DOXA, Vancouver’s annual festival presented by the Documentary Media Society, brings documentaries from around the world to some of the coziest independent theatres in Vancouver for you to enjoy. While I am as excited as the next 14-year-old boy to see Fast Five (I really am), contributing to a conversation with, “I just saw this great documentary…” has somewhat more cachet and class. If you are overwhelmed by the sheer volume of great-looking films, here is a short-cut to some of my festival picks. Click for full details, including times & locations.

Raw Opium The world premiere of this heroin documentary, partly filmed in Vancouver’s DTES, looks at the international impact of the opium trade and the complexities of addressing drug trafficking and addiction. With the future of Vancouver’s own Insite threatened by the Conservative government, this is a film for anyone with an interest in our local community issues.

Detroit Wild City The rise and fall of Detroit may be a harbinger of things to come for other major cities in a post-recession era, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing in this film, which follows the new generation of artists and innovators who are revitalizing Motor City.

Louder than a Bomb Can’t think of anything cuter than Chicago teens getting ready for a slam poetry competition.

!Women Art Revolution Forty years of filming political, outspoken women in the arts went into the making of this film, accompanied by an incredible soundtrack of female artists.

Cave of Forgotten Dreams Legendary Werner Herzog finally uses 3D technology for something other than exhausting your visual cortex in this documentary the oldest preserved art in the world (32,000 years old!) in Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc in France. If you like art, history, humanity, or the eccentricities of Herzog’s often imitated but never duplicated voiceovers, don’t miss it.

DOXA Documentary Film Festival

At theatres around Vancouver

May 6- May 15, 2011

Full festival details here.