DISTINGUISHED CANADIAN FILMMAKER Terence Macartney-Filgate TO RECEIVE OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD AT HOT DOCS 2011

Toronto, January 18, 2011 – The Hot Docs Board of Directors is pleased to announce that it has chosen distinguished Canadian filmmaker Terence Macartney-Filgate as the recipient of its 2011 Outstanding Achievement Award. As part of the honour, Hot Docs will screen a retrospective during the 18th annual Festival, April 28-May 8, celebrating Macartney-Filgate’s remarkable career as a director and cinematographer.

“For over ten years, our annual retrospective programs have been two of Hot Docs’ most anticipated events,” says executive director Chris McDonald. “The honorees, selected by our Board of Directors, provide new and returning audience members with a better appreciation of the great and soon-to-be great filmmakers working in our midst…” more

ALAN ZWEIG HONOURED WITH FOCUS ON RETROSPECTIVE

Hot Docs will pay tribute to Alan Zweig with this year’s Focus On retrospective, an annual program showcasing the work of a mid-career Canadian filmmaker.

“Alan has a very unique voice, literally and metaphorically,” says Farnel. “Like most interesting artists, he has created his own genre, and while his films have been very popular at Hot Docs, in some way I also think he’s been underrated. Until now…” more“

HOT DOCS SPOTLIGHTS ITALY, RENEWS RIPPING REALITY PROGRAM WITH LOOK AT ‘UNDERDOCS’

Toronto, January 18, 2011 –Hot Docs will offer audiences the rare opportunity to view some of the past decade’s most overlooked and underappreciated documentaries with its 2011 film program Ripping Reality – The B-Sides, and will set its sights on the filmmaking achievements of the Italians with Made In Italy. Both programs will feature a selection of titles to be screened during this year’s Hot Docs, April 28 to May 8.

Hot Docs will continue its exploration of the documentary new wave with this retrospective of gems from the past decade. Building upon 2010’s Ripping Reality program, which offered a selection of significant works from the documentary form’s explosive last 10 years, Ripping Reality – The B-Sides will invite international festival programmers to recommend films they didn’t program but wished they had, works that deserve a place among the canon of the most compelling and creative of contemporary documentaries.

“In many cases we expect that these films will have been the most quietly influential and revered works of the documentary new wave,” says director of programming Sean Farnel…more