Hot Docs, Netflix Reveal Canadian Projects Selected for Incubator Program

Netflix is providing a handy guide to Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story!

Hollyoaks’ most-anticipated wedding of the year, with our picture gallery revealing a first look at Ste Hay (Kieron Richardson) and James Nightingale’s (Gregory Finnegan) impending nuptials. It’s set to be the most glorious occasion, for the most part anyways – this is Hollyoaks we’re talking about, after all, so a little upset is to be expected! All in all, however, it’s going to be a day to remember.

Jennie Punter Hot Docs has wrapped its 30th anniversary edition, handing out its top cash prize and announcing the audience top picks after an 11-day festival, which presented 214 films from 72 countries at 308 live screenings at venues across Toronto. Philippe Falardeau’s “Lac-Mégantic—This Is Not an Accident” topped the overall audience poll to win the 2023 Hot Docs Audience Award. The four-part series from the Oscar-nominated director explores the causes of one of Canada’s worst rail disasters and what’s needed to prevent such accidents in the future. “Someone Lives Here,” by Zack Russell, won the Rogers Audience Awards for Best Canadian Documentary, which comes with Cdn. $50,000 cash, and also claimed the second-highest spot in the overall audience poll. The film also won the inaugural Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary, a jury-chosen prize, at the main awards ceremony held Saturday.

Jennie Punter Last year, during an online panel at Hot Docs film festival featuring Ukrainian documentary filmmakers who were staying in place, Oksana Karpovych told attendees how she’d gained knowledge working alongside foreign media crews covering the war, and was now applying that to her own creative documentary projects. This year, at the festival’s 30th anniversary edition, Karpovych attended the in-person Forum market event to pitch “Intercepted” — her observational doc exploring the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 — which ended up winning the 2023 CMF-Hot Docs Canadian Pitch Prize. With Ukraine in the spotlight at Hot Docs this year, both audiences and industry attendees are getting wide exposure to the films and ideas of leading Ukrainian documentary creators. The timing of this programming is perfect, said Hot Docs programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk, not only for the obvious reason.

royal family’s official social media account shared a remarkable photo from Saturday’s coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla that is being compared to a gender reveal celebration.“My fave part of coronation tradition: The royal gender reveal,” a Twitter user hilariously commented.The stunning snap features the newly-crowned monarchs with their backs turned to watch the fly over from the balcony of Buckingham Palace. The Royal Air Force’s Red Arrows lit up the foggy London sky with colors of red, white and blue smoke, although the red appeared pinkish.Camilla, 75, and Charles, 74, donned their crowns and white fur robes as they viewed the show.The pic was taken by Getty Images royal photographer Chris Jackson.

Jennie Punter Danish filmmaker Christian Einshøj’s “The Mountains” has won Hot Docs’ Best International Feature Documentary Award and a Cnd. $10,000 cash prize, it was announced this morning in Toronto at the festival’s awards ceremony, held at the TIFF Bell Lightbox. Produced by Made In Copenhagen, the film is an autobiographical family portrait using 30 years of home video, 75,000 photos, and a superhero road trip to explore the tragedy that led to the emotional distance between the men in the family. “The Mountains,” which premiered earlier this year at CPH:DOX, now automatically qualifies for consideration in the Academy’s Best Documentary Feature category without the standard theatrical run, provided it complies with Academy rules. Cats and Docs is handling sales.

During a royal visit to a London pub, Kate Middleton revealed that her eldest child Prince George is “excited” about his grandad's coronation celebrations at the weekend. Kate, 41, proudly said that the young royal had been taking part in rehearsals for the big day, after she travelled on the Tube with Prince William to visit a pub in London.

Jennie Punter With Hot Docs’ marquee market event the Forum and its sidebar operations back to live action, and the festival’s 30th anniversary adding a layer of buzzy excitement, docmakers and industry pros from Western Canada are hauling out a bumper crop of adventurous docs for audiences and buyers, and chatting in the real world about new projects with potential Canadian and international partners and funders. Nine Western Canada-made doc features span Hot Docs’ programs, with stories that go deeper into landscapes and beyond cultural stereotypes. Kathleen Jayme’s and Asia Youngman’s “I’m Just Here for the Riot” (ESPN 30 for 30), about violence that erupted after the Vancouver Canucks’ loss of the Stanley Cup final in 2011, is one of three titles world-premiering in the Canadian Spectrum competition.

Addie Morfoot Contributor “I of the Water,” one of 20 projects presented at Hot Docs’ marquee market event, the Forum, has won the First Look first prize of Can. $50,000 ($36,700), one of four pitch prizes announced Wednesday at the festival. Kimberlee Bassford’s “I of the Water” focuses on acclaimed Samoan writer Sia Figiel’s hidden past of sexual abuse and journey toward healing. The film is produced by Bassford, Marilyn McFadyen, Vilsoni Hereniko, Leanne K. Ferrer, Cheryl Hirasa, and Linda Goldstein Knowlton. The second First Look prize, worth Can. $15,000, was awarded to Kenya-Jade Pinto “The Sandbox,” a Canadian production with a vague tagline: “Your future is being written in the sand.” The doc is produced by Shasha Nakhai, Kenya-Jade Pinto, Jennifer Baichwal, and Rich Williamson.

