Hot Docs 2015: Searching for Charlie Mortdecai

“They said we couldn’t do it!” – Will Sloan

The local Twitter-personality Will Sloan explores in Searching for Charlie Mortdechai the cult phenomenon which is the 2015 action comedy Mortdechai. From its early theatrical release (which was unfortunately cut short), to its special one-time screening at The Royal, and its afterlife through its plethora of merchandise – Mortdechai had been with Sloan for quite some time. In this documentary Sloan explores the roots of the character (who owes a lot to Johnny English), examines his ethnicity (could he be Jewish?), and closely analyzes the film that Positif described as “It’s not that bad!” Sloan puts himself in the documentary and you get to follow him on a trip to London to explore the Mortdechai Mansion (they don’t let him in) and to Mumbai for an exclusive interview on the film for the India Times. Searching for Charlie Mortdechai is a hybrid doc that's somewhere between Martin Scorsese’s The King of Comedy and Rodney Ascher’s Room 237. Through Sloan’s adventure to peel away the magic of the cinema screen the documentary presents a light-hearted and complex examination of people’s relationship with movies.

Screenings:

- Hot Docs Cinema – Sun April 28, 3:15 PM

- Scotiabank Theatre 5 – Mon April 29, 8 PM

- Royal Cinema – Sun, May 3 3:15 PM