News

Hot Docs is pleased to announce that four Canadian music documentary projects will receive a total of $127,500 CAD in funding from the Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund. The Fund, the first of its kind in Canada, was established in May 2020 in support of filmmakers telling engaging, high-quality stories that embrace music in all its forms and that demonstrate Canadian music’s role in the world. The Fund also welcomes international music stories told through the lens of Canadian filmmakers. To date, the Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund has funded 15 projects and disbursed $390,000 CAD.

"The third year of Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund attracted many engaging, high-quality stories, on various subjects with delightful styles," said Heidi Tao Yang, Hot Docs Director of Funds & Labs. "We are thrilled to support the stories of characters who marched to the beat of their own drum in the past, present, and in the future."

"The Slaight Family is excited to be providing another round of funding for this important partnership," said Gary Slaight, President and CEO of The Slaight Family Foundation. "It has been incredibly rewarding to work with the Hot Docs team to select and support filmmakers who are making music-driven documentaries that resonate with audiences worldwide. Canada has an enormous storehouse of creative talent, and we’re thrilled to be able to help amplify the stories of our ground-breaking artists and solidify their legacies."

Eligible projects were considered by the selection committee, which included Tiffany Hsiung (Filmmaker), Hot Docs (Yiqian Zhang), and Barnaby Marshall (Slaight Music).
 

Development Funds

ANTI DIVA: THE CAROLE POPE CONFESSIONS
D: Michelle Mama
P: Allison Grace, Bill Taylor, Michelle Mama, Meredith MacNeill
Production company: Fall From Grace Productions Inc.
Province: Ontario
As the lead singer of Canadian art punk band Rough Trade, Carole Pope was a queer outlaw decades ahead of her time. Based on revelations from her autobiography Anti Diva, we finally hear the full unvarnished truth about fame, excess, missed opportunities, lust, love and everything in between.
 

Production Funds

BIF NAKED: ONE OF A KIND
D: Jennifer Abbott
P: Adam Scorgie
Production company: Score G Production Films Inc.
Province: Alberta
This feature documentary is based on the incredible and outrageous true story of Canadian punk rock legend Bif Naked. Boisterous, hilarious, rebellious and wild, it follows her struggles as she claws her way up the unforgiving punk-rock hierarchy despite all odds.

HARKNESS
D: Maria Markina
P: Ed Barreveld
Production company: Storyline Entertainment Inc.
Province: Ontario
Disguised in a cloak and visor, Harkness is launching an artistic revolution against the commodification of music. With only his 87-year-old mother’s unshakable faith to rely on, he's ready to break out of her basement and into stardom.

SAY IT LOUD
D: Graeme Mathieson
P: Andrew Munger, Clement Virgo, Colette Vosberg
Production company: Ultramagnetic Productions
Province: Ontario
The film tells the extraordinary story of Jamaican Canadian singer Jay Douglas, who helped lead a movement of 1960’s & ‘70’s Caribbean immigrants who created a dynamic and influential black music culture in the bars and clubs of urban Canada.

The Slaight Family Foundation was established in 2008 by John Allan Slaight and his son Gary Slaight who oversees the Foundation. Allan Slaight is known as Canada’s broadcast pioneer, a leader in the music industry and a prominent Canadian philanthropist. Through his generosity, the Foundation proactively supports charitable initiatives in the areas of healthcare, at-risk youth, international development, social services and culture.