Alanis Obomsawin, is an Abenaki American-Canadian filmmaker, singer, artist, and activist primarily known for her documentary films. Born in New Hampshire, United States and raised primarily in Quebec, Canada, she has written and directed many National Film Board of Canada documentaries on First Nations issues. Obomsawin is a member of Film Fatales independent women filmmakers.
The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest documentary festival in North America. The event takes place annually in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The 27th edition of the festival took place online throughout May and June 2020. In addition to the annual festival, Hot Docs owns and operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, administers multiple production funds, and runs year-round screening programs including Doc Soup and Hot Docs Showcase.
Liz Marshall is a Canadian filmmaker based in Toronto. Since the 1990s, she has directed and produced independent projects and been part of film and television teams, creating broadcast, theatrical, campaign and cross-platform documentaries shot around the world. Marshall's feature length documentaries largely focus on social justice and environmental themes through strong characters. She is known for The Ghosts in Our Machine and for Water on the Table, for which she also produced impact and engagement campaigns, and attended many global events as a public speaker. Water on the Table features water rights activist, author and public figure Maude Barlow. The Ghosts in Our Machine features animal rights activist, photojournalist and author Jo-Anne McArthur.
Angry Inuk is a 2016 Canadian Inuit-themed feature-length documentary film written and directed by Alethea Arnaquq-Baril that defends the Inuit seal hunt, as the hunt is a vital means for Inuit to sustain themselves. Subjects in Angry Inuk include Arnaquq-Baril herself as well as Aaju Peter, an Inuit seal hunt advocate, lawyer and seal fur clothing designer who depends on the sealskins for her livelihood.
Aaju Peter is an Inuk lawyer, activist and sealskin clothes designer. In 2012, she received the Order of Canada.
Daphne Matziaraki is a Greek director, writer and producer, graduated from University of California, Berkeley. Her thesis-film 4.1 Miles received critical appraisal and recognition earning her a Gold Medal at 43rd Annual Student Academy Awards, The film went onto receive a nomination for Academy Award for Best Documentary at the 89th Academy Awards.
A Better Man is a 2017 Canadian documentary film co-directed by Attiya Khan and Lawrence Jackman in which Khan, a survivor of domestic abuse, meets with the man who abused her to see if he can take responsibility to heal and repair the harms he created. The first filmed encounter between her and her ex-boyfriend, identified only as "Steve," took place in April 2013. After the initial contact, several of the conversations were facilitated by Tod Augusta-Scott, a prominent counselor in the domestic violence field. The film also follows them back to their old high school as well as an apartment in Ottawa, and shows how the violence still affects Khan.
Resurrecting Hassan is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Carlo Guillermo Proto and released in 2016. The documentary centres on the Hartings, a family of blind musicians in Montreal who supported themselves by busking in the Guy-Concordia station of the Montreal Metro.
Manic is a 2017 Canadian documentary film directed by Kalina Bertin. The film depicts Bertin's efforts, in response to a family history of bipolar disorder, to investigate parts of her father's prior life in Montserrat that she did not know about; she ultimately uncovers the revelations that her father was a cult leader who also suffered from bipolar disorder, and who had, unbeknownst to Bertin until making the film, also fathered at least 12 other children with four other women.
Sophy Romvari is a Canadian film director, writer, and actress. She attracted widespread acclaim for her short film Still Processing (2020). The film premiered at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival and was later released online by Mubi.
Matt Gallagher is a Canadian film director, producer and cinematographer from Windsor, Ontario.
The Hot Docs Audience Awards are annual film awards, presented by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to the most popular films as voted by festival audiences. There are currently two awards presented: the Hot Docs Audience Award, presented since 2001 to the most popular film overall regardless of nationality, and the Rogers Audience Award, presented since 2017 to the most popular Canadian film.
Rich Williamson is a Canadian film director, cinematographer and editor, most noted as codirector with Shasha Nakhai of the 2021 film Scarborough. The film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Picture, and Nakhai and Williamson won the award for Best Director, at the 10th Canadian Screen Awards in 2022.
Alison Duke is a Canadian film director, producer, and writer. She is the co-founder and director of Oya Media.
Twice Colonized is a documentary film, directed by Lin Alluna and released in 2023. The film is a co-production of companies from Canada, Denmark and Greenland, and profiles Aaju Peter, an Inuk lawyer and activist who has lived in both Greenland and Nunavut, documenting both her activism for Inuit rights and her personal struggles.
Mother Saigon is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Khoa Lê and released in 2023. The film is a portrait of the LGBTQ community in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Kalina Bertin is a Canadian documentary filmmaker, most noted for her 2017 film Manic.
Claire Sanford is a Canadian film director and cinematographer based in Montreal, Quebec. She is most noted for her 2022 short documentary film Violet Gave Willingly, which was named to the Toronto International Film Festival's annual year-end Canada's Top Ten list for 2022, and received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Short Documentary at the 12th Canadian Screen Awards in 2024.
Lin Alluna is a Danish film director. In 2017, she graduated as one of only six documentary film directors from the National Film School of Denmark, and was selected as one of the new “Nordic Talents” that same year by Nordisk Film & TV Fond.
