HotDocs Canadian International Documentary Festival screening three Irish Productions

Opening today HotDocs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto screening three Irish Productions. Ross McDonnell and Tim Golden’s Elián and Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane’s School Life (formerly In Loco Parentis) will both screen in Special Presentation alongside Chris Kelly’s A Cambodian Spring, screening in the International Spectrum section of the festival.

Elián
Produced by Trevor Birney who’s previous project ‘Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God’ won the IFTA for Best Documentary in 2013 and ‘Bobby Sands: 66 Days’ was IFTA nominated in 2017. Elián recounts the story of a Cuban boy named Elián González who, on Thanksgiving Day in 1999, was found floating on an inner tube in the Florida Straits. Set to the backdrop of a tense and acrimonious relationship between the US and Cuba, the documentary gives unprecedented access to key players in the saga

A Cambodian Spring
Produced by Chris Kelly and IFTA member Edwina Forkin who’s project Swansong: Story of Occi Byrne(2009) which received 6 IFTA nominations in 2009. A Cambodian Spring charts the complexities—both political and personal—of fighting for what you believe in. The doc received development support from the IFB and lottery funding from the Arts Council of Northern Ireland through Northern Ireland Screen.

School Life (formerly In Loco Parentis)
IFTA nominated this year for Best Documentary School Life (formerly In Loco Parentis) Produced by David Rane at Soilsíu the documentary melds two seemingly incongruent worlds as the ultra-modern teaching of Headfort’s brilliant staff is set against the 18th century backdrop of the school’s grand reception rooms, long corridors and secret doors.

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