Hot Docs has officially given the green light for its 2025 festival. After a roller-coaster year and a shaky outlook, the organization announced today that the festival would return in its regular spring window and run from April 24 to 4. Film submissions are now open.
Audiences can expect a slimmed down programming, though, as Hot Docs noted in a release that it would showcase 100 documentaries from Canada and around the world. That’s down from 168 docs that screened at the 2024 festival.
Hot Docs added that Programming Director Heather Haynes will lead the selections. There is no word yet whether the programmers who departed earlier this year will return.
“We are absolutely thrilled to share this news,” said Hot Docs’ Interim Executive Director, Janice Dawe, in a statement from the festival. “We are grateful to our steadfast sponsors, donors and public sector stakeholders whose outpouring of support has given us the confidence to move forward. We would not be in this position if it weren’t for these champions of Hot Docs – from the individual donors who gave during our spring campaign, to the incredibly gracious donors who converted their designated gifts to operational support and to the many elected officials at all levels of government who are standing up for culture and working diligently to help secure funding.”
Hot Docs also noted that it is beginning the recruitment process to secure a new Executive Director and the board is “dedicated to ensuring that the organization takes the right steps during this process to identify an individual who will not only excel in leadership but also resonate with our mission and community.” Former President Marie Nelson stepped down this summer after one year in the position in which she faced a cavalcade of challenges, including accumulated deficits, slow audience recovery, inflation, conflicts between the programming team and the former artistic director, and a siege of protests related to the investments of presenting sponsor Scotiabank in arms manufacturer Elbit Systems. Plans to restore the board of directors are underway after it slimmed down to a three-member working board this summer.
The return of the festival was welcomed by Hot Docs’ founding body, the Documentary Organization of Canada (DOC), from which Hot Docs has operated independently since 1997, but to which it pays a royalty. “Our community has weathered an extremely difficult year. We have witnessed our beloved festival face extreme challenges, and we have in turn challenged Hot Docs to address the serious concerns that emerged in 2024,” noted DOC in a statement. “DOC asked Hot Docs to address key questions about its financial situation, its human resources and its governance. In the months following the 2024 festival, Hot Docs has been addressing these issues head-on and has implemented substantive changes.” DOC has also noted that it is working out a payment plan with Hot Docs to facilitate its return.
Of particular note, however, is the news regarding Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. The independent theatre on Bloor Street will resume regular programming on December 4 after re-opening in a limited capacity in September following a pause since June. The theatre, which Hot Docs has been operating since 2011, was bought by the festival with a gift from the Rogers family in 2016. Programming of new documentary releases along with the return of the Doc Soup series, which screens premieres of festival favourites, will return to gear audiences up for the 2025 festival back into seats. However, Hot Docs will seek a new owner for the cinema and “secure a lease-back arrangement that will allow programming at the Cinema to continue.”
“Owning the Cinema for the past 12 years has been an incredible opportunity for Hot Docs, allowing us to expand our reach and impact and those of the stories we’ve showcased on our screen,” said Nicolas de Pencier, co-chair of Hot Docs’ Board of Directors, in a statement. “But current financial conditions—including rising interest rates and the post-pandemic recovery of audiences—have made it extremely challenging. We’re confident that finding the right buyer will allow us to refocus on our mission to support documentary filmmakers and continue to celebrate their work at the Cinema and Festival, while also addressing our deficit and ensuring our long-term viability.”
The 650 seat theatre is the largest independent cinema in Toronto, a city in which independent cinemas have faced varying degrees of challenges since the pandemic. Several neighbourhood cinemas, including The Royal and The Regent, have ceased operations, while the Mount Pleasant Cinema now operates as a church. The Toronto International Film Festival has been wrestling with memberships initiatives for TIFF Lightbox since losing lead sponsor Bell, including offering free Cinematheque screenings to members, although members are growing increasingly disgruntled on social media about the lack of availability of said tickets. Meanwhile, the Revue Cinema on Roncesvalles became a community flashpoint this summer after the building owner tried to force a hostile takeover, but has turned the situation around to become a community success story.
Hot Docs hopes that the cinema will remain a part of the neighbourhood character at Bloor and Bathurst, which already lost gaudy department store Honest Ed’s to gentrification, and states, “The organization is actively seeking a buyer who values cultural spaces and creative enterprise, and who demonstrates a commitment to the legacy of the Cinema as a vital hub in the city.”
Several festivals are using the cinema facilities for their events, including Reel Asian, which announced today that its opening night screening of Ann Marie Fleming’s Can I Get a Witness? will screen at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema to kick off the fest.
