The excitement of this year’s Hot Docs Festival carries on as Hot Docs Cinema releases its lineup of programming for June, bringing some extra special events and guests, returning series and Festival favourites to the historic movie theatre at 506 Bloor Street. Highlights of June’s programming include the return of Pride Projected with three Pride Month events hosted by local film lovers and makers, the four-week Curious Minds lecture series Toronto: Cinema City, and several special guests in attendance to introduce films or participate in post-screening Q&As.

Pride Projected is back with three special events hosted by some of our favourite local queer film icons. We asked Michelle Mama, Saffron Maeve and Peter Knegt for some non-fiction queer cinema of their choosing and invited them to bring it to the main stage to share with Hot Docs audiences throughout Pride Month. Critic, editor, and film curator Saffron Maeve presents Shades of Feeling: Five by Pratibha Parmar, a collection of five shorts by British filmmaker Pratibha Parmar, released from 1988-1991. Hot Docs 2026 Opening Night filmmaker Michelle Mama (Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions) presents a film about another legendary queer icon (one with a curious Carole connection): Jeffrey Schwarz’s I Am Divine, the “divinative” story of John Waters’ Dreamlanders diva Divine. To open the series, writer, broadcaster and Queer Cinema Club curator Peter Knegt presents one of his all-time favourite documentaries, Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s The Celluloid Closet, assembled using fabulous footage from 120 films to show the changing face of cinema sexuality. For more information on Pride Projected, presented in partnership with Inside Out, visit hotdocs.ca/whats-on/cinema-series/pride-projected

Saturdays in June, Toronto: Cinema City will welcome journalist and film historian Eric Veillette to lead us in a four-part journey through Toronto’s exhibition history, uncovering the theatres, controversies, and communities that shaped how Torontonians have watched movies for 130 years. The four-week Curious Minds course will cover decades of Toronto history, as told through the city’s movie theatres. From bustling neighbourhood cinemas and Yonge Street grindhouses, experimental film co-ops, to the corporate rise of multiplex chains and decades of censorship battles, the city’s screens have mirrored its cultural, social and political life. The series includes a further viewing screening of Atom Egoyan’s The Adjuster, for which Atom Egoyan will be in attendance for a special post-screening discussion. A full series pass is now available for purchase, with special pricing for Hot Docs Members. Individual tickets may also be purchased. For more information and to purchase, visit hotdocs.ca

Joining Atom Egoyan, Peter Knegt, Saffron Maeve and Michelle Mama are additional special guests in attendance for screenings at the cinema in June. Actor and author Ben McKenzie (Gotham, Southland, The OC) will join us for both screenings of his new documentary, Everyone Is Lying to You for Money, which pulls back the curtain on cryptocurrency and the culture of hype and misinformation. Psychedelics advocate Rick Doblin, Ph.D., is the Founder and President of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS) and is featured in Elias Varoutsos’s new documentary Prophet of Ecstasy, which explores art, politics and consciousness through the improbable life of Michael Clegg, the former Catholic priest who introduced MDMA to the world. Doblin will join us for a special post-screening Q&A. Author Myra Bloom arrives at Hot Docs Cinema for our Author Talks series to unveil Evasive Manoeuvres: Canadian Women’s Confessional Writing, in which four contemporary Canadian writers navigate both the possibilities and the perils of confession. Bloom will discuss her new book alongside Rachel Giese, culture and life editor at The Globe and Mail. Filmmaker Kristi Tethong will present her new documentary, Far from Home, in which one family and the Tibetan nation are bound together by love, courage and their fight to resist erasure. Tethong will take part in a post-screening Q&A. The cinema will also welcome a panel of to-be-announced special guests for a post-screening discussion following Damon Gameau’s Future Council, in which eight children embark on an epic adventure across Europe in a school bus powered by biofuel, on a mission to better understand the planet’s predicament, explore solutions and confront some of the world’s largest polluters.

Additional programming highlights include a Pride edition of The Rocky Horror Picture Show with live on-stage performances from Toronto’s own shadow cast, Excited Mental State; a relaxed screening of John Bolton’s King Arthur’s Night, a genre-defying documentary film rooted in a medieval musical play created by an extraordinary company of artists living with and without Down syndrome, that is presented in collaboration with Luminato Festival; the return of Hot Docs Festival 2026 official selection It’s Dorothy by director Jeffrey McHale, which invites audiences on a dazzling journey through Dorothy Gale’s enduring cultural legacy, tracing her profound impact on women, folks of colour, and LGBTQ+ communities; the timely return of Hot Docs Festival 2025 official selection Ultras from filmmaker Ragnhild Ekner, just in time for the World Cup, in which we meet several communities of soccer’s uber fans (known as “ultras”) across Argentina, Egypt, England, Indonesia, Italy, Morocco, Poland and Sweden; the return of the Midtown Matinees series with a 4K restoration of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1955 classic To Catch a Thief, and June’s Jukedocs with curator Niko Stratis bringing what Rolling Stone calls “one of the greatest music documentaries ever made,” Peter Abraham’s I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco, featuring a post-screening virtual Q&A with the director.

The above films join the full line-up of screenings and events taking place this month at Hot Docs Cinema.

For more of what’s on at Hot Docs Cinema in June, visit hotdocs.ca

Hot Docs wrapped its 2026 edition last night following an 11-day Festival that brought to Toronto cinema screens 115 of the finest documentaries from Canada and around the world, sharing the most pressing stories of our time with full houses of local film-loving audiences and showcasing global filmmaking talent from a total of 51 countries. The 33rd Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival featured 173 screenings on five screens, with 162 filmmaker and guest Q&As, including four extended discussions with filmmakers and special guests as part of the Big Ideas series, and three days of Hot Docs Industry programming including the return of the Hot Docs Forum.

“The conversations our entire team have had with Festival attendees over the past 11 days have made it abundantly clear that Hot Docs is back,” said Diana Sanchez, Executive Director, Hot Docs. “We close out the 2026 edition of Hot Docs feeling incredibly proud of what we’ve been able to accomplish this year, and privileged to be able to present such a powerful lineup of films and to host close to 1000 filmmakers, delegates and industry professionals, as well as tens of thousands of audience members in cinemas for a shared film-going experience. Together, our community came out to enthusiastically support documentary filmmaking and global storytelling in a meaningful way, engaging in deep discussion and gaining a greater understanding of the world we share together.”

The Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary, which recognizes the top Canadian feature as determined by audience poll with a cash prize of $50,000, was announced last night at a free encore screening at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min), received the prize, courtesy of Rogers. At 16, Nekai Foster was shot while walking home in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood. His journey of survival and recovery—defying all medical odds as he relearns to walk—exposes how gun violence shapes bodies, families and communities.

With $67,000 total awarded at the Hot Docs Awards Presentation on Friday, May 1; $48,000 in pitch prizes awarded following the close of this year’s Hot Docs Forum on Wednesday, April 29; and $50,000 awarded yesterday as part of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary, this year the Festival awarded a total of $165,000 in support of documentary filmmakers.

Hot Docs Audience Awards are determined by votes submitted by Festival audiences. At the close of the Festival, it was determined that American Doctor (D: Poh Si Teng | P: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad | USA, Palestine, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar | 2026 | 93 min) placed first in the overall audience poll and won the Hot Docs Audience Award.

The top short film, winning the Audience Award for Short Documentary, was Sanyi the Rooster (D: Lotte Salomons | P: Kes Raven, Raphael Hogers, Nova Nagel | Netherlands | 2025 | 20 min).

The 20 documentaries in the audience poll are:

American Doctor (D: Poh Si Teng | P: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad | USA, Palestine, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar | 2026 | 93 min)

Steal This Story, Please! (D: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin | P: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch | USA | 2026 | 102 min)

A Fox Under a Pink Moon (D: Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhalaghi | P: Mehrdad Oskouei | Iran, Denmark, France | 2026 | 77 min)

32 Meters (D: Morteza Atabaki | P: Morteza Atabaki, Murat Ones | Turkey, Iran, Qatar | 2025 | 83 min)

Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min)

Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions (D: Michelle Mama | P: Allison Grace, Bill Taylor | Canada | 2025 | 89 min)

Black Zombie (D: Maya Annik Bedward | P: Maya Annik Bedward, Kate Fraser, Hannah Donegan | Canada | 2026 | 90 min)

The Ballad of Judas Priest (D: Tom Morello, Sam Dunn | P: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen | USA | 2026 | 98 min)

The Seoul Guardians (D: Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim | P: Sona Jo, Shin Wan Kim | South Korea | 2026 | 71 min)

When a Witness Recants (D: Dawn Porter | P: Dawn Porter, Jennifer Oko, Miriam Weintraub | 2026 | USA | 117 min)

Traces (D: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk | P: Olha Bregman, Natalia Libet, Violetta Kamińska, Izabela Wójcik, Dariusz Jabłoński | Ukraine, Poland | 2026 | 82 min)

Sanyi the Rooster (D: Lotte Salomons | P: Kes Raven, Raphael Hogers, Nova Nagel | Netherlands | 2025 | 20 min)

təm kʷaθ nan Namesake (D: Evan Adams, Eileen Francis | P: Peg Campbell | Canada | 2026 | 76 min)

Code of Misconduct (D: Sébastien Trahan | P: Annie Bourdeau | Canada | 2026 | 88 min)

Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] (D: Adam Khalil, Zachary Khalil | P: Steve Holmgren, Grace Remington, Jacque Clark | USA, Denmark | 2026 | 81 min)

Ceremony (D: Banchi Hanuse | P: Banchi Hanuse | Canada | 2026 | 84 min)

Birds of War (D: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak | P: Sonja Henrici, Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak | UK, Syria, Lebanon | 2026 | 85 min)

Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava (D: Nhật Quang Nông | P: Trang Đào Thị Minh, Sarah Kang, Heejung Oh | Vietnam, South Korea, Switzerland | 2026 | 105 min)

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)

Stories for Sandro (D: Giacomo Boeri | P: Giacomo Boeri, Domenico Procacci | Italy | 2025 | 81 min)

The above titles join previously announced Hot Docs Docs for Schools Student Choice Award winner Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min) to make up the full list of awards chosen by Hot Docs audiences as part of the 2026 Festival.

Hot Docs 2026 welcomed 954 delegates from 47 countries to participate in the Hot Docs Industry Conference & Market, which featured three days of professional programming, two days of live project pitching as part of the Hot Docs Forum, 300 Hot Docs Deal Maker meetings with 70 decision makers across 31 projects, and several networking opportunities.

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. Additionally, it 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.

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/ltjtf/924490404/h/FUSN9r1rqMnD-Wbseufkb88z8Yv-i-u9pHwV6ZTTwQ0.

Hot Docs is proud to announce the winning documentaries from this year’s official competition, and to recognize the outstanding achievements of Canadian and international filmmakers with films screening throughout this year’s Festival. A total of 12 awards, along with $67,000 in cash and prizes, was celebrated at the Hot Docs 2026 Awards Presentation, held earlier today at El Mocambo in Toronto. 2026 Hot Docs Festival screenings will continue at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema and TIFF Lightbox today through Sunday, May 3. The Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary will be announced on the last day of the Festival at a special encore screening at 7:30 pm at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. The top Canadian feature in the audience poll will receive a $50,000 cash prize, courtesy of Rogers. The winners of the Hot Docs Audience Award for feature and short documentary will be announced on May 4. The Awards Presentation was immediately followed by the Hot Docs 2026 Awards Reception.

Hot Docs Best Canadian Short Documentary was presented to My Body Goes to Work (D: Fernanda Molina | P: Daria Lavrova, Fernanda Molina | Canada | 2025 | 12 min). A birth worker by day and a dancer in a strip club by night, Nevaeh navigates two very different worlds, in both of which bodies are judged and celebrated. As she reclaims the beauty and agency of her body while defying societal labels and expectations, she generously invites us to rethink our assumptions about sex, labour and healing. The Award includes a $3,000 cash prize.
Jury statement: “In just 12 minutes, Fernanda Molina Perez Diez crafts an intimate and humanizing portrait of a Toronto sex worker, revealing the complexity behind job titles and underscoring the nature of care work in all its forms. Raw and observant, the film left the jury in reflection on the everyday realities of sex work, reframing a life too often reduced to a label.”

