Gabor Pertic has been named the new Lead Programmer for Hot Docs, a move up from his roles as Senior International Programmer and Associate Programmer at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. The festival announced today that Pertic would step into the role following some changeover in the ranks. As per Hot Docs, Pertic will “oversee programming for the annual Festival, as well as the Doc Soup monthly screening series.”
Pertic is a long-time member of the international programming team at Hot Docs. Films he programmed at this year’s festival include Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, which brought the Oscar winner actor and her director Shoshannah Stern to Toronto for an extended conversation; Coexistence, My Ass!, a portrait of comic Noam Shuster Eliassi as she addresses the genocide in Palestine through humour; and audience award winner Come See Me in the Good Light about poet Andrea Gibson’s fight with terminal cancer. He previously programmed Doc Soup in its early days when the series hosted Black Lives Matter doc Whose Streets? by Sabaah Folayan and No Stone Unturned by Oscar winner Alex Gibney.
The festival also announced that the Doc Soup series—a curated, subscription-based programme offering hits from the festival circuit with filmmaker/guest Q&As—would return in October with The Librarians. The documentary by Kim A. Snyder premiered at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and drew critical acclaim for its portrait of librarians working to preserve literary works amid a rise in book bans in the U.S.A. Snyder will be on hand for the screening.
Earlier this year, Hot Docs’ announced that longtime programmer Heather Haynes was stepping down from her role as director of programming, which included the Doc Soup series.
The return of the Doc Soup series follows a recent announcement that Hot Docs had found a buyer for Ted Rogers Cinema who would allow them to lease back the facilities to continue programming. As per CBC, the cinema sold for $6.25 million to local restaurateurs Steven Nikolaou and Joan Nikolaou. Hot Docs is returning for its annual festival in April 2026.
