Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

Also known as: Hot Docs Festival
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Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival presents Canadian and international documentaries of all lengths in Toronto, alongside an industry conference and market that includes the Hot Docs Forum pitch event and Deal Maker one-on-one meetings. It is run by Hot Docs, a not-for-profit organization founded in 1993 by the Documentary Organization of Canada (then the Canadian Independent Film Caucus) and separately incorporated in 1996, which also operates the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto's Annex neighbourhood and the free Docs For Schools program.

The programme combines two juried competitions for feature and mid-length films, Canadian Spectrum and International Spectrum, with non-competitive sections, short film awards and audience awards. The 2027 festival runs from 23 April to 2 May 2027, with industry conference and market events from 26 to 29 April 2027.

Country

Canada

Categories

Documentary

Dates

23 April 2027 — 2 May 2027

Awards and prizes

Juried prizes for feature and mid-length films in the Canadian Spectrum and International Spectrum competitions. Best International Short Film Award (world or international premieres) and Best Canadian Short Film Award. Audience Awards in the feature, mid-length and short categories, and the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary for CAVCO-certified Canadian features. Pitch prizes are awarded at the Hot Docs Forum.

Festival rules

Hot Docs accepts Canadian and international documentaries of all lengths and subjects; all programmes are curated. For the 2027 festival, films must have been completed after 1 January 2026. Features, mid-length films and episodic series must be at least Ontario premieres and must not be available online to Ontario audiences; short films must be at least Toronto premieres. Films must be in English, subtitled in English or English-versioned. Films submitted to the festival before at any stage of completion are not eligible. Length categories: feature 66 minutes or longer, mid-length 41 to 65 minutes, short 40 minutes or under; episodic series have no set runtime. Submissions are divided into Canadian and International categories.

Contacts

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