THURSDAY, MAY 6 - Sunday, May 16 | 2021
*Please note: All films are geo-locked for viewing within Alberta only.
All films are available to stream May 6th at 12:01 am to May 16th at 11:59 pm, and are available to stream for 48hrs from the time you press play on a title.
Thank you so much for supporting our filmmakers. We sincerely hope you enjoy the festival!
Questions? Check out this FAQ for some of the most common info/fixes.
MADE IN CANADA
Presented by: CANADIAN CINEMA EDITORS
Director Michèle Stephenson’s new documentary uncovers the complex history and present-day politics of Haiti and the Dominican Republic through the grassroots electoral campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris.
Jennifer Abbott’s new documentary The Magnitude of All Things merges stories from the frontlines of climate change with recollections of the loss of her sister, drawing intimate parallels between personal and planetary grief.
Driven to create amidst war and chaos, Afghan filmmakers gave birth to an extraordinary national cinema. Taliban extremists set out to torch that legacy.
Not About Me follows teenager Morgan Wienberg’s 10-year journey from a naïve orphanage volunteer in Haiti to a meaningful partner working within the Haitian community to build a better future.
Inside the world-renowned waste management centre located in Edmonton, Alberta, a company called Quality One is hiring people with barriers to employment to help tackle the crucial work of reducing the city’s ecological footprint.
Photo Credit: Bobbi Jo Hart
Director Bobbi Jo Hart presents Fanny: The Right to Rock, the untold story of the Filipina-American garage band that morphed into the ferocious rock group Fanny, the first all-female rock band to be signed to a major label.
#3 in Hot Docs Top 20, Winner of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award 2021
Someone Like Me follows the parallel journeys of Drake, a gay asylum seeker from Uganda, and a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community who are tasked with supporting his resettlement in Canada.
#5 in Hot Docs Top 20, Winner of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award 2021
The Last Villains: Mad Dog & The Butcher is the larger-than-life story of the legendary professional wrestling Vachon family, as recounted by the only surviving family member, Paul “The Butcher” Vachon.
The Paper Man captures the last two years of French-Canadian children’s entertainer Claude Lafortune’s life before he passed away from Covid in April of 2020. This documentary examines his body of work, revealing the depths of his art and continuing legacy.
Hell or Clean Water is the story of Shawn Bath, a former commercial diver on his quest to rid the coast of the bottles, tires, boat parts, and other assorted debris littering the harbours of Newfoundland.
#7 in Hot Docs Top 20, Winner of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award 2021
A secret letter hidden in a wall for seventy years sets off a miraculous chain of events that would change a family forever. Love, Oran is sure to be a timely, well-needed escape for audiences.
In No Roses on a Sailor’s Grave, fate brings together a Royal Navy veteran and last living survivor of a ship that vanished during World War II with an archaeologist who promises to find the long-lost vessel.
Inspired by the cult following, Hail to the Deadites is a documentary about the fans of the Evil Dead franchise. This heartfelt documentary puts the spotlight on the fans that cultivated and spread this groovy pop-culture infection.
When General Motors announces that the company will be shutting down operations after 100 years of manufacturing vehicles in Oshawa, Canada, the union is forced to fight to save their members’ jobs.
PERSPECTIVE ALBERTA
Presented by: CANADIAN CINEMA EDITORS
Inside the world-renowned waste management centre located in Edmonton, Alberta, a company called Quality One is hiring people with barriers to employment to help tackle the crucial work of reducing the city’s ecological footprint.
A secret letter hidden in a wall for seventy years sets off a miraculous chain of events that would change a family forever. Love, Oran is sure to be a timely, well-needed escape for audiences.
MUSIC DOCS
Presented by CJSR
Photo Credit: Bobbi Jo Hart
Director Bobbi Jo Hart presents Fanny: The Right to Rock, the untold story of the Filipina-American garage band that morphed into the ferocious rock group Fanny, the first all-female rock band to be signed to a major label.
#3 in Hot Docs Top 20, Winner of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award 2021
Angelo Moore, lead singer and saxophonist of FIshbone, devotes his life to crafting art through spoken word, music, and fashion —making beauty out of darkness.
A documentary about the resurgence of vinyl records, the diversification of vinyl fans, and what this all means for North America today.
From inspiring triumphs to heartbreaking setbacks, Bleeding Audio relives the career of the Matches and explores what it means to succeed in the digital age of music.
GLOBAL VISIONS
Presented by REAL TALK with Ryan Jespersen
As Sapelo’s storyteller and elder matriarch, Cornelia works to preserve what remains of this unique community established by her ancestors.
End of the Line is the story of a small group of Indigenous women who risked their lives to stop the $3.8 billion Dakota Access Pipeline, a project which would threaten their land, water, and existence.
