The 2010 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival ended with a weekend full of awards presentations to the top films and film makers this year. Many of these awards come with cash prizes that help both seasoned and emerging filmmakers continue to create the work that moves us. Among the films honoured this year were two unique films that were in the top ten audience favourites at the festival: Waste Land and Leave Them Laughing. The latter also won the Special Jury prize for Canadian Feature. Poignant and courageous these two films focus on the smaller everyday battles we wage against the hand that life has dealt us.
Leave Them Laughing: Oscar award winning Canadian documentary director John Zaritsky takes us on a 90-minute journey into the life and oncoming death of Carla Zilbersmith. Once a vibrant performer, Carla has been diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s Disease and given two years left to live, however she is determined to suck every last drop of pleasure from life before she has to go. “‘Dead is the new alive.’ Now I know what you’re thinking: I was just being trendy. But trust me, it won’t be long before all of you start to follow my lead.” If you like dark comedy (as I do), then this is your film, it doesn’t get any darker than this. Created from interviews, footage from her final defiant travels to Mexico, the US and Britain, and flashbacks to her healthier days as a singer and comedian, the film centers around her and her son’s capacity for humour in the face of overwhelming tragedy. Just a year after the diagnosis, Carla’s body has noticeably deteriorated and so she has “Out of Order” tattooed onto her feet. This film isn’t as crushingly depressing as it sounds, nor does Carla pretend that dying is a laugh, instead the film eloquently points out when to cry and when to take things lightly, all the while reminding us to treasure the special days that come our way. Full of moments that are laugh out loud funny as well as those that will have you reaching for the tissue, it is a film that will most likely leave you reeling emotionally, not knowing what to do with yourself afterward. The answer is: live. Leaving behind this glorious film as a memento mori, Carla is currently teaching her parrot, who will outlive her, to say “This woman is dead.”
http://to411daily.com/2010/05/14/hot-docs-wrap-act-3-against-the-odds/
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