Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is North America's largest documentary festival, conference and market. Each year, the Festival presents a selection of more than 150 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the globe. Through its industry programs, Hot Docs also provides a full range of professional development, market and networking opportunities for documentary professionals.
Hot Docs was founded in 1993 by the Documentary Organization of Canada (formerly the Canadian Independent Film Caucus), a national association of independent documentary filmmakers. In 1996, Hot Docs became a separately incorporated organization with a mandate to showcase and support the work of Canadian and international documentary filmmakers and to promote excellence in documentary production.
With its lively mix of public and professional events, Hot Docs is the ideal North American market and meeting place for the documentary industry. Last year, the festival attracted over 2000 delegates, including documentary filmmakers, buyers, programmers, distributors and commissioning editors from around the world.
During the Festival, Hot Docs also presents the renowned Toronto Documentary Forum (TDF). Launched in 2000, this limited-seating event is focused around a slate of pre-selected project-presentations and has quickly established itself as North America's essential international market event for buyers and sellers working in the social, cultural and political documentary genres. More than 190 broadcasters and distributors from Europe, Australia, the USA, Canada and elsewhere regularly participate and the TDF has proved highly successful for the projects presented, as well as the rest of the delegates. Because of its unusual format, it's also a preeminent source of up-to-the-second market intelligence for both buyers and sellers. The TDF has evolved from a format developed by Amsterdam's FORUM for the international co-financing of documentaries and their partner, the European Documentary Network (EDN).