Hot Docs 2026: Documentary Festival Offers 115 Reasons to Cheer, Pt. 1
By Thom Ernst, Karen Gordon, Kim Hughes, John Kirk, Chris Knight, Liam Lacey, Bonnie Laufer, and Jim Slotek
If it’s spring, then the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival must be upon us, celebrating its 33rd annual presentation in Toronto April 23 to May 3.
For 2026, North America’s leading documentary festival has announced a pared-down but stellar lineup of 115 documentaries — 80 features and 35 shorts — from 51 countries. There are 52 world and international premieres; 30 Canadian films will screen as official selections.
For this edition, films were chosen from more than 2,800 submissions from around the world, so whatever your interests, there is bound to be something aligned with it. The festival presents films across multiple programs including (but not limited to) the Special Presentations Program, the Canadian Spectrum Competition, and the International Spectrum Competition.
New for 2026, the Digital Witnesses program focuses on films about tech and surveillance. Highlights include Ghost in the Machine by director Valerie Veatch, a look at who builds AI, who benefits from it and who pays for it, and Virtual Girlfriends from Barbora Chalupová, in which three women who work as sexual-content creators on OnlyFans reveal the dynamics of digital intimacy. We have reviews of both.
Indeed, Original-Cin writers have advance-screened dozens of films, more than half Canadian in provenance. Herewith, we present capsule reviews to help moviegoers make good choices. We return tomorrow with another sprawling slate of capsule reviews.
A scene from Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions
Canada, 95 minutes
Mon, Apr. 27, 8:30 pm, TIFF Lightbox 2; Tue, Apr. 28, 1:45 pm, TIFF Lightbox 2.
Marlene Edoyan, the artistic co-director and programmer at the Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM), took her camera to a remote Armenian shepherd village in Southern Georgia, in this poetic account of three young men facing different life paths. Henrik wants to go to university to study international affairs and make a positive political difference, while Karlen considers migrating to Russia to find work. Hagop wants to stay in the village. Against the backdrop of post-Soviet political tensions and changing gender roles (older women speak on camera, but not younger ones), the film unfolds as a study of a community clinging to the past and pushed into the future. The title comes from “The Shepherds Have Lit a Fire There,” by the early 20th century poet Vahan Terian and read in voiceover. LL
Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions
Canada, 89 minutes
Thu, Apr. 23, 7 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema; Sun, Apr. 26, 1:30 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
It’s ironic that rock trailblazer Carole Pope is profiled so conventionally in director Michelle Mama’s film. Not that the story of the singer who scandalized/scintillated the airwaves with “Highschool Confidential,” her band Rough Trade’s 1981 signature hit, needs much embellishment, but the cinematic distinctions here are few. Also few are the “confessions” of the title following Anti Diva, Pope’s memoir from 2000. More absorbing, perhaps, is where the queer icon, 75, is now: tethered to Toronto though L.A.-based, revered and relentlessly creative yet not where she might be had the capricious music industry dominoes toppled differently. Still, Pope’s clear-eyed reckoning with career disappointments and agonies like the AIDS-related death of her brother Howard in 1996 are the film’s heart, cinching its status as a worthy opener for Hot Docs 2026. KH
Italy, 102 minutes
Sun, Apr. 26, 6 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema; Thu, Apr. 30, 5:45 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
Raha Shirazi ’s powerful and timely documentary traces the erosion of women’s rights in Iran, beginning with the Women, Life, Freedom protest movement sparked by the 2020 death of Mahsa Amini through to the testimony and experiences of four generations, including former Minister of Women’s Affairs Mahnaz Afkhami, Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani, and author-activist Masih Alinejad, who inspired the recent White Wednesday campaign. Pre-1979, Iranian women lived comparably to those in western countries and were active in the international equality movement. But the advent of the Islamic Republic, with its misogynistic doctrines tied to its interpretation of religious laws, changed women's status overnight. Despite terrifying possible consequences, Iranian women continue to protest for freedom and their rights. Shirazi stops short of going into the worst of what the women have been subjected to but shows enough to break your heart for the brave women of Iran. This is essential viewing. KG
Canada, 18 minutes
Sun, May 3, 4:30 pm TIFF Lightbox 4.
Yes, you can fight city hall, and manicured lawns be damned. Wolf Huck, a confident and colourful 79-year-old Mississauga artist, filmmaker, former Olympic canoeist and environmentalist, decided to let his garden grow wild with native plants, separated by attractive paths. When he posted pictures of his natural garden on social media, neighbours complained and the city responded, chopping his grass to the 20-cm legal height. He challenged them in court, lost, appealed and won his case in January. Director Amélie Hardy lets Huck tell his own story, while embellishing it with a few more than necessary images of athletes in action. A Wolf in the Suburbs is part of Truth North shorts program, focusing on individuals who work to make a positive difference in the world. LL
Austria, Germany, Japan, 88 minutes
Tue, Apr. 28, 5:30 pm, TIFF Lightbox 4; Wed, Apr. 29, 5:15 pm, TIFF Lightbox 4.
