Thirteen documentaries mark the first titles announced for this year’s Hot Docs. Toronto’s documentary festival unveiled its early Special Presentations selections for the 2026 event. Docs on the ticket include the world premiere of The Tower that Built a City, director Mark Myers’ portrait of the CN Tower and its role in shaping Toronto’s iconic skyline. The doc marks the 50th anniversary of the public opening of the CN Tower.
Also having its world premiere at Hot Docs is Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart. The film is directed by Dori Berinstein, a six-time Tony Award winning Broadway producer (including 2001’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest revival), and profiles the “King of the Movie Soundtrack” best known for his Oscar-nominated theme from Footloose.
Hot Docs will also host the Canadian premieres of several Sundance favourites. Among the titles coming to Toronto after debuting in Park City is this year’s Grand Jury Prize winner for World Cinema Documentary, To Hold a Mountain. The film directed by Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić observes a Montenegro family whose traditional homestead in the mountains becomes uprooted by the arrival of a military training camp and news of the impending return of a man from their past. Also screening is Time and Water, the latest film from Fire of Love Oscar nominee Sara Dosa. Time and Water follows the work of Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason as he considers the life of glaciers and the histories that endure within layers of ice.
Other Canadian premieres at the festival include When a Witness Recants from Dawn Porter, whose Luther Vandross doc opened the 2024 festival. Porter observes the course of events that occur when journalist and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates dives into a complicated murder case entangled within a broken justice system. Meanwhile, Poh Si Teng’s American Doctor tells of three colleagues from different backgrounds combine their efforts to save lives in Gaza. The film features extraordinary footage of the efforts of frontline workers amid the unfolding genocide. Meanwhile, Sentient by Tony Jones offers a provocative study of animal testing and the rights of animals in ground-breaking scientific research.
Other festival circuit hits include IDFA’s winner for Best Film, A Fox Under a Pink Moon. The film directed by Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya Akhalaghi observes the latter’s five-year journey fleeing from Iran to Austria, all using footage she shot herself with her iPhone.
Meanwhile, Canadian filmmaker Sam Dunn (Triumph: Rock & Roll Machine) teams up with Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello for The Ballad of Judas Priest. The doc traces the history of the hit metal band. Maya Annik Bedward’s Black Zombie, fresh off its debut at SXSW, also has its Canadian premiere at the festival with a deep dive on popular culture. Bedward traces the journey of zombie culture from its roots in Haitian Vodou to its contemporary permutations in popular culture. The film seeks to correct and reclaim the narrative of the undead.
Also bringing a “film on film” story is Jeffrey McHale’s festival circuit favourite It’s Dorothy!, which looks at the enduring power of The Wizard of Oz. McHale previously explored the during so-bad-it’s-good legacy of Showgirls in You Don’t Nomi.
Hot Docs will announce the full line-up on March 24. This year’s festival runs April 23 to May 3.
The first Special Presentations titles for Hot Docs 2026 are:
American Doctor
D: Poh Si Teng | P: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad | USA, Palestine, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar | 2026 | 93 min | Canadian Premiere
Three American physicians—Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian—risk everything to save lives in besieged Gaza and expose political truths while navigating a collapsing medical infrastructure and global indifference.
The Ballad of Judas Priest
D: Tom Morello, Sam Dunn | P: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen | USA | 2026 | 98 min | Canadian Premiere
From working-class origins in Birmingham to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the genre-defining heavy metal band’s five-decade journey is chronicled through exclusive interviews with Judas Priest, previously unpublished personal archives and appearances by Ozzy Osbourne, Jack Black, Metallica and more.
Black Zombie
D: Maya Annik Bedward | P: Maya Annik Bedward, Kate Fraser, Hannah Donegan | Canada | 2026 | 90 min | Canadian Premiere
From colonial Haiti’s haunted cane fields to the flickering screens of Hollywood horror, the living dead’s buried origins are unearthed and reclaimed as a symbol of survival and spiritual resistance.
