Scheduled to screen at the HotDocs Film Festival, running April 25 to May 5, is Michelle Latimer’s Alias.

The synopsis reads:

Street rap thrives in the Toronto neighborhoods of Regent Park, Don Mills, and Jane and Finch where the music and lyrics are the voice of power and protest of marginalized communities growing up in urban poverty. Michelle Latimer makes her feature doc debut with a powerfully cinematic, observational doc that captures the realities of five Toronto rappers trying to escape the hustle of drugs and danger through their music. Featuring rap artists and producers Alkatraz, Trench, Alias, Knia and Keon, the film digs deeper than the usual portrait of the rap world as glamour, guns and swagger. Intimate scenes reveal a layered, complex portrait of their lives and dreams of achievement, their families, violence and conflicts with the cops to show what it takes to survive on the hyper-masculine streets of the hustle in the T.Dot.

The film is produced by Streel Films, an independent production company based in Toronto, Canada. Founded by Michelle Latimer in 2008, the company is focused on the development and production of innovative, socially conscious, character-driven films. And Alias is one of them, which promises to be raw and uncompromising, going beyond typical music video images of girls, guns, and gold.

Those attending HotDocs can pick up tickets to Alias HERE.

We have a screener of the film, which one of us will watch this week, and write about after. 

Watch a trailer below: