Story of aging metal rockers to open Hot Docs festival

Astory of aging Canadian metal rockers on a tour of Europe is set to blast open this year's Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Anvil! The Story of Anvil will open the 15th edition of North America's largest documentary festival, which is screening a total of 173 films between April 17 to the 27th.

The lineup, announced Tuesday, includes the world premiere of Air India 182 by director Sturla Gunnarsson, described as a "first-person account of the 1985 Air India conspiracy and its tragic aftermath."

"This was a Canadian tragedy," said Gunnarsson in a statement released Tuesday. "I hope this film goes some way toward distilling a very complex story and giving a voice to the Air India families, who are among the most graceful and dignified people I've ever met."

Gunnarsson's documentary, set to air on CBC this summer, includes testimonies from thefamilies of those who died, key CSIS and RCMP investigators and those involved in planning the bombing.

Other special presentations includes All Together Now, the world premiere of the behind-the-scenes story of Cirque du Soleil's latest show, Love, inspired by the music of the Beatles.

Canadian films include Dilip Mehta's The Forgotten Women, about the millions of widows in India who live in poverty and isolation, and Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma, which follows the former president of Doctors Without Borders back to Somalia and Rwanda.

As well, audiences will be treated to Citizen Havel, an "absorbing and unprecedented study" following playwright Vaclav Havel from 1992 through his election and term as president of the Czech Republic.

Mexico and Iran in the spotlight

The festival has also brought in Berlin Festival winner Football Undercover, a German-made film about the first official friendly match between the Iranian women's soccer team and a local Berlin team.

As well, acclaimed filmmaker Errol Morris's Standard Operating Procedure, an examination of the abuse of prisoners by U.S. forces in Iraq, will have its day at the festival.

The spotlight this year is on the countries of Mexico and Iran.

Under the "Made in Mexico" banner, The Demons of Eden takes a harsh look at the politicians and business leaders protecting a child pornography ring in Cancun while My Life Inside chronicles the murder trial of a Mexican woman who was killed in Austin, Texas.

On the whimsical side, Cyanosis tells the tale of a love-sick Iranian street artist using animated sequences while Tehran Has No More Pomegranates is director Massoud Bakhshi's loving homage to what is described as "the weird and wonderful Tehran, one of the most crowded and polluted cities in the world."