Hot Docs 2009 Review: Prom Night In Mississippi, Broke, Action Boys

Title: Prom Night In Mississippi
Director: Paul Saltzman

One of the films at Hot Docs with most pre-festival buzz is Paul Saltzman’s Prom Night In Mississippi (pictured top left). It’s not entirely because of its subject matter, which is undoubtedly gripping: The local high school in Charleston, Mississippi, holds two proms. One is for white students; the other is for black students.

A title card at the beginning of the film reminds us that the Supreme Court ruled that segregation was illegal in 1954. But the school itself wasn’t integrated until 1970, the next slide shows.

In 1997, a local benefactor offers to foot the bill for the entire shindig – if the students come together. He makes the same offer in 2008 and this time, the student body accepts.

That benefactor? Morgan Freeman, the reason for all that advance buzz.  He’s wondered for a long time how the school board got away with it, but as the administration tells him, it’s the parents that pay for prom.

The film begins with students talking directly to the camera. Some are recording themselves – one is overheard phoning a girlfriend to giggle, “how do you turn it off?” – while others are speaking to the filmmakers.

They’re very at ease with the crew, who stick around for the entire planning process. From theme meetings to picking out outfits, the cameras captured it all. Their bond is apparent when a senior yells “Paul! Paul!” from his truck and the camera comes bounding over to see what could be so important.

The students and teachers are for the most part thrilled about organizing the first non-segregated prom their town has ever seen. But that doesn’t mean everyone is supportive.

Title: Broke
Director: Rosie Dransfeld

Before the festival even started, programmers had scheduled additional screenings of this slice-of-life film from Edmonton because of high ticket sales.

David Woolfson has been running a pawn shop on a desolate downtown corner for 15 years, despite his wife’s objections. She says he makes money from the poor, but that’s not how he describes his job.

“Pawning is people bringing in goods to borrow money on…the rate is very high,” he smiles.

His shop is crammed with goods people never came back for: tea seats, televisions, guitars and countless pairs of Rollerblades. One woman leaves with duffel bags full of her own possessions, one of the few who came to reclaim her sewing machine and jewellery.

Director Rosie Dransfeld captures Woolfson’s rapport with the people who depend on his shop for their next meal or their next drink.

“I like people. I like insulting them,” he grins to the camera. But we knew that. He’s already joked to one regular, “You black people have a hell of a time with the police.” The man grins right back.

Woolfson is especially close with ex-con Chris Hoard (pictured below). Hoard started helping out at the shop because he noticed Woolfson was too frail to do a lot of the heavy lifting, but Chris isn’t paid for his work.

The relationship between the elderly South African Jew and young Native man continues, until one day, Woolfson is late for work.

Title: Action Boys
Director: Jung Byung-Gil

Director and star of his own movie. It’s the dream Jung Byung-Gil has been chasing since film school – except Jung’s education was unlike any other.

Jung is the graduate of a six-month course at one of Korea’s stunt schools. The program promises to turn out stunt doubles and action heroes, but not all of the young men make it in the industry.

In fact, very few even make it through to graduation. When the results of the grueling training see one young man spitting out his own tooth in a sink after the student director yells cut, it’s not hard to see why.

Still, the glamour of performing stunts – without the aid of green screens or anything beyond the most basic protection – is enough of a lure for Jung and his friends.

Many years after the session is over, Jung reconnects with his classmates to find out what made them want to become the next Stephen Chow – and what they’re doing now.

Jung’s own winding path took him through art school and a stint in the army before he ended up at the Seoul Action School at the age of 25. One classmate is now an aerobics instructor, another is appearing in Power Rangers: The Musical. (Yes, there’s a Power Rangers: The Musical.) Some still haven’t found their way, but it doesn’t matter to the appreciative crowd: The class reunites for a performance at an all-girls high school, and stays afterward to sign autographs.

Note: At 118 minutes, this film is one of the longest in the bunch.

Hot Docs 2009 runs from April 30 – May 10. For more information or to purchase tickets visit www.hotdocs.ca

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