Doc Ellis and the LSD No-No by James Blagden

The festival listing for Hot Docs was released this week and there are many films that I'm sure I will be lining up for a many an hour to check out but one film in particular really caught my eye.

It's an animated short by James Blagden called "Doc Ellis and the LSD No-No". The premise is that during the baseball season of 1970, pitcher Doc Ellis threw a no-hitter. A great feat indeed for any pitcher but Doc did it one step better, he threw his no hitter completely blown on LSD!

Doc recounts the days events in an an audio interview which is then animated in a really cool style by James Blagden. It is freaking amazing! I love stories like this, not only is it interesting but Doc is a really personable and funny guy and his story telling is awesome.

The video is presented by No Mas, a New York Sports and Culture group, whose tag line reads "The Thrill of Victory, The Ecstacy of Defeat". You can check out more No Mas Presented works on their youtube channel

"Doc Ellis and the LSD No-No" is part of a group of docs that Hot Docs is promoting under its "Next" label. Not sure what that means but most of the films in that category seems to be pretty rad and I'm definitely going to be checking them out.