The 2013 Toronto Jazz Festival descends on the city this Friday with a huge “free for all” event. That means all of Friday’s programming at every Jazz Festival venue is, yes, completely free of charge. There will be concerts from local favourites Molly Johnson and Mary Margaret O’Hara, plus a show by Smokey Robinson and Martha Reeves, who will be launching the fest from its epicentre, Nathan Phillips Square.

Here’s a rundown of some of the shows worth checking out on Friday—and during the rest of the festival, when you’ll actually have to pay.

Folks who are planning on having a swim in the pool at Scadding Court Community Centre over the next few days may find themselves a little disappointed. Those who want to go fishing, however, will probably be ecstatic.

For the rest of the week, the Community Centre will be holding its annual Gone Fishin’ event, meaning its indoor pool will be an indoor fish pond. The pool has been drained, dechlorinated, and refilled with 2,000 rainbow trout, to be caught by local children and families.

Get funky with Finding the Funk. Image courtesy of Hot Docs.

It ain’t over until it’s over, and there is still one full weekend of Hot Doc’ing left! First up, get grooving and body-moving with Finding the Funk (, 1:30 p.m. Bloor Hot Docs Cinema), a history of the musical genre of funk. Interviewing James Brown, George Clinton, and Sly, the doc looks back at the good old days to see how the genre influenced contemporary tunes.

Today is the last day to see the excellent Anita (4 p.m. Isabel Bader Theatre). Oscar-winning director Freida Mock looks at Anita Hill’s story: the woman who stood up before Clarence Thomas was sworn into the U.S. Supreme court as he had sexually harassed her. In a time when feminism is thought of as a dirty word, this is a powerful testament to recalling why the movement remains important.

Also playing for the last time today is Michelle Latier’s Alias (, 8:45 p.m. Scotiabank Theatre). We’ve already suggested checking it out, but we’ll do it again! The doc is a nuanced and beautiful portrait of not only her subjects (rappers from Regent Park), but also this city.

Canadian Sepctrum is unique among the 11 programmes on this year’s Hot Docs schedule, because it features only films by Canadian documentarians, be they veterans or first-timers. Hot Docs’ mandate is to promote our national film culture, so the docs that fall under this heading are particularly important components of the festival.

Click any of the images below for more information about a particular Canadian Spectrum film. Or, check out our nifty Hot Docs 2013 hub for a list of all our reviews to date.

TALES FROM THE ORGAN TRADE DIRECTED BY RIC ESTHER BIENSTOCK

NCR: NOT CRIMINALLY RESPONSIBLE DIRECTED BY JOHN KASTNER

THE GHOSTS IN OUR MACHINE DIRECTED BY LIZ MARSHALL

CHI DIRECTED BY ANNE WHEELER

BUYING SEX DIRECTED BY TERESA MACINNES AND KENT NASON

ALIAS DIRECTED BY MICHELLE LATIMER

15 REASONS TO LIVE DIRECTED BY ALAN ZWEIG

Zen as medicine in Free the Mind. Image courtesy of Hot Docs.

Hot Docs day nine and we’re feeling fine! Here’s what to see to keep those nice vibes going.

Kick things off by letting it all go with Free the Mind (, 6 p.m., ROM Theatre), a doc about how yoga can help vets and kids with PTSD. It’s both a portrait of those suffering from the syndrome and a look into the science of studying the human brain.

Gangster of Love (, 9 p.m., Scotiabank Theatre) looks at the (hetero) dating game in Croatia and, in the process, proves man-children aren’t only a North American problem. Following matchmaker Nedo as he tries to find a life partner for Maya, the doc falls into some romantic comedy conventions, but is a spirited take on the subject.

Not to harsh the nice buzz we have going, but Blood Brother (, 9:30 p.m., Isabel Bader Theatre) might not be the best way to end the day. Though it won the Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at Sundance this year, the film is a classic white-guy-doing-good-in-[insert impoverished nation] tale. Here, two young Americans travel to India and find themselves, but also ignore the real stories of the people in front of them.

Rock and roll gets brotherly in Mistaken for Strangers. Image courtesy of Hot Docs.

On the eighth day of Hot Docs, the film gods gave to thee…three docs that got our reviewers’ thumbs up.

