Hot Docs Heads into 17th Year

TORONTO: The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which heads into its 17th edition from April 29 to May 9, will screen more than 170 docs from 41 countries throughout its 11-day run.

In addition to screenings, attendees can participate in a full range of events, including the Toronto Documentary Forum, from May 5 to 6, that will feature 28 project presentations taking place at Koerner Hall inside the Royal Conservatory of Music. There are also conference sessions, filmmaker discussions, professional development programs and a number of networking opportunities.

The event will welcome a record eight official delegations: Abu Dhabi, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, the  Nordic region, the U.K. and U.S. These delegations will be featured participants during this year’s International Co-Production Day, a day-long series of presentations, targeted one-on-one meetings and social events aimed at sparking international co-productions, taking place on May 3.

Hot Docs will present Film Transit International’s Jan Rofekamp with the 2010 Doc Mogul Award, recognizing an individual who, over the course of their career, has made an essential contribution to the creative vitality of the documentary industry, both at home and abroad. Rofekamp will receive the award at a luncheon in his honor, held on May 4, at The Sutton Place Hotel’s Stop 33 Rooftop Ballroom.

"Why have documentaries so significantly gained popularity over the past decade?" asks Hot Docs’ director of programming, Sean Farnel. "Probably because they’re good multi-taskers; they can be and do anything. And yet there’s something deeper, too. They foster coherence in a fractured world, they push stories and people from the periphery into the center of our screens, and they have fresh points-of-view, creative energy, poetry. All qualities we see across the Hot Docs 2010 program."