#HOTDOCS: 2025 HOT DOCS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL SPECIAL PRESENTATIONS PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCED

Hot Docs announced today the first slate of films to screen as part of its highly anticipated Special Presentations program at the 2025 Festival, running April 24 to May 4, 2025 in Toronto. The Special Presentations program, which features high-profile subjects, award-winning films and filmmakers, and masterful perspectives on current events and pressing issues, will screen in cinemas across downtown Toronto during the Festival.

Making its world premiere at Hot Docs Festival 2025 is The Nest, a deeply personal exploration of memory, identity, and intergenerational storytelling by co-directors Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh. International premieres include Deaf President Now!, a powerful chronicle of the landmark student protest that transformed accessibility rights in the US; and Life After, in which celebrated filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates the troubling implications of assisted suicide laws for disabled people.

Making their Canadian premieres are Antidote, a gripping real-life thriller following investigative journalist Christo Grozev and activist Vladimir Kara-Murza as they challenge Russia’s political machine; Apocalypse in the Tropics, Petra Costa’s timely and incisive look at the rise of religious fundamentalism in Brazil; Coexistence, My Ass!, where comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi boldly navigates the Israel-Palestine conflict with razor-sharp wit; Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, an intimate portrait of the trailblazing Deaf actor; and Saints and Warriors, which captures the fierce competition and deep community spirit of the All Native Basketball Tournament in British Columbia. These films, and many more, will be presented as part of Hot Docs Festival 2025.

The full selection of films to screen at Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2025 will be announced at a press conference on March 25. Ticket packages are now on sale online. Ticket package redemption and single ticket sales for Hot Docs members are available starting March 25. Single ticket sales open to the public on April 1.  

Descriptions for films in the Special Presentations program appear below. In many cases, filmmakers will be in attendance for post-screening discussions. For more information on the program visit http://go.pardot.com/e/463832/ot-docs-festival-announcements/lcd6y/773667820/h/bcPFH0Dzg_lRW-Nv-XhjxMMqYl_dAHxxXsu_im1L5U8.

Film stills of Special Presentation titles are available at http://go.pardot.com/e/463832/y3p8zknz/lcd72/773667820/h/bcPFH0Dzg_lRW-Nv-XhjxMMqYl_dAHxxXsu_im1L5U8.

ANTIDOTE
D: James Jones | P: James Jones | United Kingdom | 2024 | 90 min | Canadian Premiere
How does it feel to be on Putin’s most-wanted list? Christo Grozev, an investigative journalist and co-founder of Bellingcat, is on the run, while Vladimir Kara-Murza, a political activist, stands trial for treason. A riveting doc-thriller about those resisting and confronting the blood-chilling Russian regime.

APOCALYPSE IN THE TROPICS
D: Petra Costa | P: Petra Costa, Alessandra Orofino | Brazil, USA, Denmark | 2024 | 110 min | Canadian Premiere
In Oscar-nominated filmmaker Petra Costa’s latest excursion into the state of democracy she turns her attention to Brazil’s most prominent televangelist, Silas Malafaia, delving into the rise of religious fundamentalism in politics and its close ties to the far-right nationalist movement.

COEXISTENCE, MY ASS!
D: Amber Fares | P: Rachel Leah Jones, Amber Fares, Valérie Montmartin | USA, France | 2025 | 95 min | Canadian Premiere
Mixing the personal with the political, comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi boldly confronts the Israel-Palestine conflict in her one-woman show. Skillfully navigating massive social and political divides with wit and humour, she challenges audiences with hard truths that are no laughing matter.

DEAF PRESIDENT NOW!
D: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim | P: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Jonathan King, Michael Harte | USA | 2024 | 100 min | International Premiere
When Gallaudet University’s board selected a hearing president over two deaf candidates in 1988, the almost entirely Deaf and hard-of-hearing student body pushed back, sparking a revolution that influenced the future of disability rights.

LIFE AFTER
D: Reid Davenport | P: Colleen Cassingham | USA | 2025 | 99 min | International Premiere
Disability cinema auteur Reid Davenport takes on assisted suicide, exploring how a practice intended to empower end-of-life decision-making has exposed the long-standing devaluation of disabled life.

MARLEE MATLIN: NOT ALONE ANYMORE
D: Shoshannah Stern | P: Robyn Kopp, Justine Nagan, Bonni Cohen, Shoshannah Stern | USA | 2025 | 97 min | Canadian Premiere
Pioneering Deaf performer Marlee Matlin candidly opens up about her life and career. Her meteoric and tumultuous rise to fame with her Oscar-winning performance in Children of a Lesser God is just one chapter of an iconic legacy that continues to resonate.

THE NEST
D: Chase Joynt, Julietta Singh | P: Alicia Smith, Justine Pimlott | Canada, | 2025 | 89 min | World Premiere
At the end of her mother’s life, director Julietta Singh returns to her childhood home, where centuries of forgotten matriarchs emerge to reveal stories of resistance and resilience. Indigenous, Deaf, Japanese and South Asian histories intertwine, buried in a house full of secrets.

SAINTS AND WARRIORS
D: Patrick Shannon | P: Michael Grand | Canada | 2024 | 97 min | Canadian Premiere
For over sixty years, teams have gathered on the Pacific west coast for the All Native Basketball Tournament. As the defending champions, the Skidegate Saints, battle to keep their title, it’s clear the event has become a symbol of resilience, community and culture.

Hot Docs (www.hotdocs.ca), North America’s leading documentary festival, conference and market, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to advancing and celebrating the art of documentary and to creating production opportunities for documentary filmmakers. Hot Docs will present its 32nd annual edition from April 24 to May 4, 2025, in cinemas across Toronto. Hot Docs will also mount a dynamic series of knowledge sessions, networking opportunities and market programs for documentary practitioners and industry delegates, including the renowned Hot Docs Deal Maker and Works-in-Progress screenings. Year-round, Hot Docs supports the Canadian and international industry with professional development programs and a multi-million-dollar film fund portfolio, and fosters education through documentaries with its popular free program Docs For Schools. Hot Docs owns and programs the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, a century-old landmark located in Toronto’s Annex neighbourhood and the world’s first and largest documentary cinema.

Starting Tuesday, March 25, Festival ticket package holders, including Doc Soup subscribers, can redeem their ticket packages, and Hot Docs Members can purchase single tickets. Starting Tuesday, April 1, single tickets will be available to the public. Tickets and ticket packages can be purchased and/or redeemed online at www.hotdocs.ca or in person at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema Box Office, located at 506 Bloor Street West (hours vary daily in accordance with cinema screenings). Single tickets are $20 to regular Festival screenings and $23 to Special Presentations screenings ($18-$20 members). Special events vary in price. A Festival 12-Pack is $209 and a Festival 20-Pack is $299. Hot Docs offers free tickets for all screenings before 4:00 p.m. to seniors and students with valid photo I.D., available online the day of the screening, subject to availability.

Hot Docs is proud to include Rogers as its Founding Partner; Netflix as its Presenting Partner; and Telefilm Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the Canada Media Fund as its Major Supporters. Full list of sponsors and partners: http://go.pardot.com/e/463832/about-partners/lcd65/773667820/h/bcPFH0Dzg_lRW-Nv-XhjxMMqYl_dAHxxXsu_im1L5U8