When people discuss the documentary work of Janis Cole and Holly Dale, a number of adjectives will inevitably appear: “caring,” “generous,” and “empathetic” among them. The filmmakers’ commitment and intention of sharing space with their subjects resulted in what the critic Jon Davies once described as “profoundly ethical and anti-moralistic” filmmaking. This approach is clearly evident in P4W: Prison for Women (1981), Hookers on Davie (1984), and Calling the Shots (1988), three essential films from the duo that received retrospective screenings at this year’s Hot Docs as part of the festival’s REDUX program, which aims to spotlight Canadian documentary filmmakers whose work has been relegated to the outskirts of the accepted national canon.
The festival’s tribute to Cole and Dale was all the more welcome given that their work has at times been left out of discussions of the Toronto New Wave of the ’80s, even as that decade saw them achieve significant success: they were nominated three times for Best Theatrical Documentary at the Genie Awards (now the Canadian Screen Awards) and took home the trophy for P4W: Prison for at the 1982 ceremony. The digital restorations that were shown at Hot Docs are part of a wider project, funded by Telefilm Canada and working in collaboration with Canadian film festivals, to bring seminal works of Canadian cinema up to current industry standards to allow for a new run of theatrical screenings and streaming opportunities.