Mo Abudu, the CEO of EbonyLife Media, has stepped into the writing and directing spaces, having completed two short films – Iyawo Mi and Her Perfect Life – the former of which will screen at the Cannes Film Festival’s Short Film Corner this month. Both projects have also been selected for the Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival in August. 

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Twenty emerging producers from across Europe have been selected to take part in European Film Promotion’s promotion and networking platform Producers on the Move before and during the Cannes Film Festival. The producers who were selected for the program from nominations submitted by EFP’s member organizations are Gentian Koçi (Albania), David Bohun (Austria), Julie Esparbes (Belgium), Vanya Rainova (Bulgaria), Miljenka Čogelja (Croatia), Stelana Kliris (Cyprus), Alice Tabery (Czech Republic), Emile Hertling Péronard (Denmark), Emilia Haukka (Finland), Silvana Santamaria (Germany), Vicky Miha (Greece), Júlia Berkes (Hungary), Kathryn Kennedy (Ireland), Valon Bajgora (Kosovo), Dominiks Jarmakovičs (Latvia), Erik Glijnis (The Netherlands), Elisa Fernanda Pirir (Norway), Radu Stancu (Romania), Juraj Krasnohorský (Slovak Republic), and Julia Gebauer (Sweden).

Season 2 renewal at the streamer, reached the Top 10 in 84 countries with over 18 million views.Just behind “The Diplomat” on the English TV list was “Sweet Tooth” Season 2, which debuted in the No. 2 spot on the list with 48.34 million hours viewed this week as Season 1 of the series also re-entered the list in the sixth most watched spot.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival has decided that Canadian media producer Bonnie Thompson will be the recipient of this year’s prestigious Don Haig Award. Thompson is the producer behind Cam Christiansen’s “Echo of Everything,” a feature length documentary exploring the power of music, which will have its world premiere at Hot Docs’ 30th-anniversary festival, on now until May 7. The Don Haig Award is presented to an outstanding Canadian independent producer with a feature-length film at the festival, with the recipient being selected by a jury of independent filmmakers. The award recognizes creative vision and entrepreneurship, as reflected in the recipient’s body of work, as well as a track record of mentoring emerging Canadian filmmakers. Thompson will be presented with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.

Jennie Punter As its industry confab kicks into full gear, Hot Docs is giving 1,800-plus delegates from more than 40 countries something extra to chatter about this morning with the announcement that leading media executive Marie Nelson has been tapped as the organization’s new president after a months-long international search. Nelson—who mingled with local and international doc players at the opening bash of the festival’s 30th edition last Thursday—will begin helming the strategic leadership and management of Hot Docs’ annual festival, conference, and market as well as its evolving year-round industry and public activities and initiatives, effective June 1, 2023.

Jennie Punter The Changing Face of Europe, which is presented by European Film Promotion (EFP) in collaboration with Hot Docs, returns to Toronto with the sixth edition of its festival-within-a-festival program—nine features and one mid-length film—exploring themes around identity, belonging and struggle. “Over the years, the Changing Face of Europe has become one of the more impactful programs in the lineup, and also an essential component of our festival programming,” Hot Docs artistic director Shane Smith told Variety in advance of the festival. “Europe has a rich history of and strong connection to the art of documentary filmmaking,” he said. “We are delighted to showcase the powerful work coming out of the continent that sheds light on crucial issues facing Europeans today.”

Jennie Punter Five years ago, New York-based filmmaker Jason Goldman was researching a possible documentary about animal sanctuaries and heard about Renee King-Sonnen, who had gone vegan a few years earlier, transformed her husband’s Texas beef cattle ranch into Rowdy Girl Sanctuary, and started advocacy work that received regular national media attention. In a clip (see below) released in advance of the world premiere of Goldman’s “Rowdy Girl” at Hot Docs this weekend, King-Sonnen succinctly lays out the origin of her life-changing decision to visitors seated at her kitchen table: “I was seeing how my actions were contributing to violence and cruelty … I started having real issues that I was loving some animals and eating others.”

Addie Morfoot Contributor The 24th edition of the Hot Docs Forum, the financing event aimed at securing co-productions and funds for feature length documentaries, includes 19 projects representing 16 countries and featuring 23 filmmakers, 12 of whom are women and 11 of whom are black, indigenous and people of color. An additional Wild Card pitch will be selected live at the Forum. The Forum, which returns to in-person at Toronto’s Hart House after three years of being virtual, also includes an additional 30 projects, which will participate in Hot Docs Deal Maker, a curated one-on-one pitch meeting program. Commissioning editors, investors and industry experts, including A24, Amazon Studios, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Concordia, Hulu, Paramount, Participant Media, Sandbox Films and Netflix, will attend this year’s Forum.

Netflix will have invested almost $6BN in UK content over four years by the end of 2023, the streamer has revealed.

Pete Davidson is taking over Good Housekeeping!

Netflix has announced the return of Black Mirror and said its new season will be the “most unpredictable yet”. Fans of the show went wild on Tuesday after its official Twitter account posted its first tweet in four years, with many feeling news regarding the show’s future was imminent.