Hot Docs Best International Short Documentary, sponsored by TVO Docs, was presented to Replikka (D: Piratá Waurá, Heloisa Passos | P: Mark Slagle, Heloisa Passos, Yula Rocha | Brazil, USA, UK | 2025 | 16 min). In Replikka, technology and Indigenous wisdom merge, creating a contemplative journey and meditation on memory, identity, loss and rebirth. As an act of resistance, this story examines the ancestral truths of the Xinguano people and their sacred territories in the face of destruction.
Hot Docs is pleased to present the winner with a $3,000 cash prize, courtesy of TVO Docs.
Jury statement: “The short film offers an unforgettable look at Waura culture and their efforts to protect Indigenous land, traditions, and stories. Its beautiful cinematography and rhythmic sound design made a strong impression on the jury, in addition to its urgent call against the erasure of Indigenous culture and memory, and its unique perspective from within the Waura community.”

Hot Docs is an Academy Awards® qualifying festival for short documentaries and, as winners of the 2026 Hot Docs Best International Short Documentary and the Hot Docs Best Canadian Short Documentary, respectively, Replikka and My Body Goes to Work will qualify for consideration in the Documentary Short Subject category of the annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided they comply with Academy rules.

Canadian producer Jennifer Holness received the Hot Docs Don Haig Award, announced earlier in the Festival. The Award is given to an outstanding independent Canadian producer with a film in the Festival in recognition of their creative vision, entrepreneurship and track record for nurturing emerging talent, and comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.

The Lindalee Tracey Award, which honours an emerging Canadian filmmaker with a passionate point of view, a strong sense of social justice and a sense of humour, was presented to Özgün Gündüz. The Lindalee Tracey award includes a $5000 cash prize from the Lindalee Tracey Fund, $5000 in-kind voucher from the Picture Shop and a beautifully glass blown sculpture by Andrew Kuntz.

Hot Docs Docs for Schools Student Choice Award is awarded to the documentary that receives the highest rating in the student audience poll was presented to Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min). At 16, Nekai Foster was shot while walking home in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood. His journey of survival and recovery—defying all medical odds as he relearns to walk—exposes how gun violence shapes bodies, families and communities.
The winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.

Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award is given to a Canadian filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film. The award, which includes a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of the Earl A. Glick Family, was presented to Sébastien Trahan, the director of Code of Misconduct (D: Sébastien Trahan | P: Annie Bourdeau | Canada | 2026 | 88 min). An investigative journalist’s duty to follow the facts leads to the trial of five Canadian professional hockey players charged with sexual assault, unravelling our national pastime and questioning the institutions that hold the sport accountable.
Jury Statement: “For its journalistically rich examination of accountability and power and privilege within Canadian hockey, as well as the film’s amplification of voices calling for justice, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award to Sébastien Trahan for Code of Misconduct.”

Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary, sponsored by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund, which recognizes the producers of a Hot Docs 2026 official selection film who find and tell compelling stories that inspire social or political change, and encourage their audiences to change their attitudes or behaviours or strive for policy change, went to directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim of The Seoul Guardians (D: Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim | P: Sona Jo, Shin Wan Kim | South Korea | 2026 | 71 min). When martial law was shockingly declared in 2024, the people of Seoul took to the streets to protect their democracy. Driven by memories of past dictatorships, this urgent reportage-style film captures a night of chaos and powerful, collective citizen resistance.
A $10,000 cash prize accompanies the award, supported by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund.
Jury Statement: “For a film of great urgency that speaks to the vagaries of political upheaval, the power of protest, and the foundational need for any free society to have an engaged press ready to pursue the truth in all of its messiness and meaningfulness, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary to the film team behind The Seoul Guardians, the directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim.”

Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award, supported by the R&M Lang Foundation, was awarded to Dawood Hilmandi, director of Paikar (D: Dawood Hilmandi | P: Frank Hoeve, Katja Draaijer | Netherlands | 2025 | 97 min). From exile in Amsterdam, filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi reflects on his family nickname, Paikar, the Persian word for warrior. Returning to Iran to reconcile with his authoritarian father, their journey to Afghanistan during a pandemic transforms a lifetime of displacement into a story of survival.
The award is given to an international filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film, and includes a $3,000 cash prize, courtesy of the R&M Lang Foundation.
Jury statement: For its poetic meditation on transgenerational trauma that evocatively navigates the entanglement of memory, war and exile from a deeply personal perspective—initiating a moving dialogue across a lifetime of displacement, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award to Dawood Hilmandi for Paikar.”

Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize-Canadian Feature Documentary, sponsored by DGC National and DGC Ontario, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the Canadian Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was presented to Ceremony (D: Banchi Hanuse | P: Banchi Hanuse | Canada | 2026 | 84 min). At Nuxalk Radio, a ramshackled station on the edge of the world, an inquiry into the vanished ooligan fish uncovers a chilling history rooted in the attempted erasure of the Nuxalk people and their enduring resilience.
The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of DGC National and DGC Ontario.
Jury Statement: “For this film’s poignant look at Indigenous resistance and reclamation of past-traditions, illustrating a community grappling to resuscitate unceded lands, all while showing how the actions of a Nation foster healing by respecting what came before while working towards a better future, the Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature goes to Banchi Hanuse’s Ceremony.”

Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary, in memory of long time Hot Docs supporter Joan VanDuzer, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the International Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was given to The 49th Year (D: Heidrun Holzfeind | P: Heidrun Holzfeind | Austria, Germany, Japan | 2026 | 88 min). Through thoughtful letters from prison, an anarchist incarcerated since 1980 reflects on his radical past. This meditative portrait pairs humane narration with contemporary Japanese landscapes, exploring the quiet tensions between aging, political militancy and time itself.
Hot Docs is pleased to present the winner with a $5,000 cash prize, in memory of Joan VanDuzer.
Jury statement: “For its astute view on political ideologies and its meditative exploration of the true costs of radical action beyond isolated moments of protest and conventional electoral politics—and the ways in which periods of dissent can fade into enforced consensus, the jury recognizes Heidrun Holzfeind’s elegiac yet piercing attention to one man and the echoes of his resistance with the Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary.”

Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature Documentary, supported by Telefilm Canada, is awarded to an exceptional feature-length documentary in the Canadian Spectrum Competition program and was presented to Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom (D: Kim Nguyen | P: Nabil Mehchi, Robert Vroom, Ariel Nasr | Canada | 2026 | 91 min). Oscar-nominated director Kim Nguyen reveals the elusive connection between two families and photojournalist Eddie Adams’s iconic photo, Saigon Execution, confronting family secrets left in the wake of the Vietnam War, exposing the resilience of survivors and blurred legacy of wartime memory.
The winner will receive a $10,000 cash prize, courtesy of Telefilm Canada.
Jury Statement: “For this film’s illuminating look at the story behind an iconic image and the city where it was captured, its compelling analysis of the lasting effects of a conflict from more than a half century ago, and its deep dive into the complex historical, political and emotional aspects that expand well beyond the frame of one of the most haunting moments ever captured on film, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature Documentary award to Kim Nguyen’s Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom.”

Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary, supported by Donner Canadian Foundation, is awarded to an exceptional feature-length documentary in the International Spectrum Competition program and went to House of Hope (D: Marjolein Busstra | P: Ruby Deelen, Olivia Sophie van Leeuwen, May Jabareen, Ossama Bawardi | Netherlands, Palestine | 2025 | 91 min). In the West Bank lies an elementary school organized and run by a couple set on teaching their young Palestinian students non-violent resistance, offering a refuge from the escalating uncertainty that surrounds them.
Hot Docs is pleased to present the winner with a $10,000 cash prize, courtesy of Donner Canadian Foundation.
Jury Statement: “A powerful and unsentimental film that bears witness to a family-run Waldorf school in the West Bank and its profound commitment to nurturing the humanity of children. For its clear-eyed portrait of educators whose quiet everyday resilience stubbornly insists on hope under the shadow of occupation and genocide, the jury enthusiastically presents Marjolein Busstra with the Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary award for House of Hope.”

Hot Docs is an Academy Awards® qualifying festival for feature documentaries. The winner of Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary, House of Hope, will qualify for consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category of the annual Academy Awards® without the standard theatrical run, provided the film complies with Academy rules.

In addition to this year’s juried awards, the new Hot Docs-CISF Connect Audience Engagement Grant was announced by Lalita Krishna, Chair of the Canadian Independent Screen Fund for BPOC Creators (CISF). The $10,000 grant is for Canadian documentaries by Black or racialized creators that screened at Hot Docs 2026, to provide funding for marketing and audience engagement campaigns, helping to build sustainable audience pipelines beyond festival screenings. Applications will open on May 4 and close on May 31.

The 2026 awards for films in competition were determined by three juries.

Canadian & Bill Nemtin Award Jury:
Avril Benoît, Advisor and Former CEO, Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières
Jason Gorber, Film Journalist and Programmer
Yiqian Zhang, Documentary Producer and Founder, Electric Shadow

International Feature Documentary Jury:
Robyn Citizen, Director of Programming, Festival and Cinematheque, Toronto International Film Festival
Daniela Michel, Founding Director, Morelia International Film Festival
Lina Rodriguez, Filmmaker

Shorts Jury:
Fazila Amiri, Filmmaker
Martin Edralin, Filmmaker
Shonna Foster, Director/Producer

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Hot Docs (hotdocs.ca) is North America’s leading documentary festival, conference and market. 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 33rd annual edition in Toronto from April 23 to May 3, 2026. 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 Forum and Hot Docs Deal Maker. Since its inception in 1993, Hot Docs has supported the Canadian and international industry with professional development programs, production fund portfolio, and valuable professional development programs. The organization fosters education through documentaries with its popular free program Docs For Schools. Hot Docs also operates 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.

Tickets and ticket packages can be purchased and used 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 $22 ($20 member) for regular screenings, and $27 ($24 member) for Opening Night and Big Ideas screenings. A Festival 12-Pack is $228 and a Festival 20-Pack is $340 ($216 and $320 members). Hot Docs offers free tickets for regular screenings before 4:00 p.m. to patrons 60+ and students with valid photo I.D., available in-person at the venue on the day of the screening, subject to availability.

Hot Docs is proud to include Rogers as its Founding Partner and Telefilm Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the Canada Media Fund as its Major Supporters.

Pop legend Kenny Loggins gave Toronto a treat with an appearance at Hot Docs ’26 in support of Dori Berinstein‘s Documentary KENNY.LOGGINS: CONVICTION OF THE HEART, which recalls the hitmaker’s success over the past 50 years.

Loggins did a day of press in support of the Film which premieres at the Festival, with a Q&A to follow. At age 78, he looks amazing don’t you agree?

The Film screens a second time tonight at TIFF Lightbox. More details here.

(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)

Hitting select Canadian theatres this summer and premiering on documentary Channel, Sunday, July 19. 2026 at 9 pm ET, and on CBC Gem Friday, July 24.

DIRECTED & WRITTEN BY: Michelle Mama
PRODUCED BY: Michelle Mama, Bill Taylor, Allison Grace

Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions is a raw, rollicking portrait of Carole Pope—music icon, provocateur, and queer trailblazer whose fearless voice and unapologetic sexuality reshaped rock ‘n’ roll. From the underground grit of 1970s Toronto to opening for David Bowie, Pope’s incendiary lyrics and magnetic presence shattered expectations of what a woman, let alone a lesbian, could be onstage.

More than a music doc, Antidiva is a time capsule of queer resistance and chosen family, charting Pope’s creative symbiosis with Kevan Staples, her complicated relationships, and the bittersweet realities of aging in an industry that sidelines outsiders. Through archival treasure, electrifying performances, and present-day vérité, director Michelle Mama captures Pope’s contradictions: tough yet tender, jaded yet vibrantly alive.

Featuring k.d. lang, Peaches, Jann Arden, and Rufus Wainwright, Antidiva stands as a battle cry for self-expression, queer joy, and the artists who refuse to be tamed.