On New Year’s Eve 2019, Ash Brennan lost his house in the Conjola Park bushfire which nearly killed those who dared to fight the blaze, including his brother. While the traumatized community waited for help, a group of local artists came together in an attempt to give the community hope.
The Body Fights Back is a feature documentary about five people navigating the paradoxes of diet culture. Personal stories from vastly different backgrounds quickly merge into a shockingly similar experience of battling one’s body.
In preparation for the first human mission to Mars, six volunteers take part in the ultimate dress rehearsal, living inside a year-long NASA simulation to understand the effects of isolation on the human mind.
Ophir tells the story of an extraordinary Indigenous revolution for life, land, and culture —opening up the path for creating the world’s newest nation in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea.
Today, Seyran Ateş—a Turkish-German lawyer, feminist, and one of the first female imams in Europe—is fighting for sexual revolution within Islam.
Against a backdrop of drought, fire, and floods, Wild Things gives us insight into how today’s environmentalists are making a difference.
iHuman is a political thriller about artificial intelligence, power, and social control. This film shows how our era’s most powerful and far-reaching technology is changing our lives, society, and future.
With unprecedented access during the peak of the pandemic lockdown, Wuhan Wuhan goes beyond the statistics and salacious headlines to showcase the human experience during the early days of COVID-19.
BEST OF HOT DOCS SHOWCASE
Photo Credit: Bobbi Jo Hart
Director Bobbi Jo Hart presents Fanny: The Right to Rock, the untold story of the Filipina-American garage band that morphed into the ferocious rock group Fanny, the first all-female rock band to be signed to a major label.
#3 in Hot Docs Top 20, Winner of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award 2021
Someone Like Me follows the parallel journeys of Drake, a gay asylum seeker from Uganda, and a group of strangers from Vancouver’s queer community who are tasked with supporting his resettlement in Canada.
#5 in Hot Docs Top 20, Winner of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award 2021
Hell or Clean Water is the story of Shawn Bath, a former commercial diver on his quest to rid the coast of the bottles, tires, boat parts, and other assorted debris littering the harbours of Newfoundland.
#7 in Hot Docs Top 20, Winner of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award 2021
In preparation for the first human mission to Mars, six volunteers take part in the ultimate dress rehearsal, living inside a year-long NASA simulation to understand the effects of isolation on the human mind.
With unprecedented access during the peak of the pandemic lockdown, Wuhan Wuhan goes beyond the statistics and salacious headlines to showcase the human experience during the early days of COVID-19.
MADE IN THE USA
Presented by The Alberta Podcast Network
As white-nationalist violence surges across the world, White Noise represents an urgent warning about the power of extremism and where it’s going next.
Let The People Decide is a documentary film chronicling the contentious history of voting in the United States, from the early 1960s until today.
After an ALS diagnosis, Ady Barkan travels the U.S. to protest a bill that will cut into the healthcare programs he needs, using all of his will to fight for healthcare justice.
Operation Wolf Patrol is about eco-activist Rod Coronado and his attempt to end wolf hunting in the United States in the face of stricter hunter harassment laws.
To Which We Belong highlights the farmers and ranchers leaving behind conventional practices that are no longer profitable or sustainable. These unsung heroes are improving the health of our soil and our seas.
Missing in Brooks County follows the journey of two families who arrive in Brooks County, Texas, to look for their loved ones, a place where thousands of immigrants have gone missing or died over the past decade.
Filmed over several weeks on the frontlines of the massive 2020 protests in Washington, D.C, Go-Go City takes viewers behind the scenes of the demonstrations.
The hospitality industry is the heartbeat of New York, especially in Queens. Thousands of artists, musicians and actors flock to the city’s most diverse borough to work in the service industry to supplement their dreams. In March of 2020, these dreams had to be put on hold as the county battled COVID-19.
NIGHT VISIONS
Presented by Metro Cinema
Set in Los Angeles, The Penny Black is a captivating story about the estranged son of a con artist who fights temptation, paranoia, and his own nefarious legacy as he searches for the rightful owner of a mysterious, million-dollar stamp collection.
An amateur dramatics group led by Dorset bus drivers spends a year creating a serious stage adaptation of the sci-fi horror film, Alien. Their big moment arrives when they get the chance to perform their homage in a London West End theatre for one night only.
Inspired by the cult following, Hail to the Deadites is a documentary about the fans of the Evil Dead franchise. This heartfelt documentary puts the spotlight on the fans that cultivated and spread this groovy pop-culture infection.
SHORTS PACKAGES
Presented by DOC Alberta
Meddle | 7 min
Seawolf | 9 min
Elder's Room | 23 min
Hou'ley | 6 min
Pekiwewin Relief & Prayer Camp | 6 min
Joe Buffalo | 16 min
Read more —>
Free To Be | 13 min
I'm With Harrison | 5 min
We Are Not Who They Say We Are | 18 min
Girlsboysmix | 6 min
In The Image Of God | 15 min