Bowling for Columbine

This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist's Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old. Bowling for Columbine is a journey through the US, through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.

Sally

Sally Ride's groundbreaking journey as the first American woman in space concealed a deeply personal story. Her life partner, Tam O'Shaughnessy, unveils their covert 27-year romance and its accompanying sacrifices.

In the Name of All Canadians

Hot Docs will commemorate Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation with the commissioning of In the Name of All Canadians, a compilation of six short documentaries inspired by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. From Indigenous rights to multiculturalism to the controversial ‘notwithstanding clause,’ participating filmmakers have each selected a specific aspect of the Charter to explore, looking at how it resonates in the stories of their fellow Canadians.

Miss Americana

A raw and emotionally revealing look at one of the most iconic artists of our time during a transformational period in her life as she learns to embrace her role not only as a songwriter and performer, but as a woman harnessing the full power of her voice.

Indian Rights for Indian Women

Three intrepid women battle for Indigenous women's treaty rights.

BETWEEN

Initially embarking on an unplanned personal filmmaking project, Ilias Boukhemoucha finds himself drawn to the overlooked corners and marginalized communities within Canadian cities.

Operation Gamescan 76

This short documentary profiles the Canadian military’s organization, logistical, and security operations at the XXI Olympiad held in 1976 in Montréal. The scale of the operation was large: 16,000 troops were mobilized to provide protection for 7,500 athletes, countless VIPs, and the general public on 138 sites located in Montreal, Bromont, and Kingston. This film offers a behind-the-scenes look at the planning and synchronization necessary to mount a successful international event of massive proportions.

Lady Gaga, a Star Is Born

Eccentric and provocative, Lady Gaga is undoubtedly the greatest pop diva. The one who is actually called Stefani Germanotta is a brilliant artist, capable of all the excesses, but also a wounded woman, marked by a terrible drama. An artist who had to fight and overcome many humiliations to reach the top. Today, Lady Gaga is an undisputed music star with 230 million records sold, and a film icon thanks to the film "A Star is Born" and her role in "House of Gucci". In less than 15 years, she has become one of the most influential women in the world. To better understand her, those who have known her since her early days reveal her secrets and tell the story behind the scenes of the films and songs that have built her legend.

John Wayne - America at All Costs

This is the story of a man who climbed the Hollywood ladder, one rung at a time, until he reached the top and became the most popular American actor of his era.

Ma Nishma Manitoba

From challah to immigration to the wandering Jew, Ma Nishma Manitoba is a mid-length documentary that explores Manitoban Jewish stories of identity and history. Filmmakers Johanna and Sara put their own experiences in local context by chatting with several Jewish Manitobans, including a rabbi, politician, artist, Israeli immigrant, and others. Archival materials, illustrations, and stop animations connect history with present-day opinions and stories, as Sara and Johanna explore what being Jewish in Manitoba means to them and others.

These were the reasons

This film takes us into the harsh realm of BC's early coal mines, canneries, and lumber camps; where primitve conditions and speed-ups often cost lives. Then, the film moves through the unemployed' struggles of the '30s, post WWII equity campaigns, and into more recent public sector strikes over union rights.

Fariba

Afghan filmmaker Mithaq Kazimi documents injustices done to a targeted group of his neighbors, the Baha'is of Iran, by telling the life story of one current prisoner, Fariba.

Karihwanoron: Precious Things

Yagorihwanirats, a Mohawk child from Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Quebec, attends a unique and special school: Karihwanoron. It is a Mohawk immersion program that teaches Mohawk language, culture and philosophy. Yagorihwanirats is so excited to go to school that she never wants to miss a day – even if she is sick.

L’Énigme Velázquez

Petra Kelly - Act Now!

The German documentary is dedicated to an influential figure of the 20th century: Petra Kelly spent her life campaigning for feminism, environmental activism, human rights and peace. She was a political co-founder of the Green Party in the 1970s and 80s and protested against nuclear missiles in West Germany at the height of the Cold War. Above all, however, she believed that one person could very well change the world and thus rose to become an icon of the peace movement.

Billy Graham: An Extraordinary Journey

An inside look at the life of Billy Graham, whose message of the Gospel of Christ helped change millions of lives over his nearly seven decades of evangelism.

Fire of Love

A doomed love triangle between intrepid French scientists Katia and Maurice Krafft, and their beloved volcanoes.

The World of Marcel Proust

Marcel Proust's "In Search of Lost Time" is one of the great novels of world literature. The documentary immerses itself in the very own cosmos, spanning 3,000 pages and hundreds of characters, for which Proust's own world was the source of inspiration, and brings Proust's moral portrait of the Belle Epoque to new life.

Tom Daley: 1.6 Seconds

From the moment Tom Daley leaps off the diving board, he has 1.6 seconds to showcase what can be achieved when you spend over two decades of your life putting in blood, sweat and tears in the pursuit of athletic perfection. This documentary, named after those pivotal seconds and in collaboration with Warner Bros. Discovery, Eurosport, and the Olympic Channel, tells the incredible life story of five-time Olympic medalist Tom Daley (OBE).

Assez French

At her family’s cabin on Wakaw Lake, Saskatchewan, renowned Fransaskois singer-songwriter Alexis Normand invites audiences into a series of candid exchanges about belonging and bilingualism on the Prairies.