The Hot Docs Forum has selected 25 projects from 150 submissions to take part in this year’s edition, to be held May 2 and 3, during the Hot Docs conference and festival in Toronto.
Projects run the gamut from TIFF’s Pitch This! winner, Leone Stars (pictured), to Let the Fire Burn, the winner of the Realscreen Summit’s So You Think You Can Pitch? competition in 2010. Other projects making the list include Jamie Kastner’s latest, Inside Joke: How Humour Invented the Jews, and the latest from Sons of Perdition prodco Left Turn Films, An Honest Liar, which also made the cut as a finalist for this Friday’s MIPDoc International Pitch competition.
This year, the entrants in the annual pitching forum represent 15 different countries, while participating buyers confirmed to date include ARTE, Autlook Filmsales, BBC, CBC/SRC, China Central Television, E1 Entertainment, Ford Foundation, HBO, High Fidelity HDTV, Impact Partners, NHK, Participant Productions, PBS, RAI, SBS, SVT, TVOntario, YLE, and ZDF among others.
The Shaw Media-Hot Docs Funds pitch prize will also return, awarding CDN$40,000 in cash to the best Canadian pitch. The Cuban Hat Award, which presents money raised over the Forum’s two days to the observers’ favourite project, will also come back this year, while Entertainment One’s Mountie’s Hat will offer two Forum observers the chance to score a last-minute presentation slot during the event.
The projects chosen for this year’s Forum are:
112 WEDDINGS – 112 Weddings, LLC (U.S.)
AN HONEST LIAR – Left Turn Films (U.S.)
THE AUDACITY OF LOUIS ORTIZ – Saving Daylight Productions/Trilogy Films (U.S.)
THE BATTLE FOR RIO – Pumpernickel Films / FORTIES BB ltc (France, U.S.)
CAUGHT IN THE NET – Know Productions (U.S.)
ELEPHANT SOLDIERS – Bars Media (Armenia)
HOLY GHETTO – OneWorld Group (Israel)
HUMANIA – Momento Film/Adomeit Films (Sweden, Denmark)
INDIAN SPACEMEN – Sequoia Films (UK)
INSIDE JOKE: HOW HUMOUR INVENTED THE JEWS – Cave 7 Productions/Ventana Film-Und Fernsehproduktionsgesellschaft MBH (Canada, Germany)
LEONE STARS – Mattru Media (Canada)
LET THE FIRE BURN – The George Washington University (U.S.)
MEN’S CHOICE – Ethnogeographic Research Foundation (Russia, Norway)
MERKATO – A Dopest Ethiopian Productions (U.S.)
THE PLEASURES OF THE SCENTS – Lowik Média Inc. (Canada)
SAND WARS – La Compagnie des Taxi Brousse/Rappi Production (France)
SANDS OF THE SKEI QUEEN – Marie-Vérité Films (South Africa)
SECRET DAUGHTER – Lotus Films (U.S.)
SHADOW GIRL – Storyline Entertainment Inc./Maremoto Productions (Chile, Canada)
SHATTERED PIECES OF PEACE – Nonhlanhla Dlamini (Swaziland)
SVALKA: YULA’S JOURNEY – Hanna Polak Films/Goats Hill (U.S.)
THESE BIRDS WALK – Paperbag Rider Films (U.S.)
TREND BEACONS – Markell Productions/Spier Films (Iceland, UK)
VIDAL V. BUCKLEY – Tremolo Productions/Media Ranch Productions (USA)
ZANTA – Tripod Media LLC (USA)
Hot Docs has also announced the six recipients of the inaugural round of disbursements for the Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund, which awards financial support to independent filmmakers based in developing African countries.
Grant recipients will be attending this year’s conference, including International Co-production Day, taking place April 30.
Grantees are as follows:
Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund Development Grant:
BUDDHA OF AFRICA
Director and Producer: Nicole Schafer
Production Company: Thinking Strings Media
Country: South Africa/Malawi
FIFIRÉ EN PAYS CUBALLO (FIFIRÉ IN CUBALLO’S LAND)
Producer: Sellou Diallo
Director: Mame Woury Thioubou
Production Company: Les Films de l’Atelier
Country: Senegal
Hot Docs-Blue Ice Group Documentary Fund Production Grant
THE CHILDREN’S WIZARD ACCUSED
Producer: Nadège Ndembo
Director: Camille Mouyeke
Production Company: Horten’s Films
Country: Congo
JUST A BAND: THE MOVIE
Producers and Directors: Wanuri Kahiu & Anjali Nayar
Country: Kenya
NORWEGIAN CRIME IN CONGO
Producer and Director: Djo Tunda Munga
Production Company: Suka! Productions
Country: Democratic Republic of Congo
WHOSE COUNTRY
Director and Producer: Mohamed Siam
Production Company: Arthkhana
Country: Egypt
The application process for the second round of disbursements runs from June 25 to August 20, 2012. Click here for more info.
The Hot Docs conference and festival runs from April 26 to May 6.