Straight from Sundance, The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear (, 6 p.m., Scotiabank Theatre) looks at the lives of young Georgians (that’s Georgia the country, not the state) in an innovative way. Director Tinatin Gurchiani put out a casting call for citizens between the ages of 15 and 25 who felt their lives merited being in a doc. Mixing interviews with reenactments, the result is a compelling look at life in one corner of Eastern Europe.

A Dream in the Making (, 9:45 p.m., TIFF Bell Lightbox) is set in one of the most impoverished neighbourhoods in Warsaw, Poland. The film’s young protagonist idolizes Bruce Lee and dreams of becoming a stunt man. Though the story is slight, Bartosz M. Kowalski shoots beautifully and refuses easy allegories and generalizations of Polish youth.

Last but not least, the Nightvision program continues to impress with Mistaken for Strangers (, 11:59 p.m., Bloor Hot Docs Cinema). A new take on the “rockumentary,” here the creative differences fall along family lines, as the frontman for The National invites his younger brother to tour with the band as a roadie.

After Tiller looks at the abortion debate. Image courtesy of Hot Docs.

A week into Hot Docs 2013—my how time flies when you’re having a doc of a good time!—and today’s offerings keep up the pace.

Torontonian Liz Marshall’s The Ghosts in our Machine (, 6:30 p.m. Bloor Hot Docs Cinema) is a complex and intricate look at animal-rights activism, through the (literal) lens of photojournalist Jo-Anne McArthur. Eschewing sensational grim imagery—though there is some of that—the doc finds hope in an aspect of human behaviour that some of us never think twice about: eating animals.

Also playing today is Buying Sex (, 6 p.m. TIFF Bell Lightbox). Focusing on a recent Ontario court ruling that legalized some aspects of prostitution, Teresa MacInnes and Kent Nason’s film looks at both sides of the debate, allowing sex workers to speak in favour and against. It’s a balanced look at a complex issue, though it lags a little near the end.

A must-see at the festival rounds off the day: Martha Shane and Lana Wilson’s After Tiller (, 9 p.m. Isabel Bader Theatre). After the assassination of Dr. George Tiller in 2009, access to third-trimester abortions in the United States became incredibly limited. The documentary follows the four remaining doctors who still do the procedure. It tells their stories, professional and private. Set largely in abortion clinics, the film seeks to pull back the curtain on this highly political medical practice, taking it, and those who work in the field, out of the abstract.

International Spectrum is the most polyglot of Hot Docs 2013′s 11 film programmes, with a slate made up of submissions from countries that include Egypt, Serbia, Brazil, Finland, Denmark, and China, to name just a few. You won’t necessarily find many familiar names or topics among these selections, but then that’s the whole idea.

Click any of the images below for more information about a particular International Spectrum film. Or, check out our nifty Hot Docs 2013 hub for a list of all our reviews to date.

12 O’CLOCK BOYS DIRECTED BY LOTFY NATHAN

LOVE STILL DIRECTED BY GUZMÁN GARCIA

THE LAST STATION DIRECTED BY CATALINA VERGARA AND CRISTIAN SOTO

FOREST OF THE DANCING SPIRITS DIRECTED BY LINDA VASTRIK

DRAGON GIRLS DIRECTED BY INIGO WESTMEIER

ANOTHER NIGHT ON EARTH DIRECTED BY DAVID MUNOZ

Getting down for the environment in Fuck for Forest. Image courtesy of Hot Docs.

On day six of Hot Docs, love—or, at least, sex—is in the air. And Gaza, too! What? Just roll with it, folks.

First up is the excellent Fuck for Forest (, 4 p.m. TIFF Bell Lighbox). Michal Marczak’s documentary embeds his camera with a Berlin-based group that makes porn and uses the profits to try and save the earth. Even during intimate moments, the film maintains an interesting observational distance from its subjects, which gives it a nature-documentary feel.

On a different note, Gaza Calling, from director Nahed Awwad, (, 6:30 p.m. ROM Theatre), examines the physical and symbolic gap between Palestinians and Israelis. Looking at the daily lives and struggles of those in the Palestinian territories, the doc captures the strife of a landless people trapped by bureaucracy.

If you’re still in the mood for love, Guzmán Garcia looks for romance at a Uruguayan dance hall in Love Still (, 9 p.m. Scotiabank). The film’s 11 vignettes, starring elderly patrons, reveal that even late-in-life matters of the heart remain beguiling, complicated, and, at times, painful.

