Hot doc! Toronto festival serves up subjects to relish

Fact is not only stranger than fiction, it often makes for a far better yarn, as the record number of fans and delegates who flocked to the annual Toronto Hot Docs festival will attest.

Now in its 12th year, Toronto's Hot Docs - which closed on May 1 - is among the world's top two festivals of its kind, along with Amsterdam's prestigious documentary film and video fest. Considered a must-see event in international film circles, it's the festival favoured by the serious cultural consumers who prefer gritty story-telling to the pomp and bull of Toronto's more illustrious, celebrity-studded International Film Festival.

Despite taking a hit through the Sars scare in 2003, Hot Docs weathered on last year, featuring at least two documentaries that went on to wide distribution and acclaim throughout North America. Super Size Me - which documented filmmaker Morgan Spurlock as he ate nothing but McDonald's food for a month to counter the company's claim that its food is nutritious - became a modest commercial hit, although he says he nearly died of liver failure to make it. Jehane Noujaim's Control Room, a behind-the-scenes look at the Al-Jazeera network, also attracted international attention.

This year, the festival boasted a record attendance of 41,000 and double the number of sold-out screenings, where lines of disappointed fans clogged the streets for hours for some features - a turnout no doubt envied by other festivals running concurrently such as Inside Out (The Gay and Lesbian Film Fest) and the Jewish Film Festival. With forums by day and parties by night, about 1,700 industry delegates and 300 accredited media wheeled, dealed and celebrated brave, new films from around the world.

Woody Allen once observed there's more drama in a baseball game than in any play on Broadway, a statement played out by the opening night selection, Murderball, by Henry Alex Rubin and former SPIN magazine editor, Dana Adam Shapiro. The film about quad rugby - a game played by wheelchair-bound quadriplegics with much the same aggression as the able-bodied - won a prize at the Sundance Festival earlier and follows the well-trodden success track of past sports features. Basketball movie Hardwood by Canadian filmmaker Hugh Davies, which featured at last year's Hot Docs, was nominated for an Oscar.

Marshall Curry's Street Fight, which made its world premiere at Hot Docs, was the darling of viewers, winning the audience award. Curry's directorial debut, which was also named best international documentary by the festival jury, is a gripping David and Goliath tale of the 2002 mayoral race in Newark, New Jersey.

Subjects from Asian countries made several appearances, including No More Tears Sister: An Anatomy of Hope and Betrayal by Helene Klowdawsky, which also made its world premiere. A tribute to Sri Lankan human rights activist and doctor Rajani Thiranagama, the film also brings to light the chaos of the country's 20-year civil war. A Decent Factory, by Finland's Thomas Balmes, follows two ethics consultants hired by Nokia to a supplier's Shenzhen factory, documenting conditions that are an accepted fact of life in the region. It's uncharacteristically light-hearted and not preachy - the only disturbing scenes are of naked Nokia executives at a retreat.