This stunningly original “prison doc” never shows its subject or talks to anyone about his crimes or half-century of incarceration. Instead, we hear excerpts from the letters of Toshihiko Kamata, delivered in a feminine voice, as he reflects on the anarchist mindset that made him plant bombs — but also on earthquakes, poetry, and life behind bars. Meanwhile, quiet and impressionistic urban imagery fills the screen, showing how Japan has moved on while this would-be revolutionary was locked away. Thought-provoking and reflective. CK
Canada, 38 minutes
Sat, Apr. 25, 5:25 pm, TIFF Lightbox 3; Sun, Apr. 26, 10:45 am, TIFF Lightbox 4.
Born to Iranian parents who moved to Canada, Nyousha Nakhjiri struggled with ADHD in her youth but found a singular ability to focus in the boxing ring, where her goal was to make the Canadian Olympic team in the flyweight (50 kg) division. Qualifying means winning a series of three, three-minute rounds — the fights move at a dizzying pace — though ultimately, this does turn out to be a film with a knockout finish. Instead, as the title suggests, Nyousha faces one challenge after another. Along with insights from her trainer, Jon Qunit, the film focuses on Nyousha’s close relationship with her mother Elehah who, at the age of 16 was jailed in Evin Prison for more than four years protesting the gender restrictions of the Islamic Republic. The girl-fight tradition continues in a different form. LL
Canada, 89 minutes
Sat, Apr. 25, 7:30 pm, TIFF Lightbox 2; Sun, Apr. 26, 2:30 pm, TIFF Lightbox 2.
“This is one of the great mysteries of our time,” a journalist tells co-directors Simon Ennis and Brad Abrahams in Gimme Truth. “Why are people succumbing to conspiracy theories and becoming these exaggerated, paranoid, angry versions of themselves?” The short answer appears to be the internet, which allows swift and widespread dissemination of myriad bonkers ideas with a side of self-aggrandizement. Gimme Truth profiles a curated group of, uh, alternative thinkers without apparent judgment but also without a discernible point of view. This could have been hilarious — or psychologically probing. Instead, it’s just a bunch of (mostly) Americans blabbing with straight faces about malevolent earthbound aliens and chemtrails in the sky. KH
Kenny Loggins: Conviction of the Heart
USA, 96 minutes
Mon, Apr. 27, 9:45 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema; Tue, Apr. 28, 8:15 pm, TIFF Lightbox 1.
A must-see for every diehard Kenny Loggins fan! Conviction of the Heart chronicles the pop sensation’s rise to fame in the early 70s and the impact he and his music have had on the world. It answers that burning question: Yes, he is still great friends with Jim Messina (Loggins and Messina), and those movie soundtrack songs were his saviour when disco was all the rage. BL
Canada, 84 minutes
Tue, Apr. 28, 4:30 pm, TIFF Lightbox 3; Wed, Apr. 29, 2:15 pm, TIFF Lightbox 4.
Jean-François Caissy — writer, director, producer, and quiet purveyor of chaos—plants his camera where it needn’t shoot higher than waist-level and lets the world unfold from there. In the spirit of Allan King’s patient, clear-eyed humanism, Kindergarten watches rather than tells, trailing a pack of one- to five-year-olds as they negotiate territory, language, and the early politics of sharing. The adults hover mostly as disembodied voices, while the kids carry the drama in full, unfiltered close-up. It’s funny, bruising, and strangely profound. Fair warning: if daycare is your daily handoff to a few hours of peace, you might want to sit this one out. TE
A scene from Maintenance Artist
USA, England, Japan, 95 minutes
Tue, Apr. 28 7:45 pm, TIFF Lightbox 2; Wed, Apr. 29, 2:30 pm, TIFF Lightbox 1.
In 1977, Mierle Laderman Ukeles became New York’s City’s first (and so far only) artist-in-residence at the Department of Sanitation. This weird-wonderful doc looks at 50 years of an unlikely partnership — a striking, avowed feminist who found kinship with the mostly male “sanit-men” of New York City, in part over the realization that both groups (women and garbage collectors) are undervalued, often ignored, and expected to clean up messes. “I am like them almost and a bit not,” she muses. A wonderful aside finds her in Japan, crafting a ballet of snow-removal vehicles (and their male drivers) to the delight of crowds there, and viewers of this film. CK
Canada, 90 minutes
Fri, Apr. 24, 6 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema; Sat, Apr. 25, 10:45 am, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
A movie about a miracle, Nekai Walks is Rico King’s portrait of a teenager in Toronto’s Jane/Finch corridor who was caught in the crossfire of a gang gun fight, getting hit by three of more than 100 bullets, including one to the head. Considered unlikely to even survive, Nekai made an astonishing and ordeal-filled recovery with indefatigable humour and determination. King surrounds Nekai’s miracle with a portrait of the neighbourhood, parents of similar kids who weren’t so lucky (including the mother of Jordan Manners, the first student to be killed in a Toronto school), and a wish-list stream from frustrated community workers and teachers trying to keep a community together with little help. The movie has a PSA feel to it, especially once Nekai’s story hits the media and King becomes a figure in his own movie. But the focus never strays far from Nekai’s incredible story. JS
USA, 26 minutes
Sat, Apr. 25, 11:15 am, TIFF Lightbox 4.
