About Us
Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference and market. Each year, the Festival presents a selection of approximately 200 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the globe.
Hot Docs was founded in 1993 by the Documentary Organization of Canada (formerly the Canadian Independent Film Caucus), a national association of independent documentary filmmakers. In 1996, Hot Docs became a separately incorporated organization with a mandate to showcase and support the work of Canadian and international documentary filmmakers and to promote excellence in documentary production.
Hot Docs is a national, charitable organization dedicated to advancing and celebrating the art of documentary.
Our mission is to advance and celebrate the art of documentary, and to showcase the work of and create production opportunities for documentary filmmakers.
Conference & Market
With its lively mix of public and professional events, Hot Docs is the ideal North American meeting place for the international documentary industry.
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Hot Docs Forum
During the Festival, Hot Docs also presents the renowned Hot Docs Forum, a dynamic pitching event that stimulates international co-production financing for projects at various levels of completion. With more than 190 broadcasters and distributors from around the world, it is a preeminent source of up-to-the-second market intelligence.
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Docs For Schools
Launched in 2006, Docs For Schools presents free daytime screenings for educators and students at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema during the Festival, with filmmakers present for discussions after the screenings. The program also provides opportunities to screen current documentaries in schools across Ontario.
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Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema
In June 2016 it was announced that a generous gift from the Rogers Family enabled Hot Docs to purchase the Cinema from the Blue Ice Group, and that it will continue to offer audiences the best in documentary programming at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
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Production Funds
Hot Docs administers three production funds: the Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds provide financial support to Canadian filmmakers; the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund provides financial support to documentary filmmakers based Africa; and the CrossCurrents Doc Fund aims to foster storytelling from historically underrepresented or marginalized communities.
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Film Series & Programs
Doc Soup, Hot Docs' monthly screening and discussion series, is held at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema from October to April. Doc Soup national includes monthly screenings in Calgary from November to April, and our Bell Media Best of Hot Docs screenings across Canada. The Bell Media Hot Docs Showcase offers independent cinemas and other non-traditional screening venues across Ontario access to a catalogue of recent, high-quality documentaries.
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