Commissioned by documentary Channel, Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions is a GAY AGENDA film in association with Here’s The Thing Productions, with distribution by Motion 58. The film was made possible with the support of the Canada Media Fund POV Program, the Ontario Creates Film Fund, the Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund, Telefilm Canada Theatrical Documentary Program and the Rogers Documentary Fund, in association with CBC and documentary Channel.

About Motion 58 Entertainment
Motion 58 Entertainment, led by Josh Epstein and Kyle Rideout, is Canada’s newest film distributor specializing in bold storytelling and high-concept event cinema. With roots in production, the company’s credits include Eadweard, Adventures in Public School, and the upcoming Firesky. Motion 58’s first theatrical releases include the VIFF Audience Choice winner Angela’s Shadow and the Hot Docs opening night film Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions which is set to hit theatres this summer.

Hot Docs is thrilled to welcome intriguing film subjects, filmmakers and special guests to its 2026 Festival, taking place in Toronto April 23 to May 3. Special guests include Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter Kenny Loggins, artist and disability advocate April Hubbard, MySpace co-founder Chris DeWolfe, and as previously announced, investigative journalist and co-founder and host of Democracy Now! Amy Goodman, and award-winning queer rock icon Carole Pope.

Featured guests are listed below. In most cases, the guests will be present at one or more screenings.

Carole Pope from ANTIDIVA: THE CAROLE POPE CONFESSIONS (D: Michelle Mama | P: Bill Taylor | Canada | 2025 | 89 min) – Canadian singer songwriter, queer rock icon and lead singer of Rough Trade.

Kenny Loggins from KENNY LOGGINS: CONVICTION OF THE HEART (D: Dori Berinstein | P: Dori Berinstein | USA | 2025 | 96 min) – Grammy Award-winning singer songwriter.

April Hubbard from THE LAST DAYS OF APRIL (D: Ree Wright, Meaghan Wright | P: Ree Wright, Meaghan Wright, Melani Wood | Canada | 2026 | 75 min) – Halifax artist and disability advocate.

Chris DeWolfe from MYSPACE (D: Tommy Avallone | P: Van Toffler, Trent Johnson | USA | 2025 | 96 min) – Co-founder and former chief executive officer of MySpace.

Amy Goodman from STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! (D: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin | P: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch | USA | 2026 | 102 min) – investigative journalist and co-founder and host of Democracy Now!

The 2026 Festival will also host over 200 of the world’s top documentary filmmakers and producers to introduce their films and participate in post-screening audience Q&As. Among those filmmakers in attendance are those listed below.

Michelle Mama, director of ANTIDIVA: THE CAROLE POPE CONFESSIONS (D: Michelle Mama | P: Bill Taylor | Canada | 2025 | 89 min)

Poh Si Teng, director of AMERICAN DOCTOR (D: Poh Si Teng | P: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad | USA, Palestine, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar | 2026 | 93 min)

Sam Dunn, director of THE BALLAD OF JUDAS PRIEST (D: Tom Morello, Sam Dunn | P: Sam Dunn, Scot McFadyen | USA | 2026 | 98 min)

Maya Annik Bedward, director of BLACK ZOMBIE (D: Maya Annik Bedward | P: Maya Annik Bedward, Kate Fraser, Hannah Donegan | Canada | 2026 | 90 min)

Jeffrey McHale, director of IT’S DOROTHY! (D: Jeffrey McHale | P: Ariana Garfinkel, Zel McCarthy, Suzanne Zionts | USA | 2025 | 97 min)

Dori Berinstein, director of KENNY LOGGINS: CONVICTION OF THE HEART (D: Dori Berinstein | P: Dori Berinstein | USA | 2025 | 96 min)

Shalini Kantayya, director of LOVE APPTUALLY (D: Shalini Kantayya | P: Elizabeth Woodward | USA, Australia | 2026 | 81 min)

Tommy Avallone, director of MYSPACE (D: Tommy Avallone | P: Van Toffler, Trent Johnson | USA | 2025 | 96 min)

Kim Nguyen, director of SAIGON STORY: TWO SHOOTINGS IN THE FOREST KINGDOM (D: Kim Nguyen | P: Nabil Mehchi, Robert Vroom, Ariel Nasr | Canada | 2026 | 91 min)

Tia Lessin, director of STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE! (D: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin | P: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch | USA | 2026 | 102 min)

Monica Henriquez and Louis Massiah, directors of TCB – THE TONI CADE BAMBARA SCHOOL OF ORGANIZING (D: Louis Massiah, Monica Henriquez | P: Louis Massiah | USA, UK, Canada, France, Senegal | 2025 | 105 min)

Barry Avrich, director of THIS ABOVE ALL: THE THEATRICAL LIFE OF ANTONI CIMOLINO (D: Barry Avrich | P: Mark Selby, Barry Avrich | Canada | 2026 | 78 min)

Sara Dosa, director of TIME AND WATER (D: Sara Dosa | P: Shane Boris, Elijah Stevens, Jameka Autry, Sara Dosa | USA, Iceland | 2026 | 90 min)

Mark Myers, director of THE TOWER THAT BUILT A CITY (D: Mark Myers | P: Mark Myers, Luke Myers | Canada | 2026 | 92 min)

Raha Shirazi, director of A WAR ON WOMEN (D: Raha Shirazi | P: Marco Serrecchia, Marica Stocchi, Beatrice Bordone Bulgari, Gianluca Curti, Daniele Occhipinti, Luca Bradamante | Italy | 2026 | 102 min)

Dawn Porter, director of WHEN A WITNESS RECANTS (D: Dawn Porter | P: Dawn Porter, Jennifer Oko, Miriam Weintraub | 2026 | USA | 117 min)

For more information on Hot Docs, visit hotdocs.ca

Hot Docs (hotdocs.ca) is North America’s leading documentary festival, conference and market. 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 33rd annual edition in Toronto from April 23 to May 3, 2026. 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 Forum and Hot Docs Deal Maker. Since its inception in 1993, Hot Docs has supported the Canadian and international industry with professional development programs, production fund portfolio, and valuable professional development programs. The organization fosters education through documentaries with its popular free program Docs For Schools. Hot Docs also operates 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.

