This spring, a fresh set of perspectives blossomed at the 2009 installment of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival! As always, Toronto-Franco was present to give you an insider’s edge, and this year two international films from France made the cut:

Nauru, an Island Adrift

In the Western World, we often take it for granted just how good life really is, in spite of the hardships we may encounter, creeping our way through the global recession (the blind leading the blind). Director Juliano Ribeiro Salgado’s film tells the story of a small island nation that went from a simple island way of life to become the world’s second richest nation only to end in rags and ruin. This is a heartbreaking glimpse at generations of people ravaged by capitalism’s resource based-economy and the corruption of extreme wealth. It reminds viewers that life goes on in the face of extreme poverty, and only love can truly keep a broken nation together.

It airs Thursday, May 7 at 6:30pm (Alliance Cumberland 2), and if you have scheduling conflicts, then check it out on Saturday, May 09 at 6:30pm (Alliance Cumberland 3)—bright, tropical colours never looked more triste.

Encirclement

In recent months, a lot of people have asked why things got as bad as they did so quickly. Weren’t our economic principles sound? What happened? Where did we go wrong? Was this predictable? Or was there some sort of invisible hand at work behind the scenes setting us all up for a great fall? Director Richard Brouillette’s black and white, subtitled French feature examines the neo-liberal school of thought, through a series of interviews with renowned intellectuals in effort to answer these questions, all relevant to our times.

It airs Thursday, May 7 at 9:00pm (Alliance Cumberland 3), and don’t worry if you miss it, because you can catch it again at the same spot on Sunday, May 10 at 12:30pm—you’ll need a coffee for this one, and you might even want to take notes!

To those of you who don’t already know: Hot Docs runs until the 10 of May (Mother’s day) and it’s not something you want to miss, if you can help it. There are still plenty of great documentary films left to discover and enjoy! For more information on genres, director bios and listings, click to www.hotdocs.ca—it‘s kind of worth the effort…