Hot Docs unveil their 2023 lineup

Danish filmmaker Lil Aluna‘s film Twice Colonized will open the 30th-anniversary edition of Hot Docs in Toronto. The film focuses on Inuk lawyer Aaju Peter who is a human rights defender of the Inuk Indigenous community. Her goal is to bring both Denmark and Canada, her two colonizers to justice. The film was screened at Sundance and opened up CPH:DOX. The film was produced by Emile Hertling Péronard of Greenland-based Ánorâk Film. Along with Canadian producers Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Stacey Aglok MacDonald of Red Marrow Media and EyeSteelFilm’s Bob Moore.

Celebrating 30 years of Docs

Hot Docs will run from April 27th to May 7th. Fans will get 214 films to choose from coming from 72 different countries. This will feature 70 world and 33 international premieres. Over 100 of those films, you will be able to stream on Hot Docs at Home which will run from May 5th to the 9th. Hot Docs will continue its commitment to gender parity as 53% of its films are from women directors.

FERNTV asked Shane Smith about the festival’s journey through the pandemic to now. The artistic director of Hot Docs replied, “It been a rough couple of years. I am not going to lie. Change is happening all the time. Moving what we do to an online space. So the team has done an incredible job in pivoting and working to make sure we stay true to our mission.”

The Big Ideas Series, presented by Scotia Wealth Management, will celebrate its 10th year of sparking engaging conversations with notable guests. The series will include influential American chef and food writer Ruth Reichl and director Laura Gabbert (Food and Country); director and film subject Ella Glendining (Is There Anybody Out There?); Indigo Girls musician Emily Saliers and director Alexandria Bombach (It’s Only Life After All); Rosalie Abella —Canada’s first female Jewish Supreme Court Judge, and director Barry Avrich (Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella); and fashion revolutionary Bethann Hardison with director Frédéric Tcheng (Invisible Beauty).

The Canadian Way

Canadian Spectrum, a competitive program showcasing bold new works by Canadian directors, includes the world premieres of Cynara, the gripping story of Canada’s justice system on trial; I’m Just Here for The Riot, a look into the world’s “first smartphone riot” after the Vancouver Canucks lost the 2011 Stanley Cup final; July Talk: Love Lives Here, in which the hard-touring band books a drive-in theatre in hopes of bouncing back from the pandemic’s live music shut-downs. Silvicola explores the human impact on forests through breathtaking vistas and poignant vignettes set in Canada’s Pacific Northwest; 

On a local level, Someone Lives Here is a story of a young Toronto carpenter building life-saving shelters. The homes are for unhoused people as he faces staunch opposition from the city government; Subterranean, in which two gritty teams of hobbyists discover the longest and deepest caves in Canada; and Upstream, in which the filmmaker revisits childhood friends in Northern China’s rustbelt.

Two exciting prizes are coming to the Canadian Spectrum pot. The Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary comes with a Can. $10,000 cash prize. The funding will support the marketing and outreach activities of the winning film. The John Kastner Award offers a $5,000 cash prize. It will reward the film that “embodies masterful and audacious storytelling.”

Hot Docs Podcsast Festival

The festival is pumping up the volume on its 30th anniversary with the Hot Docs Podcast Festival Showcase. It is presented in partnership with CBC. This will include the award-winning show Radiolab from WNYC studios will present a live event from their Mixtape series. Scamfluencers with hosts Scaachi Koul and Sarah Hagi will also perform live discussing the scam fluence culture. On with Kara Swisher will feature YouTube sensation and NYT bestselling author Lily Singh.

The 2023 Outstanding Achievement Award will honour trailblazing Chinese American filmmaker, educator, and artist Christine Choy (Chai Ming Huei). Along with a retrospective program that includes Electric Shadow, a dynamic overview of films directed by Asian filmmakers in the 90s;

Hamburg-based collective A Wall is a Screen is doing something different this year with Hot Docs. It will take the festival onto the streets for A Wall is a Screen: Toronto. It is a free outdoor film event taking place on-site at Toronto’s historic Ontario Place (955 Lake Shore Blvd. West), where audiences will follow the projection team from wall to wall and thus from film to film. Only the starting point (West Commons at Ontario Place) is known in advance. The films and other locations are a surprise. All films screened are family-friendly.

This year is going to be wonderful as we celebrate 30 years at Hot Docs and FERNTV is honoured to be part of this.

Please click below for our interviews with artistic director Shane Smith and associate director Heather Haynes

www.hotdocs.ca