Tickets and ticket packages can be purchased and used 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 $22 ($20 member) for regular screenings, and $27 ($24 member) for Opening Night and Big Ideas screenings. A Festival 12-Pack is $228 and a Festival 20-Pack is $340 ($216 and $320 members). Hot Docs offers free tickets for regular screenings before 4:00 p.m. to patrons 60+ and students with valid photo I.D., available in-person at the venue on the day of the screening, subject to availability.

Hot Docs is proud to include Rogers as its Founding Partner and Telefilm Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the Canada Media Fund as its Major Supporters.

Melbar Entertainment Group is pleased to announce that THIS ABOVE ALL: THE THEATRICAL LIFE OF ANTONI CIMOLINO will make its world premiere at the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival on Monday, April 27, 2026 at 7:45pm at the TIFF Lightbox, with a repeat screening Tuesday, April 28, 2026 at 11:15am.

Directed by Barry Avrich and produced by Mark Selby, the documentary follows Antoni Cimolino as he prepares for his final season leading the Stratford Festival after nearly four decades with the company. With candid access and reflections from artists and collaborators from across the Canadian theatre community, THIS ABOVE ALL offers a rare and compelling look behind the scenes of one of the country’s most celebrated cultural institutions, and the man whose life has become deeply intertwined with it.

At once a portrait, a backstage chronicle and a celebration of Canadian artistry, the film traces Cimolino’s journey from young actor to acclaimed director and Artistic Director, capturing the passion, pressure, ambition and heart that have shaped his remarkable career.

“From the moment my mother introduced me to the Stratford Festival when I was just nine years old, I was captivated by its magic and sheer luminescent power,” said director Barry Avrich. “Antoni Cimolino is an unequalled master class in how to run an extraordinary, globally renowned theatre company while ensuring its Canadian identity remains protected.”      

“When you spend your life in the theatre storytelling, you never imagine being the story yourself,” said Antoni Cimolino. “I am both humbled by the notion of having my life documented and at the same time, so proud to have contributed to an enormously talented landscape of Canadian artists that became my world, my life and my work.”

Following its world premiere at Hot Docs, THIS ABOVE ALL: THE THEATRICAL LIFE OF ANTONI CIMOLINO is scheduled to air on documentary Channel on Sunday, August 30 at 9pm ET/PT. A CBC Gem release will follow on Friday, September 18.

Produced by Melbar Entertainment Group, THIS ABOVE ALL: THE THEATRICAL LIFE OF ANTONI CIMOLINO was produced with the participation of the Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Ontario Creates and Rogers Documentary Fund, and in association with documentary Channel. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager of Entertainment, Factual and Sports; Jennifer Dettman is Executive Director of Unscripted Content; and Sandra Kleinfeld is Senior Director, Documentary.

The highly anticipated Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival returns to Toronto for its 33rd edition April 23 to May 3, 2026, sharing the finest in global non-fiction storytelling. From 2820 film submissions, this year’s slate will present 115 documentaries representing 51 countries across nine diverse programs and will feature 52 world and international premieres. Furthermore, alongside the premieres of remarkable Canadian and international documentaries, the 2026 Festival will offer an extensive lineup of industry programs and events, including the return of the popular Hot Docs Forum international industry pitch event.

“Documentary filmmaking offers a way to engage more deeply with the world around us—through stories that are thoughtful, complex and deeply human,” said Diana Sanchez, Executive Director of Hot Docs. “This year’s Hot Docs Festival celebrates documentary filmmaking through 115 globe-spanning films, connecting this important work to audiences and bringing us together in ways that deepen our understanding of the world we share.”

This year’s lineup of 80 features and 35 shorts will share stories of humanity’s struggles, courage, and ambition, as well as the increasingly evolving world of technology. A total of 30 Canadian films will screen as official selections, and 14 films received support from Hot Docs’ film funds and market programs, including the Hot Docs Forum and Deal Maker. Hot Docs will welcome several filmmakers and guests to the Festival to participate in post-screening Q&As.

The 2026 Hot Docs Festival will open with the world premiere of Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions, directed by Canadian filmmaker Michelle Mama, on Thursday, April 23 at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. The Canadian film spotlights queer rock icon Carole Pope as she reclaims her rightful place in music history and received funding in 2023 from the Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund to support the project in its development stage.

The Big Ideas series will once again spark insightful conversations with notable guests, including Love Apptually director Shalini Kantayya, Myspace director Tommy Avallone, A War on Women director Raha Shirazi, and Steal This Story, Please! director Tia Lessin.

The Special Presentations program, showcasing high-profile films, festival circuit heavy hitters, and renowned subjects, includes the world premieres of director Shalini Kantayya’s Love Apptually, about a journalist’s exploration of dating app algorithms; director Dori Berinstein’s Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart, which traces the life and career of the multi-award-winning singer-songwriter who soundtracked some of Hollywood’s most unforgettable movie moments; director Tommy Avallone’s Myspace, a portrait of the pioneering social networking platform; director Mark Myers’s The Tower That Built a City, celebrating the 50th anniversary of Toronto’s skyline-defining CN Tower; and director Raha Shirazi’s A War on Women, which traces 40 years of feminist resistance by Iranian women against the Islamic Republic.

Canadian Spectrum Competition, a competitive program showcasing bold new works by Canadian directors, includes the world premieres of director Sébastien Trahan’s Code of Misconduct, in which an investigative journalist’s duty to follow the facts leads to the trial of five Canadian professional hockey players charged with sexual assault; Ryan Ermacora and Jessica Johnson’s Concrete Turned to Sand, in which local oyster farmers ply their trade amidst a rapidly changing environment; Ree Wright and Meaghan Wright’s The Last Days of April, the courageous journey of a determined disabled advocate living with a tethered spinal cord and chronic pain; director Rico King’s Nekai Walks, in which Nekai Foster defies all medical odds and relearns to walk after being shot while walking home in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighbourhood; Oscar-nominated director Kim Nguyen’s Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, which reveals the elusive connection between two families and photojournalist Eddie Adams’s iconic photo in the wake of the Vietnam War; and Evan Adams and Eileen Francis’s təm kʷaθ nan Namesake, in which a request from the Tla’amin Nation to change the name of Powell River, B.C ignites a heated debate about whose history is told and respected. The Canadian Spectrum Competition is sponsored by DGC National and DGC Ontario.

