Toronto, CMEDIA: The highly anticipated Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival reportedly returns to Toronto from April 24 to May 4, 2025.
Promising an unparalleled celebration of non-fiction storytelling on a global scale including 2662 film submissions, this year’s festival’s slate will present 113 documentaries representing 47 countries across 11 diverse programs and will feature 35 world, 14 international, and 26 North American premieres.
In addition, alongside the premieres of remarkable Canadian and international documentaries, the 2025 Festival will offer an extensive lineup of industry programs and events.
“I am incredibly excited to be able to share these 113 extraordinary films…documentary landscape and the world of film festivals…new challenges and so much change…continue to share the powerful work and talent of filmmakers from Canada and around the world with Toronto’s dedicated film-loving audiences…and in times such as this, when there is so much consistent change and uncertainty both here at home and globally, that expansion is perhaps needed now more than eve,” Heather Haynes, Director of Programming, Hot Docs has said.
The 2025 Hot Docs Festival to open with the world premiere of Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance, directed by award-winning Canadian filmmaker Noam Gonick, produced by Justine Pimlott for the National Film Board of Canada, on Thursday, April 24 at 6:15 PM (Industry screening) and 9:30 PM (public screening) at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
Exploring the pivotal moments and courageous actions, this ground-breaking feature documentary sparks Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ movement.
Sparking once again insightful conversations with notable guests, The Big Ideas series will include director Maxim Derevianko and special guests of Ai Weiwei’s Turandot; director James Jones and journalist Christo Grozev of Antidote; director Shoshannah Stern and actor Marlee Matlin of Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore; and director Violet Du Feng of The Dating Game.
Showcasing high-profile films, festival circuit heavy hitters, and renowned subjects, the Special Presentations program includes the world premiere of The Nest, co-directed by Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh, showcasing a deeply personal exploration of memory, identity, and intergenerational storytelling.
Other international premiere include Special Presentations: Come See Me in the Good Light, which follows spoken word artist and poet laureate of Colorado Andrea Gibson after an incurable cancer diagnosis; Deaf President Now!, a powerful chronicle of the landmark student protest that transformed accessibility rights in the US; Life After, in which celebrated filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates the troubling implications of assisted suicide laws for disabled people; and Selena y Los Dinos, a riveting look at the life and legacy of the “Queen of Tejano Music” Selena Quintanilla.
A competitive program, Canadian Spectrum Competition sponsored by TVO Docs, showcases bold new works by Canadian directors including the world premieres of #skoden, in which an iconic Indigenous meme sparks a poignant exploration of the unhoused Albertan man behind the viral phenomenon; Casas Muertas, a lyrical meditation on loss, strength and hope that follows the resilience of three generations of Venezuelans, bound by uncertainty amidst a country-wide economic crisis; Shamed, following an online vigilante and self-described “Creeper Hunter” who seeks out potential sexual predators and ambushes them in videotaped confrontations; and Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man, a luminous exploration of strength and vulnerability that spans generations of Siksika men and boys as they learn to embrace the intricacies of self-discovery amidst a sweeping Prairies backdrop.
Supported by the Donner Canadian Foundation, International Spectrum Competition, a competitive program spotlighting engaging stories from around the globe, includes a compelling lineup of world premieres: Heritage is a meticulously crafted family snapshot in which two siblings alternate shifts caring for their elderly parents; Dreamed His Name follows the filmmaker and her sister on a journey of discovery across Colombia’s painful history, thirty years after their Afro-Colombian father’s forced disappearance; Poppy follows a son’s fight against corrupt officials while his mother tends their poppy farm in India; King Matt the First takes us on an enchanting journey into the inner world of young Polish sisters as they grapple with impending adulthood; and Unwelcomed examines contrasting perspectives around the migrant crisis in Chile following its most violent anti-immigrant protest in late 2021, sparked by an unprecedented influx of migrants from Venezuela.
For the first time in the program’s history, Made In will showcase documentaries created by filmmakers and participants who, driven from their homelands by war, conflict or humanitarian crises, continue to tell stories that demand to be heard.
This year’s lineup will include deeply personal and timely narratives from Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, Palestine and beyond, offering audiences a rare and resonant perspective on survival, displacement and the enduring strength of the creative spirit. Made In Exile will include the world premiere of The Longer You Bleed, which explores the emotional toll that constant consumption of war imagery takes on a group of Gen Z Ukrainians in Berlin.
