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The Hottest Shorts of Hot Docs 2023

Celebrate the best bite-sized documentaries from this year’s Hot Docs Festival that pack big ideas into a short runtime. 

Hot Docs Members and Hot Docs at Home subscribers can stream now at watch.hotdocs.ca.
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Series runs Starts August 14

a person wearing a space helmet

The Blake

In this deeply touching memoir, filmmaker Courtney Sposato explores her childhood experience of her brother’s illness while learning about the wonders of the galaxy aboard a replica of the space shuttle Challenger, created by her elementary schoolteacher from a dilapidated bus.

Hot Docs Members and Hot Docs at Home subscribers can stream now at watch.hotdocs.ca.

  • D: Courtney Sposato, Mark Sposato
  • USA
  • 2023
  • 15 min
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a person with taxidermy birds

Field Notes

A woman discovers a passion for birdwatching during her pandemic isolation, which leads to an appreciation for the natural world that exists in the midst of the concrete jungle. As the birds—including a particular pair of plovers—fight for survival, she's committed to protecting their habitat.

Hot Docs Members and Hot Docs at Home subscribers can stream now at watch.hotdocs.ca.
  • D: Aisha Jamal
  • Canada
  • 2023
  • 10 min
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two apples and a quote

Pomological

In 1886, the United States Department of Agriculture ambitiously commissioned watercolour illustrations of over 3,000 fruit cultivars. In 2019, this collection was digitized. Mesmerizingly detailed, these images now tell an incredible story about the little-known talent of botanical illustrators.

Hot Docs Members and Hot Docs at Home subscribers can stream now at watch.hotdocs.ca.

  • D: Sebastian Ko
  • Canada
  • 2023
  • 3 min
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a man looking up

Shells

Jan Minarík, the greatest Czech dancer of the 20th century, gives us a powerful and moving performance in the confines of an elevator. This unexpected solo captures in detail how the body remembers—and when it awakens, it unleashes all the virility of youth.

Hot Docs Members and Hot Docs at Home subscribers can stream now at watch.hotdocs.ca.

  • D: Marie-Magdalena Kochova
  • Czech Republic
  • 2023
  • 9 min
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