Festival Data:

• Established: 1993
• Genre: Documentary (click to see)
• Attendance: 136000
• Media Attendance: 524
• Accredited Industry Attendance: 1560
• Total Number of Films Submitted: 1948
• Total Number of Films Screened: 171
• Total Screenings: 266
• Total Domestic Films Screened: 65
• Total Foreign Films Screened: 106
• Total National and International Premieres: 128
• # of Shorts Screened: 35
• # of Features Screened: 136

• Competitive
• Film Market
• Students Section
• Has Panels
• Has Seminars
• Workshops

Festival Website:

Festival Description:

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary festival, conference and market. Each year, the Festival presents a selection of more than 170 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the globe. Through its industry programs, Hot Docs also provides a full range of professional development, market and networking opportunities for documentary professionals.

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.

With its lively mix of public and professional events, Hot Docs is the ideal North American market and meeting place for the documentary industry. Last year, the festival attracted over 2000 delegates, including documentary filmmakers, buyers, programmers, distributors and commissioning editors from around the world.

During the Festival, Hot Docs also presents the renowned Hot Docs Forum. Launched in 2000 as the Toronto Documentary Forum, this limited-seating event is focused around a slate of pre-selected project-presentations and has quickly established itself as North America's essential international market event for buyers and sellers working in the social, cultural and political documentary genres. More than 190 broadcasters and distributors from Europe, Australia, the USA, Canada and elsewhere regularly participate and the Hot Docs Forum has proven highly successful for the projects presented, as well as the rest of the delegates. Because of its unusual format, it's also a preeminent source of up-to-the-second market intelligence for both buyers and sellers. The Hot Docs Forum has evolved from a format developed by Amsterdam's FORUM for the international co-financing of documentaries and their partner, the European Documentary Network (EDN).

Hot Docs screens Documentary films and videos of all lengths and subject matters for inclusion in the following programs: Canadian Spectrum, International Spectrum, World Showcase, Focus On, Made In, Next and Doc It!.

All films in official competitions will be receiving their first Toronto showing, with many screenings being world, international, North American or Canadian premieres. For most screenings, directors will be in attendance to introduce their films and to participate in post-show Q & A sessions with the audience.

Hot Docs features Canadian and international competitive programs, an international documentary market, The Doc Shop, and the Hot Docs Forum.

In addition to the Festival and the Hot Docs Forum, Doc Soup, a monthly screening and discussion series held at the Bloor Cinema, provides audiences an opportunity to view and discuss outstanding contemporary documentaries throughout the fall and winter. The eleventh season of Doc Soup will run from October 2011 through April 2012.

Film Submissions:

• Accepts direct submissions
• Submission formats: Beta-SP, Digi-Beta, 16mm, 35mm
• Call for Entry: http:/ / www.hotdocs.ca/ festival/ submit_a_film