''Leave Them Laughing: A Musical Comedy About Dying'' is a 2010 documentary film directed by
Academy-Award-winning director John Zaritsky. It follows the life of singer and comedian Carla Zilber-Smith, after she is diagnosed with
Lou Gehrig's Disease, as she blogs and jokes her way through a disease that carries a certain death sentence. The film premiered at
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...
on May 6, 2010, winning the Special Jury Prize for best Canadian Documentary. It was nominated for Best Documentary at the
31st Genie Awards
The 31st Genie Awards ceremony was held on March 10, 2011 to honour films released in 2010. .
Reception
The film has received a mainly positive reception. At the 2010
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June ...
, the film won the
Hot Docs Award for Best Canadian Feature Documentary The Hot Docs Award for Best Canadian Feature Documentary is an annual Canadian film award, presented by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to the film selected by jury members as the year's best Canadian feature film in the fe ...
Special Jury Prize. It also won the People's Choice Award for Best Canadian Documentary at the
Vancouver International Film Festival, and the Directors' Choice Award at the 2011
Sedona International Film Festival
The Sedona International Film Festival (SIFF) is an annual, eight-day film festival in Sedona, Arizona. The festival was founded in 1994.
The Sedona Film Festival screens feature films, documentary films, short films, animated films, and student ...
.
It also won the People's Choice Award at the Canadian-American Film Grand Prix, the Audience Choice award for best Documentary at the Mill Valley Film Festival, Best of Festival at Calgary's Picture This...International Film Festival, Best Documentary at the 2011 Vancouver Women in Film Festival, and Best on the Edge in New Zealand's 2011 "Documentary Edge Film Festival".
See also
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John Zaritsky
John Zaritsky (13 July 1943 – 30 March 2022) was a Canadian documentarian/filmmaker. His work has been broadcast in 35 countries and screened at more than 40 film festivals around the world; in 1983, his film ''Just Another Missing Kid'' w ...
References
External links
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2010 films
English-language Canadian films
2010 documentary films
American documentary films
Canadian documentary films
Documentary films about comedy and comedians
Documentary films about people with motor neuron disease
Films directed by John Zaritsky
2010s American films
2010s Canadian films
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