Forget the daylight savings or the thawing of Canada’s vertigo-inspiring snowbanks, the first true sign of spring is here! Articles are trickling in and photo research is under way, which means that POV’s Spring issue approaches quickly.
Our next print issue, #123, will be out in time to take the pulse of the documentary circuit, while exploring new works playing in theatres and on streaming. Besides some first looks at new docs hitting the spring festivals and conversations with some of the directors and producers behind those stories, our upcoming issue spotlights some key figures in the Canadian field, along with notable trends that our writers are seeing across the field. Subscribe today to be among the first to read it!
Highlights in this issue include:
-Documenting Palestine: How have stories from the West Bank emerged before and after October 7? How do Palestinian and Israeli perspectives shape portraits of a present crisis? Docs like No Other Land, Co-existence, My Ass!, and Lyd help illuminate the context and add to the conversation.
-If These Walls Could Talk: Haunted house movies are all the rage in Hollywood, but how do documentaries capture stories that “haunt” our environments? Films like This House (Cette maison), Okurimono, and The Nest consider histories embedded within our homes.
-The Incidental Documentarian: Body cameras and surveillance make life in 2025 a daily exercise in the Big Brother phenomenon, yet the presence of 24/7 surveillance affords unprecedented access to images of daily life. Docs like Incident, The Perfect Neighbor, and 2000 Meters to Andriivka offer new spins on found footage.
–POV celebrates two women who have made significant contributions to the documentary field: Ric Esther Bienstock (Tales from the Organ Trade), who was awarded a Silver Medal from the News and Documentary Emmys last fall, and Justine Pimlott, who recently capped off a longtime tenure as producer at the National Film Board of Canada with the multi-award-winning Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story. Both documentary veterans tell stories from the field.
-If documentaries are a creative reflection of reality, what implications are there for non-fiction storytelling as virtual reality and artificial intelligence offer new landscapes and tools to tell stories? Films like We Met in Virtual Reality, Grand Theft Hamlet, The Remarkable Life of Ibelin, and The Reality of Hope are some of the documentaries emerging from the digital world.
-Outgoing DOC executive director Sarah Spring offers her perspectives on documentary or policy
-New docs on the circuit (more details as films are announced!)
-And more!
