DOXA 2017: All human life is here

After kicking down doors and setting fires all over the place, the troublemaking 2017 edition of the DOXA Documentary Film Festival concludes with its second screening of Julian Rosefeldt’s Manifesto at the Vancity Theatre on Sunday (May 14). Here are a few late picks to catch between then and now.

AMBULANCE

(Norway) Twenty-three-year-old documentarian Mohamed Jabaly embeds himself with an ambulance crew, not entirely with their blessing, immediately after witnessing his neighbour’s house reduced to a pile of rubble during Israel’s assault on Gaza in 2014. By the end of our 80-minute immersion in this lopsided “war”, the body count includes children and some of the emergency workers encountered by Jabaly—although not the seemingly charmed driver Abu, who goes back to work with a chunk of shrapnel in his head after a particularly sadistic ambush. Among the other details we pick up: Israeli forces call residents to warn of incoming missiles, which might arrive a minute or two later, or never at all. The effort seems more perverse than humanitarian, while cease-fires are apparently observed by one side only. Utterly heartbreaking. Vancity Theatre, May 13 (5 p.m.) > ADRIAN MACK

BRASILIA: LIFE AFTER DESIGN

(Canada/u.k.) In its own way probably the saddest movie at DOXA, Brasilia plays like a travelogue made by an alien suffering a deep bout of melancholia. Vancouver filmmaker Bart Simpson lets his cameras do the talking in this portrait of the great modernist

citadel built by deluded technocrats in the middle of a desert. Behold the seat of Brazil’s government, designed as a utopian vision of rationalism in the ’50s, now a blanched and faded hellhole where the human spirit goes to die, or to starve on the outskirts in any one of the city’s crumbling satellite boroughs. Speaking of dead spirits, the film gradually rounds on what appears to be the city’s chief purpose, which is to generate endless hordes of civil servants, lawyers, and—worst of all—rollerbladers. Then again, what else are you going to do on those vast, apocalypseready concrete plazas? Gawd, what a ridiculous species we are. Vancity Theatre, May 14 (4:45 p.m.) > AM

ISLAND EARTH (USA) Agribusiness takes a well-deserved hit in Cyrus Sutton’s doc, cannily focused on the Hawaiian Islands, where ludicrously, 90 percent of the food is shipped in while prodigiously fertile land, which filled everyone’s belly for millennia, is blighted by monoculture or the ongoing use of restricted pesticides. (The no-shit-sherlock result: an entire village is diagnosed with cancer.) A short history of GMOS reveals what we already know, or should: science and capitalism need to be separated, pronto, and then one half of that equation euthanized. The solution is permaculture and massively scaleddown economies, in this case embodied by a bright and conscientious pro surfer and father of three who runs for mayor of Kauai against an incumbent fully in the pocket of the global food corps. How do you think that turns out? Vancity Theatre, May 12 (7 p.m.) > AM

MERMAIDS (Canada) The simple act of putting on a fishtail turns out to be a transformative, liberating, and—in some cases—therapeutic act for numerous women, as this soothing documentary reveals. Toronto filmmaker Ali Weinstein employs a light touch in delving into the lives of five women who pursue being mermaids as a hobby or career. These gals—ranging from a spirited Harlem spitfire to a transitioning transgender woman—relate their discoveries of unexpected empowerment, community, joy, emotional healing, and the ability to overcome trauma, abuse, loss, or discrimination within the freedom of the watery depths. Beautiful to watch, even as the content sometimes thins out in this otherwise gentle crowdpleaser of a film. Vancity, May 13 (9:15 p.m.) > CRAIG TAKEUCHI

THE UNTOLD TALES OF ARMISTEAD MAUPIN (USA) Bright and breezy like his writing, this documentary is as much about Armistead Maupin as it is about the LGBT community of his dearly beloved San Francisco. He and other interviewees reveal what went on behind the scenes in the development of what would become his Tales of the City novel series, from his newspaper-column beginnings to the groundbreaking, controversial TV series that dared to show—gasp!—men kissing. Filmmaker Jennifer M. Kroot illustrates how this champion of the marginalized connected to readers through his humanist approach to portraying small people, gay, lesbian, transgender, and other minority characters—but how that also made him a prime target of right-wingers. Despite Maupin facing resistance from politicians and struggling to overcome his own internalized prejudices, and enduring the darkest times of the AIDS crisis, a colourful cast of celebrities— comedians Selene Luna and Margaret Cho; authors Neil Gaiman and Amy Tan; actors Laura Linney, Ian Mckellan, and Olympia Dukakis; and more—rounds out the chorus in singing what proves to be a celebratory love song, not just about sex and romance but about humanity. Vancity Theatre, May 12 (9 p.m.) > CT

The DOXA Documentary Film Festival (www.doxafestival.ca/ ) continues until Sunday (May 14).