FAQ: Podcast Festival

Passholders will have access to view the Hot Docs Podcast Festival on the Festival Portal at watch.hotdocs.ca. This is where you can watch all live events, Creators Forum sessions and on demand content, and participate in our daily Happy Hours to network with fellow attendees. 

All sessions and events will be recorded and available for Passholders on demand through February 28, 2022.  

If you're a passholder, sign in at watch.hotdocs.ca using the email address and the password associated with your Hot Docs account. If you don’t have, or have forgotten your password, please click here.

Nope. Passholders have access to all live events and sessions on the Festival Portal. Simply sign in, select the event you want to watch click the "watch now" button to join the stream. Each event will begin 3-4 minutes after the scheduled time in order to accommodate latecomers. You can join the event or session at any point during the livestream. 

Yes. All Live Events will be recorded and will be available on demand up to 24 hours after the start time of the live stream. Note that the event chat will not be available On Demand. 

Passholders: You will have access to all event/session recordings on the Festival Portal until February 28
Members/single ticket holders: You will have access to the live event purchased up until January 31 at midnight

You can watch the recording as many times as you like! 

Currently you can stream our online events through the following web browsers: Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari, Microsoft Edge, and Opera. For both PC and Apple computers, we recommend that you use the latest version of your browser. 

Note: Internet Explorer is not supported. 

For a complete list of compatibility, please click here. 

Download the Hot Docs app on Apple TV (Generation 4 or higher only) 
After you click to WATCH your event, you will be see the button with an option to “WATCH ON ROKU OR APPLE TV” button at the top of your stream page to access your 9-digit voucher code. Open the Hot Docs app and enter the code to stream the film. 

If you do not already have the Hot Docs app downloaded, search for “Hot Docs” in the App store and click “Get the App.” 

Hot Docs App on Roku 
After you click to WATCH your event, you will be see the button with an option to “WATCH ON ROKU OR APPLE TV”  button at the top of your stream page to access your 9-digit voucher code. Open the Hot Docs Channel and enter the code to stream the film. 

If you do not already have the Hot Docs app downloaded, search for “Hot Docs” in the Roku channel store and click “Add Channel.” 

Note that the Event chat feature will not be available if you are watching on a TV device (Apple TV, Roku, Android TV, and Fire TV)  

Screen Sharing (Chromecast, Apple TV, and Roku) 
You can stream events on Chromecast or Apple TV (all generations) or Roku by screen sharing your smartphone, tablet, or computer on the same Wi-Fi network. Instructions for screen sharing using your Apple TV using AirPlay can be found here. For Roku users, you will need to install the Airplay add on. For information on screen sharing using your Chromecast, click here. 

Live events will not be captioned live, but closed captions will be made available on all event/session recordings up until 72 hours after the event wraps. Click on the Captioning icon to turn captions on. 

From January 26 to January 28 at 5:00 PM EST, we will host a daily Happy Hour where passholders can move in and out of breakout rooms where they can reconnect with friends and colleagues, make new connections, and chat about the key learnings and events of each day.

All Passholders can participate by connecting via the Festival Portal. Networking events are available via a computer or tablet but not on TV devices. We recommend using Google Chrome. Please ensure you have a working webcam and microphone.

This fall, Hot Docs issued an open call across Canada for short audio clips from exciting new podcasts that showcase the best in Canadian podcasting to feature as part of this year’s Opening Act program. We selected 6 incredible shows to feature before each of our live events at this year’s festival. You can see the full lineup of shows and learn more about them here.