International Spectrum Competition, a competitive program spotlighting engaging stories from around the globe, includes a compelling lineup of world premieres: The 49th Year directed by Heidrun Holzfeind tells the story of an anarchist incarcerated since 1980 as he reflects on his radical past; A Distant Call directed by Andrea Suwito captures a rare, meditative struggle between local tradition and modern faith in a remote Indonesian community with ancient traditions; LandStone directed by Faraz Fadaian takes viewers into the Iranian desert where an elderly man and his wife face mortality and fading bonds while seeking solace in a handmade cave; Parasisi directed by Zaïde Bil and Sébastien Segers traces how mining, missionaries and medicine ripple through daily life along the Lawa River; Stories for Sandro directed by Giacomo Boeri brings to life the memories of the filmmaker’s father after he is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s; Vanishing Tracks directed by Hamed Zolfaghari follows a family in Iran’s remote nomadic landscape as they navigate their traditional existence in a modern world, and Vegapolis directed by Micha Barban Dangerfield brings audiences inside a Montpellier rink where teens gather each week, forging friendships, dissecting crushes and dreaming amidst laser lights and thumping bass. The International Spectrum Competition program is supported by the Donner Canadian Foundation.

The World Showcase program features revelatory stories that span the globe, including the world premieres of Simon Ennis and Brad Abrahams’s Gimme Truth, which follows truth-seekers and ex-believers into the gravitational pull of conspiracy culture; Jevan Crittenden and Nate Slaco’s In Tyee Country, in which a century-old fishing club on Canada’s west coast faces an existential crisis as salmon populations dwindle; and Alisher Balfanbayev’s Searching for Drug Peace, in which a daring activist risks everything to fund a non-profit drug testing centre and provide life-saving harm reduction amidst a deadly overdose crisis in Vancouver.

Made In Brazil will showcase new documentaries from Brazil including the world premiere of Solar Shadow from directors Hugo Haddad and Isadora Canela, a beautiful exploration of ancestral Indigenous astronomy in Brazil, and the international premiere of Dona Onete – This Tiny Piece of My Heart from director Mini Kerti, a colour-filled and spirit-lifting portrait of singer and composer Dona Onete who, in her seventies, emerged as Brazil’s “Queen of Carimbó.”

Persister amplifies the voices of strong, inspirational women who are speaking up and being heard, including the world premieres of director Nance Ackerman’s The Delivery Line, which brings into sharp focus the gravity of the extraordinary and lifesaving work of fearless midwives who risk everything to help mothers in dangerous circumstances, and director Katia Café-Fébrissy INDIVISUM: Legacies Adrift, in which a Canadian filmmaker returns to her ancestral home of Guadeloupe to discover families torn apart over land inheritance.

The new Digital Witnesses program features stories of tech and surveillance and includes the international premieres of Ghost in the Machine by director Valerie Veatch, an interrogation of who builds AI, who benefits from it and who bears the cost of a technology that continues to surround us, and Virtual Girlfriends by director Barbora Chalupová, in which three women—navigating careers as sexual-content creators on OnlyFans—reveal the tantalizing, transactional and ultimately fragile dynamics of digital intimacy.

Artscapes features creative minds, artistic pursuits and inventive filmmaking, and includes the world premiere of This Above All: The Theatrical Life of Antoni Cimolino from director Barry Avrich, in which the longest serving Artistic Director of the iconic Stratford Festival, Antoni Cimolino, prepares for his final season while reflecting on the 40 years he’s devoted to the theatrical repertory company. Receiving its international premiere is Gealtra from director Brendan Canty, in which teenagers on the north side of Cork grow from shy beginners into viral sensations as they write and perform infectious Irish-language rap. Artscapes is supported by the Kololian Family.

Hot Docs will present a selection of 35 Canadian and international short films from 21 countries across various programs and as part of the Festival’s four curated Shorts Programs.

The festival will close with a free encore screening where the winner of this year’s Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary will be announced. The winner will receive a $50,000 cash prize courtesy of Rogers.

For a complete list of 2026 Hot Docs Festival films, download the Festival Media Kit at hotdocs.ca/news/media

For more information on Hot Docs, visit hotdocs.ca

Hot Docs (hotdocs.ca) is North America’s leading documentary festival, conference and market. 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 33rd annual edition in Toronto from April 23 to May 3, 2026. 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 Forum and Hot Docs Deal Maker. Since its inception in 1993, Hot Docs has supported the Canadian and international industry with professional development programs, production fund portfolio, and valuable professional development programs. The organization fosters education through documentaries with its popular free program Docs For Schools. Hot Docs also operates 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 24, Festival ticket package holders, including Doc Soup subscribers, can use their ticket packages, and Hot Docs Members can purchase single tickets. Starting Tuesday, March 31, single tickets will be available to the public. Tickets and ticket packages can be purchased and used 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 $22 ($20 member) for regular screenings, and $27 ($24 member) for Opening Night and Big Ideas screenings. A Festival 12-Pack is $228 and a Festival 20-Pack is $340 ($216 and $320 members). Hot Docs offers free tickets for regular screenings before 4:00 p.m. to patrons 60+ and students with valid photo I.D., available in-person at the venue on the day of the screening, subject to availability.

Hot Docs is proud to include Rogers as its Founding Partner and Telefilm Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the Canada Media Fund as its Major Supporters.

Hot Docs announced today that the popular long-running series Big Ideas will return as part of the 2026 Hot Docs Festival, taking place April 23 to May 3, 2026 in Toronto. Celebrating its 13th year, Big Ideas gives audiences a rare opportunity to experience the premieres of four thought-provoking documentaries immediately followed by a dynamic, in-depth conversation with the filmmakers and subjects who brought these incredible stories to the big screen.
 
