08-09 DOC SOUP

2008-09 DOC SOUP OPENS WITH CANADIAN PREMIERE OF SUNDANCE GRAND JURY PRIZE WINNER TROUBLE THE WATER

Toronto, October 27, 2008 – Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is pleased to announce that the 2008-09 Doc Soup season will open with the Canadian premiere of TROUBLE THE WATER (USA, 96 min). 

Winner of the 2008 Sundance Grand Jury Prize (Documentary), the New York Times called the film “superb…one of the best American documentaries in recent memory.” TROUBLE THE WATER screens on Wednesday, October 29, at 6:30 and 9:15 pm at the Bloor Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West. Directors and producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal, who have also produced FAHRENHEIT 9/11 and BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, will be in attendance to introduce their film and participate in a post-screening Q&A.

TROUBLE THE WATER tells the story of an aspiring rap artist and her streetwise husband, trapped in New Orleans by deadly floodwaters, who survive the storm and then seize a chance for a new beginning. The film opens the day before Katrina makes landfall, just blocks away from the French Quarter but far from the New Orleans that tourists know. Kimberly Rivers Roberts is turning her video camera on herself and her 9th Ward neighbors trapped in the city. “It’s going to be a day to remember,” Kim says excitedly into her new camera as the storm is brewing.

As the hurricane begins to rage and the floodwaters fill their world and the screen, Kim and her husband Scott continue to film, documenting their harrowing voyage to higher ground and dramatic rescues of friends and neighbors.

Intertwining Kim and Scott’s insider’s view of Katrina with a mix of verite and in-your-face filmmaking, Deal and Lessin follow their story through the storm and its aftermath, and into a new life. Along the way, they discover Kim’s musical talent as rap artist Black Kold Madina when she finds the only existing copy of her recorded music, which survived the storm with a relative in Memphis. Kim’s performance in that moment reveals not only devastating skills as a musician, but compacts her life story into explosive poetry that paints a devastating picture of poverty.

Each month, from October 2008 to April 2009, Doc Soup showcases the latest in Canadian and international documentary cinema for Toronto audiences. Tickets to individual Doc Soup screenings are $12 at the door, with only a limited number of tickets being sold in advance at http://www.hotdocs.ca A limited number of free tickets to the 9:15 pm screening are available at the door for students with valid I.D., courtesy of the Toronto Star. Doc Soup screenings regularly sell-out, but a Doc Soup subscription guarantees admission to each Doc Soup film and are available for purchase at http://www.hotdocs.ca.

Subsequent screening dates for Doc Soup 2008-09 are November 19, December 10, January 14, February 11, March 11 and April 15. For further information and programming updates, please visit the Hot Docs website at http://www.hotdocs.ca For information of the Vancouver and Calgary Doc Soup series, please visit http://www.docsoup.ca.

City TV is the presenting partner of the Doc Soup series. Doc Soup Toronto is presented with generous support from Rogers, CBC Newsworld, and the Toronto Star.