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See the Best Docs on the Big Screen at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema

Victor Stiff

Victor Stiff is a Toronto-based entertainment journalist and film critic. He is the News Editor and Senior Critic at ThatShelf.com and the host of Dope Black Movies. Victor has contributed to The Canadian Academy, POV Magazine, Global News, The Playlist, Screen Rant, In the Seats, and Sordid Cinema. Victor received the TFCA’s 2019 Emerging Critic award, and he’s currently a programmer for the Rendezvous With Madness Festival.

An archival image of a pair of hands touching an early robot. The machine has a pair of eyes.

Valerie Veatch on Ghost in the Machine and Doing the Cringe

by Victor Stiff
May 1, 2026
Hot Docs/Interviews

An interview with Ghost in the Machine director Valerie Veatch on diving into the world of artificial intelligence in her documentary and exploring collective responses to big tech.

Keep Reading
Starseed Arcturus Ra meditates in a desert. He is a bald Brown man and is wearing a blue robe with yellow markings. The terrain surrounding him is red sand and rock.

Gimme Truth Review: The Truth Is Out There — Like, Really Out There

by Victor Stiff
April 29, 2026
Hot Docs/Reviews

Gimme Truth explores the traumas and beliefs that lead people to become conspiracists--while letting the audiences make up their own minds.

Keep Reading
A woman stands surrounded by images of dating app profiles of various men. She looks overwhelmed.

Love Apptually Review: The Dating Game 2.0

by Victor Stiff
April 25, 2026
Hot Docs/Reviews

Love Apptually explores the ways in which dating apps exploit users' desire for connection and hook them into cycles of despair for profit.

Keep Reading
A cell phone records members of the Minnesota Freedom Fighters during a training exercise.

#WhileBlack Review: The High Costs of Going Viral

by Victor Stiff
April 25, 2026
Hot Docs/Reviews

In #WhileBlack, Darnella Frazier and Diamond Reynolds, who captured the killings of George Floyd and Philando Castile, tell about the emotional toll behind viral videos that shaped contemporary history.

Keep Reading

TIFF 2021: Hold Your Fire Review

by Victor Stiff
September 13, 2021
Reviews/TIFF

Stefan Forbes’ investigative documentary Hold Your Fire recounts the events of the two-day hostage siege and asks questions about racial bias, hostage negotiations, and restorative justice.

Keep Reading

The Forbidden Reel: Passion Over Politics

by Victor Stiff
May 31, 2020
Features/Hot Docs

-Ariel Nasr’s NFB film The Forbidden Reel shares rare excerpts from classic Afghan cinema and images of life pre-Taliban.

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Prime Minster Brian Mulroney appears in a fantastical image. He is pictured from the waist up wearing a flamboyant Liberace-style coat. There is a dazzling background behind him with campaign signs. He looks pale and a bit like a vampire.

CURRENT ISSUE

Issue 126: Fall/Winter 2026

Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is Matthew Rankin's irreverent docufantasia about Canada's 18th PM.

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It's a date! 💘 Ahead of its premiere at @viffest, It's a date! 💘

Ahead of its premiere at @viffest, get you first look at Joella Cabalu's @onf_nfb doc #FirstComesLove.

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🔗 Link in bio

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A must-see music doc gets an upgrade. 🎵 Larry Wei A must-see music doc gets an upgrade. 🎵

Larry Weinstein walks us through the magic of #SeptemberSongs as it gets a restoration 30 years later. 

📽 @hotdocs_ Sept 25

🔗 link in bio

#music #kurtweill #movies #film
How does #Rush carry on without Neil Peart? 🥁 Sam How does #Rush carry on without Neil Peart? 🥁

Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyn tell us about honouring the late drummer in NEIL PEART: NO ONE'S DISCOPLE as the band looks for someone to keep the beat.

📖 Issue 126 - on stands now!

🔗 link in bio

📽 No One's Disciple is now streaming on Gem

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🚨 A documentary opening in Toronto for a full week 🚨 A documentary opening in Toronto for a full week? And it's not a music doc?

John Wilson’s THE HISTORY OF CONCRETE makes construction season just a little sweeter. 👷‍♂️

📽 open in theatres Sept. 25 incl @cineplexmovies Varsity

🔗 Review in bio. 

#TheHistoryOfConcrete #JohnWilson #movies #concrete #moviereview
The @windsorfilmfest announced its full lineup! The @windsorfilmfest announced its full lineup! 

📽  232 features

🏆 4 docs in competition

🍿 11 days of movies

🔗 link in bio for full lineup!

And stay tuned for recommendations from this year's fest. 

#wiff #basbook #ladiesandgentlemenbrianmulroney #NekaiWalks #runterryrun
From music docs to Musk, our report in @tiff_net D From music docs to Musk, our report in @tiff_net Docs is in!

Highlights from this year's festival include (but not limited to!) Bleeding Hearts, Musk, Union Town, Mulroney, and Gail in a strong year for both Canadian and U.S. documentary. 

🔗 link in bio

#tiff26 #tiffdocs #tiff #documentary #moviereview
There's no crying in the arena! 🐎 #Cheyenne direc There's no crying in the arena! 🐎

#Cheyenne director Taimi Arvidson and riders Allysa Spierings and Emily Collits tell us about bucking bronc and the importance of getting back in the saddle. 

🔗 Full interview at POVmagazine.com

#tiff26 #bronco #horseriding #movies
Producer Mark Selby accepts the People's Choice Do Producer Mark Selby accepts the People's Choice Documentary Award for DARLENE LOVE: I KNOW WHERE I'VE BEEN, directed by Betty Avrich. (Back to back wins!)

#tiff26 #documentary #tiff #darlenelove #movies
We have lots more reviews to inspire some last day We have lots more reviews to inspire some last day rush line choices! #tiff26

🔗 povmagazine.com (Link in bio)

Stay tuned for some more interviews and our TIFF Docs report.

#moviereviews #Lisa #Everest #tiff
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Two figures sit on a rooftop, facing each other, in conversation. It is a dark night and the figure on the left is completely obscured by shadow. On the right is an Israeli man.

NAZA Review: Or, How to Score Bonus Points During a Genocide

October 1, 2026
Nannika, representing the alhukwala (medicine person), stands during the sputc ceremony in Bella Coola Valley. The ceremony marks a return to ancestral practice after the collapse of the ooligan run.

The Documentary Side of VIFF 2026: Some Highlights

September 30, 2026
The image shows a large wall of surveillance monitors that capture various aspects of urban life. In the foreground of the picture is the back of a man operating a control panel while facing the wall of monitors. He is wearing a black-sleeved shirt and his hand is manoeuvring a joystick to control the gaze of the monitors.

The Sandbox Trailer: What Happens When You Remove Humans from a Global Crisis?

September 30, 2026
Two women--one Filipina, one white--stand up and lean over a table to share a kiss.

First Comes Love: Nakabingwit Trailer Highlights a Rare Documentary Rom-Com

September 27, 2026
Singer Nick Cave performs in close-up facing the camera. His hands are open-palm forward towards the lens. He has long brown hair and appears in a warehouse.

Larry Weinstein’s September Songs Plays as Fresh as Ever

September 26, 2026

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Prime Minster Brian Mulroney appears in a fantastical image. He is pictured from the waist up wearing a flamboyant Liberace-style coat. There is a dazzling background behind him with campaign signs. He looks pale and a bit like a vampire.

CURRENT ISSUE

Issue 126: Fall/Winter 2026

Ladies and Gentlemen, Brian Mulroney is Matthew Rankin's irreverent docufantasia about Canada's 18th PM.

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