DIRECTED BY JEFF REICHERT AND FARIHAH ZAMAN (USA, Special Presentations)

SCREENINGS:

Tuesday, April 30, 11 a.m.
Isabel Bader Theatre (93 Charles Street West)

Saturday, May 4, 4 p.m.
Scotiabank Theatre (259 Richmond Street West)

From our privileged position north of the border, perhaps no facet of American society is more puzzling than all the legislative resistance to healthcare reform. Watching the remarkable Remote Area Medical, which documents the overwhelming response to a pop-up clinic set up by the titular relief organization in rural Tennessee, that puzzlement becomes outright astonishment—as well as admiration for the group’s volunteers, and an earnest hope that American lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will someday see the light.

Founded in 1985 to provide free medical aid to underserved regions of the developing world, the vast majority of Remote Area Medical’s operations now occur within the United States, where thousands of the ailing uninsured regularly flock to the group’s temporary treatment centres. The venue in this instance is NASCAR’s Bristol Motor Speedway—a setting that underscores the irony of the richest and self-proclaimed greatest country on Earth lacking the means to provide its citizens with basic healthcare.

For all its abundant political implications, however, Remote Area Medical is foremost a portrait of compassion, putting human faces—universally dignified and unfailingly grateful for the treatment they receive—to an issue too urgent to be obscured by partisan agendas.

DIRECTED BY TINATIN GURCHIANI (Georgia, Special Presentations)

SCREENINGS:

Saturday, April 27, 1 p.m.
TIFF Bell Lightbox (350 King Street West)

Monday, April 29, 8:45 p.m.
ROM Theatre (100 Queen’s Park)

Thursday, May 2, 6 p.m.
Scotiabank Theatre (259 Richmond Street West)

In 2011, Tinatin Gurchiani put out a casting call for Georgian citizens between the ages of 15 and 25, asking specifically for people who felt their life stories were worthy of being put on film. The Machine Which Makes Everything Disappear, an award winner at Sundance, is the odd and intermittently enchanting fruit of that labour. It’s a set of interviews with the would-be stars, conducted by the director and spliced with a docudrama about hardscrabble Georgian life starring the newly deputized actors.

Gurchiani’s bifurcated structure is an interesting approach, insofar as it invites viewers to think about the staged reality of well-known neorealist films like Vittorio de Sica’s The Bicycle Thief, which make similar dramatic use of local faces and settings. The fictionalized passages yield some stunning images of the Georgian countryside, as well as nicely realized snapshots of families in crisis and prayer. The interviews, with the subjects centred against various dilapidated backgrounds, are good-natured, if occasionally morose. One only wishes that Gurchiani’s delved a little deeper into his subjects’ stories than he does in both sets of vignettes.

DIRECTED BY INIGO WESTMEIER (Germany, International Spectrum)

SCREENINGS:

Saturday, April 27, 9:15 p.m.
The Royal (608 College Street)

Monday, April 29, 10:30 a.m.
ROM Theatre (100 Queen’s Park)

Sunday, May 5, 11 a.m.
Bloor Hot Docs Cinema (506 Bloor Street West)

“You need rules in a family and laws in a country,” an instructor explains in Inigo Westmeier’s Dragon Girls. The film is an uncommonly rich look at the lives of three female pupils at the Shaolin Tagou Kung Fu school in China, which houses over 20,000 students. Following the instructor’s deliberate interweaving of family and nation, Westmeier considers how the Kung Fu institution functions simultaneously as a school, an orphanage, and a training ground, both in filial loyalty and nationalist self-discipline.

The film’s relative brevity keeps it from reaching the depth of fellow observational documentarian Frederick Wiseman’s examinations of the complex workings of large systems as disparate as ballet companies and hospitals, but you’d be hard-pressed to think of anything Westmeier has left out. The most absorbing parts of the documentary consider how the girls are encouraged to swallow their emotional responses to the harshness of their surroundings. Over and over, we hear the students recite prescriptions against crying, which often come across as the internalized dogma of an institution that trains its adherents to think of every abuse as an opportunity for character formation. This is fascinating stuff, beautifully and fluidly lensed by Westmeier, a seasoned director of photography making good on his talents in this feature debut.