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Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival

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(Click for full image) Toronto

30th April - 10th May 2009

See also: Toronto Documentary Forum

This is the major North American festival for documentary. The great and the good of the documentary world gather here annually for the festival, market and the Toronto Documentary Forum. The festival screens a selection of over 100 cutting-edge documentaries from Canada and around the globe. Through its industry programmes, the festival also provides a full range of professional development, market and networking opportunities for documentary professionals. The festival includes an international documentary market, The Doc Shop, and the annual Toronto Documentary Forum.

Submission Guidelines

Films must be a Toronto premiere, although not necessarily a Canadian or even a North American one, and can be any length as long as they're a documentary! All films submitted for competition are automatically included in the Doc Shop, a videotheque-cum-documentary market that runs throughout the festival. You can even submit your film to the Doc Shop only and bypass the festival if you want.

Hot Docs features two competitive programs, Canadian Spectrum and International Spectrum, and several non-competitive programs. All feature films selected for Hot Docs are eligible for the Audience Award.

All films must have been completed after January 1, 2008, and not screened publicly prior to that date. They must also be English-language, subtitled in English or English versioned (note that non-English language productions may be submitted with an English transcript but must be subtitled or dubbed for presentation at Hot Docs at the applicant's expense).

For the purposes of eligibility and awards consideration, Hot Docs uses the following definitions:
  • Feature Length: 60 mins and over
  • Mid-Length: 30 to 59 mins
  • Short: under 30 mins
If selected to screen at the Festival, the following exhibition formats are accepted: BetacamSp (NTSC or PAL), DigiBeta (NTSC or PAL), 35mm and HDCAM (High Definition).

Entry Fees
  • Shorts
Prior to December 15: $32 CDN per submission
Prior to January 16: $32 CDN per submission
  • Feature and Mid-Length
Prior to December 15: $63 CDN per submission
Prior to January 16: $110 CDN per submission
Toronto Documentary Forum
6th and 7th May 2008

The pitching forum, one of the largest documentary pitching opportunities in the festival calendar, opens for submissions in December the year before the festival.

Independent production companies of all nationalities are eligible to enter documentary projects currently in development or early production. To be eligible, the project must:
  • have the commitment of at least one broadcaster, distributor or eligible film board or film institute* who will attend the TDF to co-present the project;
  • a minimum of approximately 20 per cent (but no more than 75 per cent) of its financing in place.
The existing financing must include arms-length, third-party monies from the marketplace. In Canada, the existing financing can also include federal and provincial tax credits. A maximum of two projects may be entered per production company.

The forum also includes The Rough Cut Program: Independent production companies of all nationalities are eligible to enter documentary projects (short or feature-length) currently at a rough-cut stage that have not yet secured market financing (i.e. broadcaster or distributor).

Applicants must submit the Project Entry Form for all pitches along with the following additional documents. All additional material should be sent by email with the project’s title in the subject line to the TDF Coordinator. A TDF submission fee of $45.00 must be submitted along with the Project Entry Form.

All material must be received by the TDF on or before the deadline.
  1. A letter or email of commitment from the 'trigger' broadcaster/distributor/institute (not applicable for the rough-cut slots);
  2. A one-page status report on the project that describes the project's background and the current status of financing, research, rights, access to interview subjects and production team. Rough-cut applicants should also include notes on the current status of the footage, including its length and its projected length at the time of the TDF in April;
  3. A two-page treatment that provides some detail about the visual treatment of the film and -- most importantly -- how the story will be told;
  4. A one-page production budget and financing scenario in the applicant's local currency and in U.S. dollars (for example, Canadians should include a Canadian dollar and a U.S. dollar column). The financing scenario should include confirmed and pending amounts;
  5. One page of biographical information on the production company and the director;
  6. A trailer or clips sent via a link (Required for Rough Cuts, Optional for Regular Single and Series & Mini Series)
For more details and to enter, see the Hot Docs website (see link below).
Link: http://www.hotdocs.ca Contact: Chris McDonald - Executive Director Email: info (at) hotdocs (dot) ca Telephone: +1 416 203 2155 Fax: +1 416 203 0446 Address: 110 Spadina Avenue Suite 333, Toronto, Ontario M6G 4A2, Canada

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