#HOTDOCS: 2026 HOT DOCS FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING ANNOUNCEMENT

Hot Docs announced today the first slate of official selections set to premiere at the 2026 Hot Docs Festival, running April 23 to May 3, 2026 in Toronto. These 13 films from 16 countries will screen as part of the highly anticipated Special Presentations program, featuring high-profile subjects, award-winning films and filmmakers, and masterful perspectives on current events and pressing issues. In many cases, filmmakers will be in attendance for post-screening discussions.

Making their world premieres as Special Presentations at Hot Docs Festival 2026 are two films profiling iconic subjects that have stood strong for 50 years. Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart, directed by six-time Tony-winning Broadway producer Dori Berinstein, traces the life and generation-defining career of the multi-award-winning singer-songwriter who soundtracked some of Hollywood’s most unforgettable movie moments. The Tower That Built a City, directed by Canadian filmmaker Mark Myers, celebrates the 50th anniversary of Toronto’s skyline-defining CN Tower, and alongside it, the city’s own tall transformation.

Receiving its international premiere is Canadian co-production TCB – The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing, directed by Louis Massiah and Monica Henriquez, a dynamic portrait of visionary Black feminist writer, filmmaker and activist Toni Cade Bambara. Receiving a North American premiere is A Fox Under a Pink Moon, directed by Mehrdad Oskouei and Soraya Akhalaghi, a long-distance self-portrait of an emigrant’s journey, filmed entirely on her phone over five years as she attempts to flee Iran for Austria. The film has its world premiere at the International Documentary Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) where it won Best Film in International Competition.

The Oldest Person in the World from Academy Award-nominated director Sam Green (The Weather Underground), which chronicles the ever-changing Guinness World Record holder, will receive its Canadian premiere, as will Time and Water from Academy Award nominee Sara Dosa (Fire of Love), in which Icelandic writer Andri Snær Magnason—facing the loss of both his country’s glaciers and his beloved grandparents—turns his archives into a time capsule to hold what is slipping away. Also receiving its Canadian premiere is Biljana Tutorov and Petar Glomazić’s To Hold A Mountain, winner of Sundance’s World Cinema Grand Jury Prize: Documentary and Hot Docs Forum alum, in which a mother and daughter strive to save their quiet Montenegro ancestral home from becoming a NATO military training facility. The Ballad of Judas Priest from directors Sam Dunn (Hip-Hop Evolution, Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story) and Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine follows the half-century journey of the heavy metal pioneers and will receive its Canadian premiere.

The full 2026 Festival lineup will be unveiled on Tuesday, March 24. Festival ticket packages are now on sale. Ticket package redemption and single ticket sales for Hot Docs members are available starting March 24. Single ticket sales open to the public on March 31.

Films announced today as Special Presentations selections for the 2026 Hot Docs Festival 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 A 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: CONVICTION 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.

Film stills of Special Presentation titles are available at tinyurl.com/HD2026SP1

For more information on Hot Docs, visit hotdocs.ca