The 2026 Big Ideas series will see the world premieres of two new films exploring the ways we seek to build our personal lives online. In Emmy-nominated director Shalini Kantayya’s Love Apptually, we swipe right on a journalist’s exploration of dating app algorithms, and we sink into early aughts nostalgia to catch up with everyone’s old friend Tom in Myspace, Tommy Avallone’s portrait of the pioneering social networking platform. Receiving its North American premiere is Iranian-Canadian filmmaker Raha Shirazi’s A War on Women, which traces 40 years of feminist resistance by Iranian women against the Islamic Republic, and receiving a Canadian premiere is Steal This Story, Please! from Oscar-nominated filmmakers Carl Deal and Tia Lessin (Trouble the Water), a gripping portrait of Democracy Now! trailblazer Amy Goodman, whose unwavering commitment to truth-telling spans three decades of turbulent history.

Filmmakers from each of these films as well as subject Amy Goodman will be in attendance at this year’s Festival to take part in Big Ideas live on stage.

“Big Ideas events are one of the ways Hot Docs brings documentary storytelling directly into conversation with the world around us,” said Diana Sanchez, Executive Director, Hot Docs. “These screenings invite audiences to experience the film and then continue the conversation live – with filmmakers, journalists and experts – about the issues shaping our world today. We’re honoured to welcome Amy Goodman and these filmmakers for what will be a thoughtful and engaging discussion.”

The films will each receive their premiere at the Festival as part of Big Ideas. Three will receive additional screenings throughout the Festival as part of the Special Presentations program, with the fourth screening as part of a yet to be announced themed program. Guests participating in Big Ideas are included below, with moderators to be announced over the coming weeks.

LOVE APPTUALLY
D: Shalini Kantayya | P: Elizabeth Woodward | USA, Australia | 2026 | 81 min | World Premiere
Tired of swiping without results? Follow one journalist’s quest to unpack the dating app algorithms shaping modern romance as she reveals how, in an already lonely world, technology, bias and profit are increasingly influencing who we meet and why.

Filmmaker and Hot Docs alum Shalini Kantayya (Coded Bias; TikTok, Boom) discusses her latest deep dive into the world of technology, this time focusing on Tinder. Love Apptually explores the unknown structures behind big tech and the algorithms that both lift and restrict the users attempting to find love in the digital age.

MYSPACE
D: Tommy Avallone | P: Van Toffler, Trent Johnson | USA | 2025 | 96 min | World Premiere
What is the legacy of Myspace? Pulling at the heartstrings of millennials and curious newcomers alike, this nostalgic portrait traces how this pioneering social networking platform shaped the digital world we now inhabit, from online fame to social media overload.

Join director Tommy Avallone for a conversation about Myspace, the pioneering social media site that became a cultural phenomenon for casual users and upcoming artists alike, and how it set the stage for the social media landscape that we know today.

STEAL THIS STORY, PLEASE!
D: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin | P: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch | USA | 2026 | 102 min | Canadian Premiere
Fiercely independent journalist Amy Goodman has spent three decades holding the powerful to account, reporting from conflict zones and the Democracy Now! newsroom as an essential voice highlighting global issues and pursuing truth in an era of “alternative” facts.

Journalist Amy Goodman joins Oscar-nominated filmmaker Tia Lessin for a conversation about the importance of independent journalism in a world where media representatives can often be stifled and how those still fighting shine a spotlight on the stories that need to be told.

A WAR ON WOMEN
D: Raha Shirazi | P: Marco Serrecchia, Marica Stocchi, Beatrice Bordone Bulgari, Gianluca Curti, Daniele Occhipinti, Luca Bradamante | Italy | 2026 | 102 min | North American Premiere
Long before the world chanted “Woman, Life, Freedom,” Iranian women have been rising up. Intimate interviews and archival footage trace 40 years of feminist resistance against the Islamic Republic, culminating in a revolution led by the very women the regime tried to silence.

Join director Raha Shirazi for an exploration of women’s rights in Iran, from decades of resistance and activism to the recent rally cry of “Woman, Life, Freedom,” and how A War on Women spotlights well-known members of the community to reframe the global conversation around how these women are changing history.

New this year, Big Ideas Cocktails will take place before each Big Ideas event. These receptions offer audiences the opportunity to gather and connect before the screening. Tickets are $50 per person and must be purchased in addition to a ticket for the same-day Big Ideas screening.

Film stills of Big Ideas titles are available at tinyurl.com/HD2026SP1

For more information on Hot Docs, visit hotdocs.ca

Hot Docs (hotdocs.ca) is North America’s leading documentary festival, conference and market. 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 33rd annual edition in Toronto from April 23 to May 3, 2026. 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 Forum and Hot Docs Deal Maker. Since its inception in 1993, Hot Docs has supported the Canadian and international industry with professional development programs, production fund portfolio, and valuable professional development programs. The organization fosters education through documentaries with its popular free program Docs For Schools. Hot Docs also operates 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 24, Festival ticket package holders, including Doc Soup subscribers, can use their ticket packages, and Hot Docs Members can purchase single tickets. Starting Tuesday, March 31, 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 $22 ($20 member) for regular screenings, and $27 ($24 member) for Big Ideas screenings. A Festival 12-Pack is $228 and a Festival 20-Pack is $340 ($216 and $320 members). Hot Docs offers free tickets for regular screenings before 4:00 p.m. to patrons 60+ 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 and Telefilm Canada, the Government of Ontario, and the Canada Media Fund as its Major Supporters.

WE WERE LIARS author E. Lockhart will appear at Hot Docs Cinema on Feb 4, 2026 at 7pm. Tickets here.

Lockhart will be discussing her new book, We Fell Apart, her razor‑sharp new novel filled with family secrets, seaside mysteries, and the lies we tell to survive. The story follows Matilda, whose unexpected invitation to Hidden Beach a crumbling sanctuary of strangers claiming to be kin forces her to confront the truth about the father she’s never met and the past that’s been kept from her. It’s Lockhart at her most atmospheric: twisty, intimate, and impossible to shake.

During this event, Lockhart will explore the making of the novel, the allure of unreliable narrators, and the complex bonds that shape us. She’ll be joined on stage by acclaimed author Nita Prose for a conversation filled with tension, revelations, and the kind of storytelling only Lockhart can deliver.

A book signing will follow the discussion. Copies of We Fell Apart will be available both online when purchasing your ticket and in person at the event.