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The Hottest Docs

As awards season heats up, Hot Docs brings you a selection of the most acclaimed and awarded documentaries of the year. 

Series runs December—January

Saturday, December 7 & Sunday, December 8

a woman's face close up

Separated

Academy Award-winning filmmaker Errol Morris incisively probes the darkest chapter in recent American history: family separations.

  • D: Errol Morris
  • USA, Mexico
  • 2024
  • 93 min
More details

Saturday, December 14

Daughters still

Daughters

Daughters follows the lives of four young girls who prepare for the first ever father/daughter dance in a jail in Washington, DC. What unfolds is an intimate portrayal of childhood that is both heartbreaking and inspiring.

  • D: Angela Patton, Natalie Rae
  • USA
  • 2024
  • 108 min
More details

Saturday, December 14 & Sunday, December 15

Zurawski v Texas still

Zurawski v Texas

A group of women denied abortions, even at the brink of death, band together with a fearless attorney to sue the state of Texas in an extraordinary effort to regain their rights and reproductive futures—not only for themselves but millions of others.

  • D: Maisie Crow, Abbie Perrault
  • USA
  • 2024
  • 98 min
More details

Sunday, December 15

Will & Harper still

Will & Harper

When Will Ferrell's good friend Harper comes out as a trans woman, they take a road trip to bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self.

  • D: Josh Greenbaum
  • USA
  • 2024
  • 114 min
More details

Friday, December 20 & Sunday, December 22

Hollywoodgate still

Hollywoodgate

Immediately after the US withdraws from Afghanistan, the Taliban occupied the "Hollywood Gate" complex, claimed to be a former CIA base in Kabul. The Taliban finds countless aircrafts, weapons and pieces of military equipment. Over one year, HOLLYWOODGATE shows the transformation of an extremist militia into a military regime.

  • D: Ibrahim Nash’at
  • Germany, USA
  • 2024
  • 91 min
More details

Saturday, December 21 & Sunday, December 22

Black Box Diaries still

Black Box Diaries

Journalist Shiori Ito takes on one of the most powerful institutions in Japan to prosecute her high-profile sexual assailant in a landmark legal case. Using personal footage and hidden cameras, Ito puts it all on the line for justice.

  • D: Shiori Ito
  • Japan, UK, USA
  • 2024
  • 104 min
More details

Friday, December 27 & Sunday, December 29

Porcelain War still

Porcelain War

Why would anyone craft fragile ceramics in an active war zone? Three Ukrainians, fighting as both soldiers and artists, offer up an unexpected dispatch from the front lines. Creativity combats destruction in this gorgeous Sundance Best US Documentary award-winner.

  • D: Brendan Bellomo, Slava Leontyev
  • Ukraine, USA, Australia
  • 2024
  • 87 min
More details

Friday, January 3 & Sunday, January 5

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found still

Ernest Cole: Lost and Found

Ernest Cole was the first Black freelance photographer in South Africa, whose early pictures laid bare the injustices of apartheid for a world audience. Cole was exiled to the US, where his experiences were far from his expectations of the American Dream.

  • D: Raoul Peck
  • France, USA
  • 2024
  • 105 min
More details

Saturday, January 4 & Sunday, January 5

an artist with elaborate makeup and wearing a red PVC outfit

Queendom

In defiance of Russia’s anti-LGBTQ laws, a queer, 21-year-old artist risks her life performing in surreal costumes throughout Moscow. Jenna Marvin’s radical public performances blend artistry and activism in this SXSW documentary.
  • D: Agniia Galdanova
  • USA & France
  • 2024
More details

Friday, January 10 & Saturday, January 11

Child sits on a pile of logs, reaching to the sky

A New Kind of Wilderness

On a small farm in the Norwegian forest, a family seeks a wild free existence. However, after a tragic event changes everything, they are forced from their idyllic farm and into the expectations of modern society.

  • D: Silje Evensmo Jacobsen
  • Norway
  • 2024
  • 84 min
More details

Saturday, January 11 & Sunday, January 12

Union still

Union

The Amazon Labor Union (ALU)—a group of current and former Amazon workers on New York City’s Staten Island—takes on one of the world’s largest and most powerful companies in the fight to unionize.

  • D: Brett Story, Stephen Maing
  • USA
  • 2024
  • 104 min
More details

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