News

Hot Docs proudly reveals the recipients of $85,000 CAD in funding from the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund, supporting six Canadian documentary projects. The selected works represent diverse provinces, with two hailing from Alberta, two from Quebec, one from British Columbia, and one from Ontario. Established in June 2016 with a generous contribution from the Rogers Foundation, the $1- million fund is dedicated to providing financial assistance to Canadian documentary filmmakers.

“Canadian documentaries continue to showcase the diverse narratives and resilience found across the country, with a focus on stories that resonate globally,” shared Heidi Tao Yang, Hot Docs’ Director of Funds & Labs. “These documentaries not only reflect the unique stories from various provinces but also underscore Canada's commitment to storytelling that is impactful, thought-provoking, and globally relevant.”

Eligible projects were considered by the selection committee, which included Elissa McBride (Rogers Group of Funds), Anjali Nayar (Director, Ink & Pepper Productions), Hot Docs (Yiqian Zhang, Outgoing Manager of Funds & Labs).

The 2023 Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund recipients are:

TEA CREEK
Director: Ryan Dickie
Producer: Ben Cox
Production company: Boreal Wolf Film Productions Ltd.
Against the backdrop of colonization and the climate crisis, passionate Indigenous entrepreneur Jacob Beaton sets out to turn his family farm into a center for food sovereignty, resilience and healing for his remote northern community and beyond.

FREDY
Director: Will Prosper
Producers: Yanick Létourneau, Nathalie Cloutier
Production companies: Peripheria, NFB
In 2008, innocent 18-year-old Fredy, killed by Montreal police while playing dice, triggers Canada's biggest race riot. Fourteen years later, a film unravels systemic racism in the West, painting a poignant portrait of his family and community.

INTERCEPTED
Director: Oksana Karpovych
Producers: Giacomo Nudi, Rocío Barba Fuentes, Pauline Tran Van Lieu, Lucie Rego, Darya Bassel, Olha Beskhmelnytsina
Production companies: Les Films Cosmos Inc., Hutong Productions, Moonman LLC
A journey through Ukraine to reveal the banality of evil behind the Russian invasion by creatively juxtaposing the daily lives of the invaded with the voices of the invaders.

MODERN WHORE
Director: Nicole Bazuin
Producers: Lauren Grant, Nicole Bazuin, Andrea Werhun
Production companies: Clique Pictures, Virgin Twins
Modern Whore is a hybrid documentary that reimagines depictions of sex work through the lived experiences of writer, performer, and sex worker, Andrea Werhun. Andrea grapples with social stigma and reclaims her narrative in this funny, heartbreaking, and surprising film.

SINGHS IN THE RING
Director: Akash Sherman
Producers: Shane Fennessey, Adam Scorgie, Sunny Sidhu
Production companies: Fennessey Films, Score G Production Films, FMT Productions
Singhs in the Ring is a feature documentary based on the wildly colourful, outrageously animated, piledriving phenomenon of the Singh wrestling dynasty stretching from the infectiously fun 1970s era of Gama Singh, to present day with his son, Raj.

THE GOOD VIRUS
Director: Rosvita Dransfeld
Producers: Vanessa Dylyn, Rosvita Dransfeld
The Good Virus is a documentary that travels deep into the heart of the hidden world of phage therapy, a revolutionary treatment for life-threatening bacterial infections. As the global medical community is out of solutions for drug-resistant superbugs, scientists are turning to bacteria’s ancient enemy: bacteriophages.