The 30th anniversary edition of Hot Docs will take place across Toronto from Thursday, April 27 to Sunday, May 7. We are egg-static to announce that 13 Nest-supported films are part of the lineup and there are also two AlumNest films featured. Hot Docs is North America’s largest documentary festival, conference, and market, and embodies a deep commitment to gender parity, with 53% female directors in this year’s official selection, according to Variety.

We are sending special congratulations to the 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee Razing Liberty Square on their World Premiere. See below for more details.

• 2021 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Against the Tide | Canadian Premiere | dir. Sarvnik Kaur | prod. Koval Bhatia

• 2022 (Egg)celerator Lab Finalist – Eat Bitter | Canadian Premiere | dirs. Ningyi Sun, Pascale Appora-Gnekindy | prod. Mathieu Faure

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tatiana Huezo’s – The Echo | North American Premiere | dir. & prod. Tatiana Huezo | prod. Dalia Reyes

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Maite Alberdi’s The Eternal Memory | Canadian Premiere | dir. & prod. Maite Alberdi | prods. Juan de Dios Larraín, Pablo Larraín, Rocío Jadue

• 2019 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Milisuthando | Canadian Premiere | dir. Milisuthando Bongela | prod. Marion Isaacs

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Grantee Mila Turajlić’s Non-Aligned: Scenes From the Labudović Reels | North American Premiere | dir. & prod. Mila Turajlić | prod. Carine Chichkowsky

• 2020 (Egg)celerator Lab Grantee Polaris | Canadian Premiere | dir. Ainara Vera  | prods. Clara Vuillermoz, Emile Hertling Peronard

• 2020 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Tonje Hessen Schei’s Praying for Armageddon | North American Premiere | dir. Tonje Hessen Schei | co-dir. Michael Rowley | prods Torstein Parelius, Ingrid G. Aune Falch, Christian Aune Falch

• 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee Razing Liberty Square | World Premiere | dir. & prod. Katja Esson | prods. Ann Bennett, Corinna Sager, Ronald Baez

• 2021 Chicken & Egg Award Recipient Jialing Zhang’s Total Trust | North American Premiere | dir. & prod. Jialing Zhang | prods. Knut Jager, Michael Grotenhoff, Saskia Kress

Special Presentations in the Big Ideas Section

The 2023 Special Presentations program features high-profile subjects, award-winning films and filmmakers, and masterful perspectives on current events and pressing issues. There are 24 films set to screen in this program. Two Nest-supported films are being featured in the Big Ideas section.

Is there Anybody Out There?

dir. Ella Glendining

prod. Janine Marmot

2021 (Egg)celerator Lab grantee Is There Anybody Out There? is having its Canadian premiere.

Get your tickets here.

It’s Only Life After All

dir. & prod. Alexandria Bombach

prods. Kathlyn Horan, Jess Devaney, Anya Rous

Hot Docs Forum

The Hot Docs Forum, one of the festivals’ flagship industry events, is where filmmakers are able to pitch to international decision makers. This year, they’ve chosen 19 Forum projects representing 16 countries and 23 filmmakers, 12 of whom are women and 11 of whom are BIPOC.

Intercepted

dir. Oksana Karpovych 

prods. Giacomo Nudi, Rocío Barba Fuentes, Pauline Tran Van Lieu, Lucie Rego, Darya Bassel

Intercepted is a 2022 Critical Issues Fund grantee.

From the AlumNest

• We Will Not Fade Away
  dir. Alisa Kovalenko
  prods. Valery Kalmykov, Oleksiy Kobelev

• Confessions of a Good Samaritan
  dir. Penny Lane
  prod. Gabriel Sedgwick 

Meet our Team at Hot Docs

Representing Chicken & Egg Pictures, our Program Director Kiyoko McCrae will be in attendance at Hot Docs. While in Toronto shell be attending the Hot Docs Forum, Deal Maker meetings, and attending the Work in Progress program.

Post written by Spring Intern Tess Caldwell