The criminal exploits of a New England couple are revealed in The Thief Collector. In 2017, while claiming material for his antique store from the estate of Rita and Jerry Alter in Cliff, New Mexico, Dave Van Auker finds a painting behind their bedroom door, which turns out to be Willem de Kooning’s painting “Woman-Ochre,” …
Hot Docs 2022
Two Mexican-American women try to make it in the music industry and support their families in Mija. Doris Muñoz is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, who is working as a manager in the music industry, while also trying to acquire green cards for her parents. When Doris loses her primary client, she finds Jacks Haupt, …
The filmmakers and stars of the film 9 to 5 reminisce on how it remains relevant 40 years later in Still Working 9 to 5. When it was released in 1980, the film 9 to 5 used satirical comedy to tell a story about women in the workplace. More than 40 years after the release …
Alan Cumming stands in for a legendary student of Glasgow’s Bearsden Academy in My Old School. In 1993, a new student named Brandon Lee enrolled in Bearsden Academy, a posh high school in the rich end of Glasgow. Claiming to be a Canadian, who moved in with his grandmother after the death of his opera …
A Russian geophysicist creates a wildlife preserve in an attempt to reserve the effects of climate change in Pleistocene Park. Sergey Zimov and his son Nikita have been gathering large woolly animals and placing them in a preserve in Siberia, in an effort to recreate the Mammoth steppe ecosystem, to slow down the melting permafrost. …
Individuals fight against laws banning boycotts against Israel in Boycott. Over the past six years, 33 states have passed laws preventing boycotts against Israel. In response, a number of individuals are going to court to argue that these laws are unconstitutional. These plaintiffs include Alan Leveritt, the publisher of The Arkansas Times newspaper, who is …
A middle-aged disabled woman seeks out her first meaningful sexual experience in Sexual Healing. Evaliene is a 53-year-old woman, who has only had a functional relationship with her body. Seeking to change that, Evaliene decides to explore her sexuality by wearing lingerie and buying sex toys. However, the biggest move comes when she decides to …
Photojournalists speak of the toll of photographing on the frontlines in Shooting War. The Globe and Mail have brought together nine war photojournalists to speak about their experiences, including iconic Vietnam photographer Tim Page, four-time Pulitzer Prize winner Carol Guzy, and National Geographic photographer David Guttenfelder. Along with psychiatrist Anthony Feinstein, these photographers talk about …
Two women live isolated from the world on their farm in Bucolic. 65-year-old Danusia and her 35-year-old daughter Basia live in isolation from the rest of the world on their farm on the outskirts of a village in central Poland. Danusia and Basia live in turn with rhythm and laws of nature, among animals and …
The rise and fall of the man who invented the modern bulletproof vest are explored in 2nd Chance. A former pizzeria owner, Richard Davis would invent what would become the modern bulletproof vest, with him shooting himself to prove its effectiveness. This would lead to him founding Second Chance, which would become the number one …
Ron Howard directs a look into José Andrés’ World Central Kitchen organization in We Feed People. First becoming known as a celebrity chef, Spanish chef José Andrés put his culinary skills to humanitarian use by founding his organization World Central Kitchen. The organization’s goal is to provide disaster relief by making meals for at least …
The life and career of the legendary mime Marcel Marceau are revisited in The Art of Silence. For decades, Marcel Marceau wowed audiences as his stage persona of the tragicomic clown “Bip,” becoming the world’s most famous mime. However, few would be aware of Marcel Marceau’s own tragic backstory, as his Jewish father was killed …
The controversy surrounding Lyme disease is explored in The Quiet Epidemic. Since it was first discovered in 1975, the common belief about Lyme disease is that it is a non-chronic condition that can just be treated with antibiotics. However, there is much evidence to suggest that this is not the case and doctors and activists …
First Runner-Up: Rogers Audience Award A rock band made up of young people on the autistic spectrum prepare for their first album and performance in Okay! (The ASD Band Film). Rawan Tuffaha (vocals), Jackson D. Begley (vocals/guitar), Spenser Murray (drums), and Ron Adea (keyboards) are four individuals on the autistic spectrum, who have come together …
Winner: Rogers Audience Award Animated reenactments tell the story of a group of activists hijacking the TV signal in China in Eternal Spring. In March 2002, members of the Buddist spiritual group Falun Gong hacked the signal of the state TV station in Changchun City, in response to the Chinese government banning the practice and …
The turbulent first five years of the career of Sinéad O’Connor are reframed through a feminist lens in Nothing Compares. Growing up in Ireland with an incredibly abusive mother, Sinéad O’Connor entered the world of music as a form of therapy. Despite shaving her head to rebel against being a musical commodity, Sinéad would end …
