Artifact is a 2012 American documentary film directed by Jared Leto under the pseudonym of Bartholomew Cubbins, a recurring character in the Dr. Seuss universe. The film is a documentary about the making of the 30 Seconds to Mars album This Is War and the band’s battle against record label EMI. Included in Artifact are several interviews, including the one with neurophysicist Daniel Levitin, author of the popular science book This Is Your Brain On Music. The film won the BlackBerry People’s Choice Documentary Award at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival.

Everyone dreams of fame. From the nail-biting freshman auditions to the spectacular year-end performances, Fame High captures the in-class and at-home drama, competition, heartbreak, and triumph during one school year at the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, also known as Fame High.

The suspenseful chronicle of how the prodigious Polish violinist Bronislaw Huberman helped save Europe’s premiere Jewish musicians from obliteration by the Nazis during World War II. In three years, he transformed from a world renowned violinist to a humanitarian racing against time.

“It’s the story of the people who escape to the alternative reality of being a football manager, and the effect this has had on their lives. It’s also the story of how a computer game made by football fans has become a part of the world it set out to replicate.” – Miles Jacobson

“She Did That” is the first full-length documentary focusing the lens on Black women building brands and legacies. The film explores the passionate pursuits of Black women and their entrepreneurship journeys.

Everyone thinks of Santa Claus as a magical figure without flaws, but the men who keep his legend alive, real-bearded professional Santas, are nothing like the jolly ol’ Saint Nick we’ve all grown up knowing. In reality, the mall Santa in your cherished children’s photo has problems just like the rest of us. Even the jolliest of men fall victim to divorce, job loss, insecurity and even the occasional hangover. ‘I Am Santa Claus’ is a documentary that follows the lives of five real-bearded professional Santa Clauses as they anticipate and prepare the coming holiday season while showing them for who they actually are flawed, flesh and blood men who feel an overbearing responsibility to protect the integrity of the spotless, untarnished reputation of the “Red Suit.”

A simple can of ravioli propels this spectacular 30,000-kilometre, eight-country journey through all phases of food production and the far flung sources of international ingredients. A dream-like voyage with glimpses of disconcerting realities, the story begins with a single mother toiling in one of the biggest open pit mines in Brazil and ends on the shelf of a grocery store in Finland. Along the way, the workers whose calloused hands mine, raise and harvest each ingredient reveal their dreams and hopes, like the Danish pig farmer who loves his sows but longs for a girlfriend, and the Portuguese tomato picker who wants to stay healthy long enough to pay her daughters way through university. Sumptuous photography and impressive sound design make an eloquent statement about our modern, globalized world, making us aware of the hundreds of invisible people who prepare the food we eat every day. -Gisèle Gordon (HotDocs.ca)

The Culture High tears into the very fibre of the modern day marijuana debate to reveal the truth behind the arguments and motives governing both those who support and oppose the existing pot laws.

The political murder of a Moscow lawyer and the cancellation of 259 pending American adoptions of Russian orphans are seemingly disparate events found to have a deep and insidious connection. Connecting the dots from Russia’s warehousing of abandoned and special needs children to the cross-borders dealings of a billionaire investment banker to one American family’s tragedy, the film explores how Russian political corruption is linked to a single adopted child, whose accidental death becomes the declared reason behind Putin’s Russian Adoption Ban.

As Rio de Janeiro took to the world stage with preparations for the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics, a community of self-described “urban Indians” organized to fight back against their forced evictions, joining forces with other marginalized groups. A familiar narrative has emerged as these roaming corporate sporting events descend upon metropolises, causing major disruption and corruption to local democracies while displacing the most vulnerable. The resistance continues to grow from country to country, diminishing the power of these conglomerates with activism, independent media coverage and the determination of locals to hold their ground. Spending six years following their plight, Jason O’Hara embedded himself within these communities, steadfastly committed to highlighting the injustices that abound. Now that the spotlight moves on to Russia and Japan for these events, it’s increasingly necessary to witness the battles fought so they don’t end in vain

A documentary about the production of From Dusk Till Dawn (1996) and the people who made it.