It’s been a year since the shit hit the fan for Hot Docs. So where does the documentary festival stand heading into this year’s event?
There’s a sense of cautious optimism to Hot Docs this year. It’s a testament to everyone involved with the organization, from former interim director Janice Dawe; the three-member working board of Nicolas de Pencier, Kevin Wong, and Lynda Luckevich; Heather Haynes and the programming team; the industry folks; the cinema staff; and especially the PR team, who certainly deserve a vacation. (Surely, as does everyone else I did and didn’t mention.)
Hot Docs remains standing after a challenging year and there’s no reason to think it won’t stand taller at the 2026 festival. It’s a strong brand with an international reputation and will weather the turbulence. And documentary overall really needs festivals like Hot Docs so that filmmakers can screen their films for audiences, buyers, distributors, and broadcasters, but also navigate questions of funding, marketing, and releasing at a moment when the business is really tough for documentary.
The festival looks to be in capable hands with Diana Sanchez stepping in as executive director. The longtime TIFF programmer has a good mix of the art and business sides of festivals, as well as a strong track record locally and internationally. She’s certainly brave to accept the challenge.
Money Matters
There’s also good news and bad news on the money front. Shortly after the main line-up announcement release in March in which any mention of Hot Docs’ lead sponsor Scotia Wealth Management was curiously absent, The Grid confirmed that the 2025 festival will be Scotiabank’s last as presenting sponsor. The bank’s waiving all sponsor rights, including dropping its name from the Big Ideas series.
The loss of a lead sponsor for a festival in shaky financial standing is deeply concerning. However, a divorce from Scotiabank at least gives a win to voices who campaigned since last year for Hot Docs to demand the financial institution to divest from arms manufacturer Elbit Systems, which supplies weapons to the Israeli Defence Fund. The campaign meant that many of last year’s screenings saw filmmakers express alarm over a documentary festival’s comfort with artswashing. The whole situation was at odds with the nature of documentary, especially with so many human rights films in the mix.
The uncoupling should help repair Hot Docs’ standing with artists and the community. One hopes the festival has enough lead time and wiggle room to secure a new lead sponsor just as TIFF did after Bell walked away. (TIFF’s new lead sponsor, Rogers, would have been the ideal fit to jump up from second place on the leaderboard for Hot Docs’ sponsors.)
The good news, as reported yesterday, is that the organization has a provisional buyer for Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. That plan includes a lease-back strategy, which means that Hot Docs can still operate the festival and have year-round events at the theatre. The prospective sale speaks to Hot Docs’ reputation, brand, and role in the community.
The Films
Perhaps a bigger question remains for Hot Docs’ future relating to its stature in the festival ecosystem. Jump back to 2019, and Hot Docs really had top-tier status with the calibre of films, range of celebrities (who drive sales and media attention), and industry power. It struggled coming out of the pandemic, though, in part due to the shifting landscape and hierarchy of festivals with Sundance coming out swinging as the A-game doc fest and SXSW stepping up as a hot stop. The latter was awkwardly glaring last year with the number of Canadian films that premiered in Austin, Texas before a stop at Hot Docs. And the number of films from last year’s Tribeca festival is concerning.
Add to that No Other Land, which submitted to the festival last year but then opted for the Telluride-TIFF double tap when it became clear that it was a serious awards contender. That paid off. But for festivals, how many notable wins and nominations their selections garner help the perception of the event as a launchpad for awards potential and a leg up in a competitive field. Only one Oscar nominee, Porcelain War, played Hot Docs last year.
If 2025 marks a recovery year for Hot Docs, it can therefore piggyback on the tried and tested hits from festivals like Sundance to fill the rooms and connect with audiences. Sure-fire crowd-pleasers include films like Ryan White’s Come See Me in the Good Light—my favourite doc of the year so far in a runway for its portrait of two poets facing a cancer diagnosis together—or Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni’s Sundance Grand Jury Prize winner Cutting through Rocks for its look at an Iranian politician defying the patriarchy. Hot Docs also has the most nuanced take on the Palestine/Israel divide yet, and also the funniest, in Amber Fares’ Coexistence, My Ass!