A Fox Under Pink Moon
D: Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhalaghi | P: Mehrdad Oskouei | Iran, Denmark, France | 2026 | 77 min | North American Premiere
Filmed entirely on her phone over five years, 16-year-old Soraya documents her harrowing attempts to flee Iran for Austria. Through surreal animations and sculptures, the young Afghan artist transforms her experiences of domestic violence and displacement into a powerful, self-narrated testament to survival.
It’s Dorothy!
D: Jeffrey McHale | P: Ariana Garfinkel, Zel McCarthy, Suzanne Zionts | USA | 2025 | 97 min | Canadian Premiere
Dorothy’s journey to Oz continues to inspire audiences united by their search for belonging. This vibrant, imaginative portrait celebrates her cultural legacy and the diverse communities who claim her as their own, reminding us that no matter how hard things get, we must never stop looking over the rainbow.
Kenny Loggins: Convictions of the Heart
D: Dori Berinstein | P: Dori Berinstein | USA | 2025 | 96 min | World Premiere
Everybody cut footloose! From chart-topping anthems to movie soundtracks, multi-award-winning singer songwriter Kenny Loggins reflects on a career that defined a generation, tracing his life on and off stage across decades of reinvention.
The Oldest Person in the World
D: Sam Green | P: Alison Byrne Fields, Josh Penn | USA | 2026 | 87 min | Canadian Premiere
For over a decade, filmmaker Sam Green has chronicled the ever-changing Guinness World Record holder of “Oldest Person in the World.” Weaving together his personal experiences of fatherhood, ageing and loss, Green offers a poignant meditation on family, mortality and the meaning of life.
Sentient
D: Tony Jones | P: Ivan O’Mahoney | Australia | 2026 | 105 min | Canadian Premiere
This investigative look at the highly controversial practice of animal testing—centred on the story of primate scientist turned animal rights activist Dr. Lisa Jones-Engel—questions if the harm to animals and the human scientists who care for them is justified by the pursuit of scientific advancement.
TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing
D: Louis Massiah, Monica Henriquez | P: Louis Massiah | USA, UK, Canada, France, Senegal | 2025 | 105 min | International Premiere
This dynamic portrait of Toni Cade Bambara, the visionary Black feminist writer, filmmaker and activist, celebrates her life with power and urgency. Through rare archives and intimate reflections from those she inspired, we learn lessons in agency, community resilience and the transformative impact of cultural organizing.
Time and Water
D: Sara Dosa | P: Shane Boris, Elijah Stevens, Jameka Autry, Sara Dosa | USA, Iceland | 2026 | 90 min | Canadian Premiere
Following the loss of his beloved grandparents and facing the death of his country’s glaciers, renowned Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason constructs a cinematic time capsule in this beautifully crafted meditation on family, memory and epochal change from Academy Award nominee Sara Dosa (Fire of Love).
To Hold a Mountain
D: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić | P: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazić, Quentin Laurent, Rok Biček | Serbia, France, Slovenia, Montenegro, Croatia | 2026 | 105 min | Canadian Premiere
In the quiet mountain lands of Montenegro, a mother and daughter strive to protect their ancestral home from the threat of becoming a NATO military training facility, awakening memories of the violence that shattered their family.
The Tower that Built a City
D: Mark Myers, | P: Mark Myers, Luke Myers | Canada | 2026 | 92 min | World Premiere
Toronto’s skyline-defining CN Tower launched a five-decade transformation of the Big Smoke into the 6ix. Celebrate its 50th anniversary as it continues to symbolize a city that’s become a world-class cultural force in sports, music and global identity.
WHEN A WITNESS RECANTS
D: Dawn Porter | P: Dawn Porter, Jennifer Oko, Miriam Weintraub | 2026 | USA | 117 min | Canadian Premiere
Author, journalist and activist Ta-Nehisi Coates investigates the case of a young student who was murdered in Baltimore, uncovering layers of false accusations, wrongful convictions and how the justice system can fail those caught in the crossfire.
