Hot Docs, North America’s leading documentary festival, will open with the world premiere of “Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance,” directed by Canadian filmmaker Noam Gonick. The documentary explores the pivotal moments that sparked Canada’s 2SLGBTQ+ movement.
The festival’s 32nd edition, which runs from April 24 to May 4 in Toronto, has revealed a lineup that includes 35 world premieres, 14 international premieres, and 26 North American premieres. The lineup has 113 films from 47 countries, drawn from 2,662 submissions.
The International Spectrum Competition, all world premieres, includes “Heritage,” a family snapshot in which two siblings alternate shifts caring for their elderly parents; “I Dreamed His Name,” which follows the filmmaker and her sister on a journey of discovery across Colombia’s painful history, 30 years after their Afro-Colombian father’s forced disappearance; “I, Poppy,” which follows a son’s fight against corrupt officials while his mother tends their poppy farm in India; “King Matt the First,” which takes us on a journey into the inner world of young Polish sisters as they grapple with impending adulthood; and “Unwelcomed,” which examines contrasting perspectives around the migrant crisis in Chile following its most violent anti-immigrant protest in late 2021, sparked by an unprecedented influx of migrants from Venezuela.
The Special Presentations program, showcasing high-profile films, festival circuit heavy hitters, and renowned subjects, includes the world premiere of “The Nest,” a personal exploration of memory, identity and intergenerational storytelling by co-directors Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh. Films receiving an international premiere are “Come See Me in the Good Light,” which follows spoken word artist and poet laureate of Colorado Andrea Gibson after an incurable cancer diagnosis; “Deaf President Now!,” a chronicle of the landmark student protest that transformed accessibility rights in the U.S.; “Life After,” in which filmmaker Reid Davenport investigates the troubling implications of assisted suicide laws for disabled people; and “Selena y Los Dinos,” a look at the life and legacy of the “Queen of Tejano Music” Selena Quintanilla.
Big Ideas, a series of conversations with notable guests, including Maxim Derevianko, director of “Ai Weiwei’s Turandot”; director James Jones and journalist Christo Grozev of “Antidote”; director Shoshannah Stern and actor Marlee Matlin of “Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore”; and director Violet Du Feng of “The Dating Game.”
More to follow.
