Hotdocs: Volunteer

The festival ends. Alex turns in the red shirt, keeps the lanyard as a souvenir. A month later, their professor asks the class to write about a time they told a true story. Alex doesn’t write about journalism. They write about the night the system crashed, the furious donor in cashmere who ended up buying the filmmaker a drink, and the glow of 300 smartphones in the dark.

During the Q&A, the exhausted Norwegian director thanks the audience for their patience. Then he points to the back of the theater, where Alex is leaning against the wall, red lanyard askew. hotdocs volunteer

Meet Alex. A third-year journalism student who is deeply skeptical of “hero narratives.” Alex signed up to volunteer for one practical reason: the free pass to 10 films. They are assigned the 6:00 AM to 2:00 PM shift at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Their role: Box Office & Venue Flow. Their uniform: a slightly-too-large red volunteer t-shirt and a lanyard with a laminated schedule that is already wrong. The festival ends