Moreover, this year’s films do mark a greater level of political engagement and an attention for diverse experiences and representation. Music docs are hard to come by outside of Isabel Castro’s Selena Y Los Dinos and a few very offbeat titles. The only other celebrity bios in the mix include Shoshannah Stern’s Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, which does wonders to advance the art form as a feat of accessible cinema by and about Deaf artists, while Assembly, directed by Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons, proves an electric snapshot of an artist’s ability to use interdisciplinary work to reflect an intersectional celebration of queerness and Blackness.
The Canadian Content
Outside the early favourites, some of the international selections, at least from what myself and some colleagues have seen, may be a bit “minor” compared to other years, but they bring their own understated rewards. But there’s a chance for an under-the-radar breakthrough if the audience responds adventurously.
The best of what’s new on display at Hot Docs takes the festival back to its core: a Canadian showcase. The titles from the home team arguably mark the most exciting films at Hot Docs outside the Sundance kids. (Okay, we’ll let Seth and Pete Scriver’s animated Endless Cookie double dip for its hilarious take on storytelling, community, and family ties.)
Director/producer Matt Gallagher and Cornelia Principe offer an early standout with Shamed, which tells the story of a pseudo-journalist who entrapped men he presumed to be pedophiles and exposed them on the web with tragic consequences. Their riveting exposé offers one of the most skin-crawlingly memorable characters of the year, but also a frank treatise about media literacy and the responsibility that comes with having a platform. It’s one of the duo’s best works yet and worth a look for anyone who liked their 2019 Audience Award winner Prey.
A much more savoury and endearing character arrives in Agatha’s Almanac, Amalie Atkins’ sumptuous portrait of her 90-year-old aunt who loves to work in her garden. Offbeat and aesthetically pleasing, this intoxicatingly cinematic work is a must-see for fans of artsy docs like Geographies of Solitude. It’s a heavenly ode to a spunky old gal and the juicy fruits of her labour.
Meanwhile, a strikingly cinematic consideration of masculinity comes in Sinakson Trevor Solway’s Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man. This artful glimpse at men of the Blackfoot First Nation observes how pursuits like horse racing and rodeo offer positive outlets. The film explores strength and vulnerability with a cadence that at times feels “Malickian.” It’s a strong entry from the slate at the NFB this year. A provocative consideration of Indigenous representation also comes in #skoden from Damien Eagle Bear and its take on the real stories behind meme culture.
Another Canadian highlight comes in Julien Elie’s brilliant observational film Shifting Baselines. The black and white documentary offers a tour of Boca Chica where Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starbase wreaks havoc on the local community. It’s a haunting, awe-inspiring work that asks audiences why they’re willing to settle for less than the generation had before us.
Festival favourite Denis Côté returns to Hot Docs with one of the titles atop my list for the weekend, Paul. It’s drawing rave reviews for its portrait of a submissive social media star who gets off by cleaning the houses of dominant women. Sounds like a good family screening.
Other Canadian docs on my watch list with some enthusiastic reviews filed from the POV team include Ryan Sidhoo’s The Track about luge athletes in post-war Bosnia, Virginia Tangvald’s story of familial loss in Ghosts of the Sea, and Rosana Matecki’s elegy for the lost souls of conflict in Venezuela, Casas Muertas. Stay tuned for good word as embargoes drop.
Outside the Canadian competition, homegrown highlights include Patrick Shannon’s Saints and Warriors. It’s another film that seems sure to rally the crowds, entertain them, but also teach them an important slice of the nation’s history. It’s an invigorating portrait of Haida resilience as told through the role that basketball has historically played, and continues to play, in bringing the community together.
That sounds a lot like Hot Docs, in a way. Let’s root for a three-pointer as the festival looks to rebound.