The impact of the social media app TikTok is explored in TikTok, Boom. Developed by the Chinese company ByteDance, TikTok has become the social media app that has resonated the most with Gen-Z. Comprised of high quality vertical video content and a complex algorithm, it is incredibly easy for someone to go viral on the …
A German teenager aspires to be a successful social media influencer in Girl Gang. Leonie is a 14 year old in Berlin, who is growing in popularity has a social media influencer. Managed by her parents Andy and Sani, Leonie has to stick to a strict posting schedule and promote the brands who pay her. …
The members of the iconic and groundbreaking comedy troupe reminisce about their 40 year career in The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks. The Kids in the Hall were formed in the early 1980s when Calgary comedy duo Bruce McCulloch and Mark McKinney joined up with Toronto’s Dave Foley and Kevin McDonald to form a …
Abigail Disney takes a deep dive into the wage inequality plaguing the company that bears her family’s name in The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales. The workers at Walt Disneyland in Anaheim are struggling to live on their measly $15/hour minimum wage, while CEO Bob Iger makes 800 times that much. Abigail Disney and …
One of the most infamous grifters in Toronto tries to tell his side of the story in The Talented Mr. Rosenberg. Nicknamed “The Yorkville Swindler” by the media, Albert Rosenberg has been a con artist for decades, being charged for crimes that spread from Monte Carlo to New York and Austria to Toronto. Now in …
A man tried to find out how his grandfather died in Bernie Langille Wants to Know What Happened to Bernie Langille. Bernie Langille is a man who never met his namesake grandfather, who died under mysterious circumstances in 1968, 15 years before Bernie was even born. One day Bernie feels compelled to find out what …
An all-woman art rock band gives themselves a year to hit it big in Band. Iceland’s Post Performance Blues Band is a mix of electronic music and performance art consisting of the trio of Álfrún Örnólfsdóttir, Hrefna Lind Lárusdóttir, and Saga Sigurðardóttir. First getting together in art school, the PPBB has grown tired of playing …
A group of activists try to advocate about the benefits of nuclear energy in Atomic Hope: Inside of Pro Nuclear Movement. Fossil fuel currently accounts for 83% of global energy use and the demand is expected to double or triple over the next century. With renewal sources of energy such as wind or solar being …
Trigger Warning: This film deals with sexual abuse A woman and her family come to terms with their history of sexual abuse in Silent Beauty. When Jasmin Mara López sees a photo of her niece with her grandfather, it results in painful memories come flooding back. This results in Jasmin deciding to come forward about …
The life and career of heavy metal pioneer Ronnie James Dio are revisited in Dio: Dreamers Never Die. Born Ronald James Padavona the career of Ronnie James Dio spans the entire history of rock music, beginning with the 1960s band Ronnie Dio and the Red Caps later renamed the Prophets. After fronting the hard rock …
The rise of Wakaliwood is documented in Once Upon a Time in Uganda. Living in Wakaliga, the slum of the Ugandan capital city of Kampala, brickmaker Isaac Nabwana has started to develop a following for the ultra-low budget action films he has produced for his company Ramon Film Productions. When the trailer for Isaac’s film …
A UCLA study about sex disorders from the 1950s and 1960s is reenacted in the style of a talk show in Framing Agnes. Using never-before-seen transcripts from the archive of Dr. Harold Garfinkel, filmmaker Chase Joynt sets out to recreate Garfinkel’s interviews with gender non-conforming individuals. Garfinkel’s key subject was Agnes (Zackary Drucker), who would …
25 years’ worth of home movies is used to tell the story of a young man’s search for his mother in Sam Now. Since he was a teenager, Reed Harkness would film his young half-brother Sam, beginning with simple home movies shot with a VHS camcorder and evolving to more polished Super-8 productions. However, these …
Explore the various ways junk is reutilized in Scrap. When everyday objects reach the end of their lifespan, they are discarded and are left to decay for decades. However, in many ways, old objects become much more unique than when they were new and people around the world have utilized ways to bring new life …
A Chinese geneticist goes missing after developing the world’s first genetically-modified humans in Make People Better. In 2018, Chinese scientist Dr. He “JK” Jiankui made headlines when it was revealed he genetically modified two newborn twins named Lulu and Nana to be immune to HIV. The backlash was swift and JK was taken into custody. …
Actor Jay Baruchel hosts a docuseries exploring various apocalyptic scenarios in We’re All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel). There are many ways for humanity to come to an end and Jay Baruchel has made it his mission to explore which one has the greatest chance of ever happening. Over the course of this six-part series, …
A former groundskeeper suffering from non-Hodgkins lymphoma sues the producer of the world’s most popular brand of weedkiller in Into the Weeds: Dewayne “Lee” Johnson vs. Monsanto Company. As a groundskeeper, Dewayne “Lee” Johnson routinely used Ranger Pro, the commercial-grade variant of Roundup, the world’s most popular brand of weed-killer developed by the Monsanto company. …