06/05/2020 - The Canadian documentary festival will launch Hot Docs Festival Online with 135 titles geo-blocked to Ontario and with a limited number of tickets available

The Toronto-based Hot Docs documentary festival has announced that it will launch Hot Docs Festival Online on 28 May at www.hotdocs.ca in order to offer home viewers in Ontario a rich array of titles from its 2020 official selection. The festival will run from 28 May-6 June, and the majority of titles will be made available for an extended viewing window until 24 June, subject to availability. In addition to packages at discounted prices, single tickets will cost €5.90 (CA$9).

“Over a month ago, when the COVID-19 pandemic first hit, we took the unprecedented step of postponing the public festival, anticipating that we would soon be able to reschedule it,” said Brett Hendrie, executive director of Hot Docs. “But now, given the ongoing uncertainty around when live festivals and other large gatherings may safely be held, we are fortunate to have this option to bring these outstanding films to our audiences. The response to our Hot Docs at Home platform has been overwhelmingly positive, and we’re thrilled to be able to offer so many 2020 official selections on it.”

More than 135 films will be participating in Hot Docs Festival Online, including the 91 feature- and mid-length titles announced here, and more than 45 short films and additional features that will be added in the coming weeks. Audiences will also have access to pre-recorded Q&As with filmmakers and subjects.

Among the 91 films, there is a significant number of European titles. The International Spectrum section will host the world premieres of Hamed Zolfaghari's Women of the Sun: A Chronology of Seeing [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Iran/France), Eliza Kubarska's The Wall of Shadows [+see also:
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interview: Eliza Kubarska
film profile] (Poland/Germany/Switzerland) and Jawad Rhalib's Fadma: Even Ants Have Wings [+see also:
film review
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film profile] (Morocco/Belgium) as well as the international premieres of Tone Grøttjord-Glenne's All That I Am [+see also:
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interview: Tone Grøttjord-Glenne
film profile] (Norway), Tanja Wol Sørensen's A Colombian Family [+see also:
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film profile] (Denmark) and Dagmar Smržová's I Want You if You Dare [+see also:
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film profile] (Czech Republic).

The World Showcase sidebar will include the world premieres of Carlos E Lesmes' A Loss of Something Ever Felt [+see also:
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film profile] (Estonia/Colombia/Sweden), and Tim Ellrich and Thi Hien Mai's Mein Vietnam [+see also:
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film profile] (Germany/Austria); the North American premieres of Monica Lãzurean-Gorgan, Michaela Kirst and Ebba Sinzinger's Wood [+see also:
film review
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film profile] (Austria/Germany/Romania), Magnus Gertten's Only the Devil Lives Without Hope [+see also:
film review
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interview: Magnus Gertten
film profile] (Sweden/Norway) and Mladen Kovačević's Merry Christmas, Yiwu [+see also:
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interview: Mladen Kovačević
film profile] (Serbia/France/Germany/Belgium/Qatar); and the Canadian premieres of Iryna Tsilyk's The Earth Is Blue as an Orange [+see also:
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interview: Iryna Tsilyk
film profile] (Ukraine/Lithuania), David Osit's Mayor (USA/UK) and Jerry Rothwell's The Reason I Jump [+see also:
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film profile] (UK).

Two European titles will have their world premieres in the Persister section, dedicated to films by women and about women: Asia Dér and Sári Haragonics's Her Mothers [+see also:
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interview: Asia Dér, Sári Haragonics
film profile] (Hungary), and Stefanía Thors' The School of Housewives [+see also:
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interview: Stefanía Thors
film profile] (Iceland).

Still more European films can be found in other sections, including the world premieres of Aleksandr M Vinogradov's Bare (Belgium), Dácil Manrique de Lara's The Last Archer [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Spain) and Sterlin Harjo's Love and Fury (USA/UK), and the international premieres of Kamal Hachar's In Your Eyes, I See My Country (Morocco/France), and Ana Pérez de la Fuente and Marta Arribas' Sanmao. The Desert Bride [+see also:
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film profile] (Spain) in the Artscapes sidebar.

In addition, European Film Promotion is once again presenting documentaries from the continent in The Changing Face of Europe special: the full list can be found here.