Unlike the beached whale that found its way to the shoreline of Florence, Oregon, this hilarious, short and must-see documentary is about the 1970 news story that refused to die. Dynamite couldn’t remove the whale from the beach, showering bystanders with bits of blown-up blubber. The journalists who covered the story share their memories of the event and how it made them minor celebrities, impacting the history of the town 55 years later. JK
A scene from On My Own Terms
Poland, 67 minutes
Sun, Apr. 26, 7:45 pm, TIFF Lightbox 4; Mon, Apr. 27, 2:15 pm, TIFF Lightbox 3.
The most movie-like documentary I’ve seen this year, On My Own Terms is about two half-siblings, Pawel and Julia, who’ve grown up together in an orphanage in Lublin, Poland after being abandoned by their alcoholic mother. The loving mixed-race brother and sister are pondering the end of their time in institutional living. Pawel is a highly touted young boxer, but he is the one most reluctant to leave the certainty of facility life. Julia’s plans are less concrete, but her determination is strong. Director Tadeusz Chudy gives us an expertly filmed, moving portrait of two young siblings creating separate lives. JS
Canada, 76 minutes
Wed, Apr. 29, 5 pm, TIFF Lightbox 3; Thu, Apr. 30, 2 pm, TIFF Lightbox 3.
A thought-provoking test case of the “naming” conflicts around historic sites, Tla’amin Namesake focuses on the city of Powell River, about 170 kilometers north of Vancouver along BC’s Sunshine Coast. The town is named after Israel Powell, the province’s first superintendent of Indian affairs, a figure associated with persecution of Indigenous communities. In 2021, the Tla’amin Nation, which lies just north of the town, proposed changing Powell River’s name. History is on their side: Archeological evidence places Indigenous activity on the town site going back 12,000 years, while the name Powell River dates only to 1955. Also on their side are “allied” filmmakers Evan Adams, and Eileen Francis, who made this documentary in collaboration with the community. What started as an admirably collaborative process five years ago gradually unravelled as the city council kicked the issue down the road. A hostile contingent of townspeople coalesced, turning the name-change issue into an ideological cause. All this has left the Tla’amin council dispirited and frustrated when, from their perspective, they were simply offering the town the gift of a better name. LL
Canada, 90 minutes
Sat, Apr. 25, 8 pm, TIFF Lightbox 1; Sat, May 2, 11 am, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
Whether in the U.S. or Europe, robust border security — a polite way of characterizing the mechanics of forcibly keeping asylum-seekers, migrants, and refugees at bay — is big business, so big that military contractors can influence government policy that might regulate them. But that’s not the worst of it, judging by the many scandalous reveals in The Sandbox. According to a journalist who has long covered something called the Border Security Expo, these tech giants and weapons manufacturers are creating “an enforcement apparatus that brutalizes people,” using nefarious devices and means (like the feckless and brutal Libyan Coast Guard) to kill with impunity while freely and possibly dangerously testing their wares on those too vulnerable or marginalized to protest. Chilling. KH
USA, Canada, 80 minutes
Sat, Apr. 25, 1:45 pm, Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema; Sun, Apr. 26, 5:45 pm, TIFF Lightbox 1.
#WhileBlack explores an important question for our times: Whose interests do viral videos of the police killing of Black people serve? On the positive side, the 2020 viral footage of the murder of George Floyd, recorded by Minneapolis teenager Darnella Frazer, had more than billion engagements in a week, inspiring worldwide protests and the Black Lives Matter movement. On the negative side, they make millions of dollars for companies like Facebook and TikTok from the spectacle of modern Black “lynchings.” Directed by Toronto’s Jennifer Holness and Wired journalist Sidney Fussell, #WhileBlack focuses on the trauma and personal cost to “citizen journalists” such as Frazer and Diamond Reynolds who, in 2016, was in a car videotaping with her four-year-old daughter in the backseat, when her boyfriend, Philandro Castile was shot by a policeman. The film includes a host of academics and civil liberties specialists who talk about the connections between race, surveillance, and technology to both exploit suffering and expose injustice. As one commentator says, “The outcome we can argue, the impact we can argue, but the change we cannot argue.” LL