POV Magazine Fall/Winter 2024 (Issue 122)

If it’s controversial to call a series on an American streamer the Canadian documentary event of the year, I’ll brace myself for the pitchforks. This issue marks the first time that POV has put a doc series on the cover. That doc, of course, is No Dress Rehearsal, director Mike Downie’s terrific portrait of The Tragically Hip, the band fronted by his late brother, Gord. Readers should appreciate its take on the Hip’s enduring contribution to Canadian culture in the series, which streams on Prime Video after its TIFF debut. But they’ll also find a smart consideration of what it means for musicians to stay true to themselves as artists, particularly when creating in the shadow of that behemoth to the south. Even a cynical publisher loves a good music…

The documentary form has been growing in popularity and artistic reach over the past few years. With more and more streamers testing the limits of television drama, it was inevitable that more interesting docs would be commissioned. POV’s Pat Mullen tackles this issue’s cover story in a four-part series on The Tragically Hip, which lead us to ask some of our favourite writers to explore the music genre as seen through documentaries. What does hip hop mean to its large community of supporters? Courtney Small takes us through a cultural expression that is now celebrating 50 years of changing lives musically. Gesilayefa Azorbo delves into the amazing Beyoncé, whose “visual albums” have had a huge impact exploring Blackness through country music, African traditions, and the LGBTQ body politic. And Jason…

WHILE MANY DOC MEMBERS have been suffering during this summer’s intense heat waves on production shoots, sweating through the final moments before picture lock in preparation for the fall festival circuit, or anxiously awaiting their results from Telefilm and the Canada Media Fund’s (CMF) POV Program, the streaming giants have been busy filing court appeals so they can delay the inevitable: shelling out for Canadian programming. In June, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) released their long-awaited first ruling in the regulation and implementation of Bill C-11, the Online Streaming Act. And in July, my inbox began filling up with official notices of 500+ page legal challenges by multi-billion-dollar streaming giants protesting the ruling. While this was expected by the CRTC and predicted by many industry folks, considering the…

THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK LATELY about the National Film Board/Office national du film de Canada (NFB/ONF). Is it still relevant to our national culture? Should it continue to exist and, if so, why? The organization gets approximately $66 million a year, which isn’t enough to balance its books since its fiscally draining move to downtown Montreal in 2019—a decision that was perhaps decades too late. Will a new regime under the guidance of Mme. Suzanne Guèvremont activate the organisation again? She already had to eliminate 55 jobs in April, which represented 14% of its workforce. Executive producers were fired in Edmonton and Halifax, leaving a once robust regional system diminished, with executives only in place in Vancouver, Toronto, and Montreal. The interactive studios, which have produced outstanding VR…

IT BEGINS WITH THE WANING DAYS OF SUMMER, when the glittery triumvirate of TIFF, Venice, and Telluride ushers in a six-month frenzy of film festivals, screenings, interviews, and receptions. This is Awards Season, that high-octane, high-priced joy ride that takes filmmaking teams from continent to continent, city to city, in a careertransforming quest for the holiest of grails: the Oscar. For the documentary community, the epic trek to Hollywood’s Biggest Night gathers force en route to the first plateau, in late December: the Short List, when the Academy’s Documentary Branch of some 800 members worldwide winnows down the hundreds of entries into 15 features and 15 shorts. Then, a month later, the nominations announcement anoints the final five from each category, followed by the next month-and-a-half, when the ten contenders…

FOR DECADES, Morgan Neville has been crafting noteworthy non-fiction films, often focussing on musicians’ creative processes. Beyond featuring stellar tunes and engaging interview subjects, Neville’s Oscar-winning 20 Feet from Stardom (2013) provided a unique window into the vagaries of fame, asking insightful questions that revealed deep truths while exploring the careers of back-up singers who never quite made it to be famous. This was but one project of many—other subjects include Yo Yo Ma, Keith Richards, Iggy Pop, Muddy Waters, and Bono and the Edge—that illustrate his uniquely honed gift for storytelling, crafting films that provide profound explorations beyond any pre-existing appreciation for their subjects. So, it’s no surprise that he’s once again pushing at the limits of what documentary can do, taking up his subject Pharrell Williams’ challenge to…