The largest documentary-only film festival in North America, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival (or just ‘Hot Docs’) is also the biggest market and conference which draws the doc community, filmmakers and industry delegates from all over the world. The fest is held annually in Toronto, Canada.
The Documentary Organization of Canada (a national association of documentary filmmakers) which was formerly known as the Canadian independent Film Caucus founded the festival in 1993. It was then incorporated separately in 1996 with a mandate to not only showcase but also support the Canadian as well as the international documentary filmmakers. The focus was also on promoting excellence in the production of documentaries.
Each year the festival screens more than 170 documentaries from all around the world and one of the things I like about Hot Docs is that the fest takes advantage of Toronto’s notorious love of documentaries; most of the screenings, even the late night ones, usually packed. Also, the advantage of the festival is such that even if the documentary has be screened at Sundance, European buyers can have a good look at it at Hot Docs.
Along with the Canadian and international competitive programs, the festival features The Doc Shop – an international documentary market and the Toronto Documentary Forum.
The festival has been instrumental as the documentary industry’s meeting place with more than 2000 delegates attending it. These delegates include the commissioning editors, programers, filmmakers, buyers and distributors from all over the world. Hot Docs is also home to the famous Toronto Documentary Forum (TDF), a limited-seat event which was launched in the year 2000. Since then, TDF has established itself as North America’s essential international documentary market event.