Hot Docs 24

Jana is one of a small number of Protestant pastors in Slovenia. But while her faith remains intact, she begins to question her commitment to life as a cleric as she is increasingly sidelined by the Church authorities. At the same time, her marriage is under severe strain, and she further confides to director Prettner, in the most candid of terms, of childhood sexual abuse that she suffered. “We spent two hours a day when we were driving, and in the car she revealed the most intimate stuff,” the director tells BDE.

24 hours after 10 Hot Docs programmers exited the festival en masse, the Canadian doc fest unveiled its selection of 168 documentaries representing 64 countries, featuring 51 world and 32 international premieres. The 2024 festival will open April 25 with the international premiere of Luther: Never Too Much, directed by award-winning filmmaker Dawn Porter. Hot Docs 2024 runs April 25 to May 5, promising “an unparalleled celebration of non-fiction storytelling on a global scale.”

In Limits of Europe, Czech journalist Sasha Uhlová sets out to experience what it’s like to be an Eastern European economic migrant in the West, working impossibly long hours for low wages and leaving behind her partner, four kids and seriously ill father - just as so many economic migrants are forced to do. The film “is a mirror reflecting the world we live in even though we have a habit of turning a blind eye to what is happening in it,” says director Apolena Rychlíková.

In Malta, abortion is illegal, almost without exception. In Italy, a single woman cannot have IVF treatment, while only a small number of European countries allow for euthanasia or assisted suicide. So it is not surprising that Europe has seen a boom in cross-border “medical tourism” over recent years, a phenomenon that Greek director Elina Psykou examines in her feature doc Stray Bodies, selected for EFP’s Changing Face of Europe programme. Psykou talks to BDE.

Dutch-based Ukrainian filmmaker Mariia Ponomarova discusses her new film portraying a group of very competitive 50 year+ cheerleaders in Kharkiv. “We really hope that people will be excited to see Nice Ladies because it is a film full of laughter, tears and bittersweet moments, painful moments but moments that are worth living through,” says director Ponomarova.

Nishtha Jain’s absorbing film Farming the Revolution documents the 2020 march of thousands of farmers on Delhi, protesting against new farm laws imposed by the Indian government. The film takes time to detail the experiences of the farmers and protesters, whose sense of camaraderie is what gives the doc a real sense of heart and purpose, as well as outlining the politics and reaction to the protest.

It may not be a hugely original premise - to invite (very) old people to talk about their lives and former partners - but Echo of Life is nevertheless a wondrous experience that touches your soul. It is a poetic reflection on life and love which indicates that, by the end, we remember what really matters, and shows how important (shared) memories are in a person's life.

Fifteen awards were handed out during the March 3 closing ceremony, of which 9 were won by women. The Best International Feature Documentary Award was given to Farming the Revolution by Nishta Jain, while Best Canadian Feature Documentary was named as The Soldier’s Lagoon by Pablo Álvarez-Mesa. The Special Jury Prize (International Feature Doc) was awarded to Death of a Saint by Patricia Bbaale Bandak. All awards…

Eco-warrior Chris Clark, the protagonist of The Outpost, was the kind of maverick you expect to find in a Werner Herzog movie or an epic 19th Century novel, a visionary who would attempt to put on a Pink Floyd concert in the Amazon rain forest so as to convince the Brazilian government to set up a nature reserve. “We shared the fact that we were ‘out-of-era’ idealists […who…] shared the same discomfort with the contemporary world,” director Morabito tells BDE of his friend and subject.