If this week’s Hot Docs announcement has you excited for the kickoff of the spring festival circuit, here’s something else to look forward to: POV issue #125 is now in layout!
Subscribe today to be among the first to read our Spring/Summer 2026 issue. Our first of two print editions this year, POV #125 includes some first looks at hot new docs premiering at festivals this season, along with a trio of reports on the documentary scene that assess how different corners of the industry are responding to significant changes in funding, distribution, exhibition, and, well, all things Trump.
Here’s a preview of what’s inside our next issue:
-Get ready for an audience with the Pope herself as Susan G. Cole reports on the new documentary Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions about the iconic Rough Trade rocker who revved up the Canadian music scene with taboo-smashing songs like “High School Confidential.” The film directed by Michelle Mama, which was just announced as Hot Docs’ opening night selection, gives Pope a long overdue appraisal for captivating audiences at a time when it was a crime to be gay in many countries around the world.
-Could the best documentary of 2026 have been in the works since 1972? Our critics debated that query back during Sundance, and now Jason Gorber gets some insights about William Greaves’ final work, Once Upon a Time in Harlem, thanks to an interview with his son and co-director, David Greaves, and David’s daughter Liani, who serves as producer. The doc transports audiences back to the 1970s for a night of high conversation with luminaries from the Harlem renaissance.
-Your future may be written in the sand, but the flood of new technologies captures every second of the present. The Sandbox considers what’s at stake in a growing global migration crisis as human connection and empathy take a backseat to algorithms and militarized surveillance. Director Kenya-Jade Pinto tells us about the making of her feature directorial debut that caught lives caught in limbo—and on camera—in a crisis that shifts dynamics of mobility, access, and power around the globe.
-Readers may know filmmakers Ryan Ermacora and Jessica Johnson for their captivating experimental landscape films, but they turn their lenses to the waters off the coast of British Columbia in Concrete Turned to Sand, a striking 35mm observation of oysters as they work their magic. Writer Nirris Nagendrarajah makes his POV debut with a look at the doc.
-One iconic photograph helped shift public perception about the war in Vietnam, yet it connects multiple family histories. In the NFB documentary Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, Oscar nominee Kim Nguyen (War Witch) looks at families linked by Eddie Adams’ “Saigon Execution” photo.
-Three writers take learn how documentary filmmakers and producers adapt to a market in a time of change, while festivals, distributors, funders, and broadcasters must also navigate a changing market. Voices from documentary scenes in Canada, the USA, and Europe report on the state of affairs.
-As Donald Trump keeps his eyes on northern dominion, we consider how the North appears in contemporary documentary. Films like Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Nuisance Bear capture a land with many different borders.
-Filmmaker Gabrielle Brady and participant Poh Lin Lee co-author a story about ethical collaboration and creating new spaces for self-representation in hybrid non-fiction, including their 2018 film Island of the Hungry Ghosts and Brady’s 2024 film The Wolves Always Come at Night.
-Profiles of filmmakers including Shelley Saywell, Jessica Earnshaw, the Riddle Films team, and more!
Subscribe today to be among the first to read this issue!
POV #125 will en route to subscribers at the end of April.
