On Docs

International outrage was sparked when Boko Haram kidnapped 276 young women from their school dormitory in 2015. While the spotlight led to a push to bring them home, years later the terrorist organization continues using this as a tactic. In Captive, journalist Mellissa Fung explores the lives of three young women who have escaped captors, and the challenges they face on the road to recovery.

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We're wrapping up this season of On Docs with something fun. Today, we're looking at "The Heart of Batman" - a free-to-stream YouTube documentary which explores the creation of "Batman: The Animated Series." It features the series' cast, crew, producers, and animators, and delves into the show's impact. Colin and Matt discuss why Batman still packs a punch, and how a show marketed toward a younger audience allowed the Dark Knight to become an animation icon.

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"I want people to see how brilliant our elders are," says Sarain Fox, director of "Inendi," a CBC short doc. "Whether you're Indigenous or not, your elders have a story. And whether you have an iPhone or old mini DV video camera, you can be capturing these stories and be holding on to them for generations to come." Fox joins host Colin Ellis to talk about her auntie Mary Bell - whose story she helped capture.

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Filmmaker Hao Wu joins host Colin Ellis to discuss his latest film "76 Days," which dives into Wuhan's pandemic response - and the horrors medical workers were exposed to. We talk about how his film crews got access to the hospitals, why they stopped working with him, and how the story came together in the edit.

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Chantal Braganza, a former On Docs producer and a senior editor at Chatelaine, joins host Colin Ellis to discuss the Netflix documentary "My Octopus Teacher." They explore the unusual bond between filmmaker Craig Foster and an octopus he discovers in a kelp forest off the coast of South Africa.

Credit for My Octopus Teacher clips: Netflix/youtube.com

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The story of Cornwall's ever-growing feline population was irresistible to filmmaker and cat-lover Aaron Hancox. But, he learned, it's also very dire. In "Running Wild: The Cats of Cornwall," Hancox documents the work of cat rescuers Mary Jane Proulx and Melissa Alepins as they wade through the town's ecological catastrophe. Hancox joins host Colin Ellis to discuss what happens next.

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The first video game was created in 1958 as a physics experiment. Now, video games are a multi-billion-dollar industry - a story covered in Netflix's "High Score." Gaming historian Kishonna Gray joins guest host Matthew O'Mara to discuss the little-known figures who pushed gaming forward, and why they've remained anonymous for so long.

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In "There's No Place Like This Place, Anyplace," Lulu Wei tells the story of Honest Ed's - a store that once dominated the intersection of Bathurst and Bloor in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood. What happened when the store and its surrounding area were sold off to a condo developer? Wei joins host Colin Ellis to discuss affordable housing, community consultation, and how to protect neighbourhoods.

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In Picture My Face: The Story of Teenage Head, Douglas Arrowsmith chronicles one of Ontario's most notorious punk bands. While it's infamous for a riot at Ontario Place, Arrowsmith focuses on a more personal tragedy. He joins host Colin Ellis to discuss the death of Teenage Head's lead singer - and the mental health fallout for his bandmates.

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Toppled statues, dismantled barricades, and burning buildings. The news cycle is forcing many non-Indigenous Canadians to grapple with the country's colonial history. Michelle Latimer joins host Colin Ellis to discuss reframing the commonly accepted story of Indigenous people in North America, which is the topic of her documentary, Inconvenient Indian.

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