangla Surf Girls

From Lawrencetown Beach in eastern Canada, Bondi Beach in Australia, to Senegal and South Africa, surfing is a worldwide sport. While more commonly populated by shaggy young men, women are taking charge and winning on the waves. Marginalized women are also taking their place in the surf with the Black Girls Surf Project, where young... Continue Reading →

April 29, 2021

Hot Docs 2021: Firestarter – The Story of Bangarra

The Aboriginal culture is unique, beautiful and ancient. With over 65,000 years of customs and traditions passed down from tribe to tribe, the preservation of the Indigenous people of Australia has been a continued struggle for centuries. Three brothers, Stephen, David and Russell Page, decided that they would also do their part to preserve their... Continue Reading →

April 29, 2021

Hot Docs 2021: Poly Styrene: I Am a Cliché

I first discovered the magic of Poly Styrene a couple of years ago when I watched Fast Color, a 2018 sci-fi film about three generations of Black women with special abilities. The main character Ruth (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), plays an X-Ray Spex song and my partner, a punk rocker for life, recognized the song "Germfree Adolescents."... Continue Reading →

April 29, 2021

Hot Docs 2021: Subjects of Desire

“Black women have historically been denied the power of beauty,” Ryann Richardson bluntly states. In that moment in time, she was a frontrunner for the 2018 Miss Black America pageant, and she speaks a truth that, in this moment in time, still follows us. Black beauty and culture have been mined for decades, with the... Continue Reading →

April 29, 2021