Also include in the program will be Canadian premieres of Khartoum, in which a group of displaced Sudanese filmmakers empower five fellow citizens to re-enact dramatic testimonies of their nation’s descent into civil war; Writing Hawa, in which a mother is freed from the constraints of a 40-year arranged marriage, only to see her hopes for a brighter future decimated by the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan; and Yalla Parkour, a nostalgia-fuelled journey that reveals the harsh realities facing Palestinians through the forming of a relationship between a filmmaker and a young parkour athlete in Gaza. Made In Exile is supported by PEN Canada.
Featuring revelatory stories that span the globe The World Showcase program includes the world premieres of of Aisha’s Story, in which a Palestinian grain miller in a Jordanian refugee camp safeguards her culture and shares her people’s history through food; Betrayal, following the brother-in-law of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor as he becomes a courageous whistleblower against the dictator’s regime; The Gardener and the Dictator, offering a unique glimpse into China’s tumultuous last century through memories of the filmmaker’s elderly grandparents and their quirky love story; Marriage Cops, in which an all-women police unit in northern India tackles troubled marriages with unexpected wisdom and authority; and Spare My Bones, Coyote!, the story of a Mexican American couple who, for 12 years, have organized biweekly search and rescue missions along the desert border.
Featuring films that shine a light on the voices of strong, inspirational women who are speaking up and being heard, the acclaimed Persister program includes the world premieres of MAMA, in which the filmmaker moves beyond the repair of her broken body into to a deeper, more vulnerable soul healing, following a breast cancer diagnosis, and Widow Champion, in which a widow rises to help other widows reclaim their rightful property, in rural Kenya where women lose their homes after a husband’s death.
The program will feature the international premiere of Mama Goals, in which Charlotta abandons a secure full-time healthcare job to pursue her dream of becoming a comedian.
Artscapes features creative minds, artistic pursuits and inventive filmmaking, and includes the North American premieres of Queer as Punk, following the trans-fronted Muslim punk band Shh…Diam!, whose electrifying performances in Kuala Lumpur defy the harsh criminal penalties faced by Malaysia’s LGBTQ community, and The Flamenco Guitar of Yerai Cortés, shot on richly textured 16mm to share an evocative portrait of Spanish guitarist Yerai Cortés as he explores the spiritual power of flamenco. The program will see the Canadian premiere of Ai Weiwei’s Turandot, in which the renowned dissident artist reimagines Puccini’s opera as a bold critique of modern totalitarianism.
The new Tipping Point program features hard-hitting accounts of some of today’s most pressing issues, including the world premiere of Night Watches Us, a poetic blend of music, dance and spoken word, chronicling a family’s desire for justice after a 23-year-old Black father—grappling with a mental crisis—was shot and killed by Montreal police. The program also brings the North American premieres of An American Pastoral, in which a heated school board election In a conservative Pennsylvania town becomes ground zero for America’s culture wars; Colossal, an exploration of the director’s politically polarized family and role they played during the authoritarian regime of longtime Dominican Republic president Joaquín Balaguer; and Facing War, in which NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg needs to use all of his diplomatic skills to keep the Alliance together and committed to standing by Ukraine.
The popular Nightvision program presents future cult classics, including the North American premiere of Garanti 100% Kréol, a journey into the world of “magical insurance policies” on the island of Réunion, as those seeking health and peace of mind head to a “guesser,” hoping to secure a protective talisman proffered by witchcraft and religion, including the director himself, desiring such a guarantee for his own film. Also receiving a North American premiere at Hot Docs 2025 is Ultras, an immersive and electrifying mosaic of soccer’s “ultras,” the uber fans whose monumental collective displays transform global stadiums into cauldrons of sound and colour. More than just a fandom, being an ultra is a way of life.
Hot Docs will present a specially curated selection of Canadian and international short films as part of the Festival’s Shorts Programs, which will share 18 films from 13 countries as part of four individual shorts programs, each one aiming to excite and inspire with its unique collection of fresh filmmaking talent.
Hot Docs Festival 2025 will also include a free encore screening on the Festival’s final night—Sunday, May 4—where the winner of this year’s Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary will be announced. The top Canadian feature film in the audience poll will receive a CAD 50,000 cash prize, courtesy of Rogers.
To learn more about the Hot Docs Festival 2025 program, download the Festival Media Kit at www.hotdocs.ca/media.
