Hot Docs Forum’s Dorota Lech Reflects on State of the Art: ‘Documentary as an Art Form Is Stronger Than Ever’
variety.comAddie Morfoot Contributor The 24th edition of the Hot Docs Forum, the financing event aimed at securing co-productions and funds for feature length documentaries, includes 19 projects representing 16 countries and featuring 23 filmmakers, 12 of whom are women and 11 of whom are black, indigenous and people of color.
An additional Wild Card pitch will be selected live at the Forum. The Forum, which returns to in-person at Toronto’s Hart House after three years of being virtual, also includes an additional 30 projects, which will participate in Hot Docs Deal Maker, a curated one-on-one pitch meeting program.
Commissioning editors, investors and industry experts, including A24, Amazon Studios, Chicken & Egg Pictures, Concordia, Hulu, Paramount, Participant Media, Sandbox Films and Netflix, will attend this year’s Forum.
Industry programmer and Forum producer, Dorota Lech, spoke to Variety about how she selects projects, the advice she gives participating filmmakers, and how she feels about the current doc market. Did you personally select the 50 projects that are participating both publicly and privately in the Forum this year? Every year we have a different selection committee that we choose internally.
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