Hot Docs – ALLIANCE OF WOMEN FILM JOURNALISTS

THE DELIVERY LINE (Hot Docs 2026) – Review by Rachel West

April 30, 2026May 7, 2026 Rachel West afghanistan, colombia, documentary, Hot Docs, mexico, midwives, Nance Ackerman, nigeria canada, The Delivery Line

Pregnancy and childbirth are often joyous, but they can also be marked by stress, health risks, and uncertainty— especially for those facing poverty, crime, climate change, war, and migration. For many, midwives are the ones guiding them through it. In The Delivery Line, director Nance Ackerman profiles five midwives working on the frontlines, from makeshift tents on the US-Mexico border to remote villages in Afghanistan. The film is an unflinching yet compassionate look at the realities of giving birth around the world. It follows five women who support and advocate for their communities. Blending traditional and modern practices, they bring care and dignity to some of the most challenging environments.

Festivals

HOT DOCS 2025 WRAP – Emma Badame reports

May 7, 2025May 8, 2025 Emma Badame Aisha’s Story, Amalie Atkins, Angela Carabalí, Asia Youngman, Chen Wang, Delta Dawn, displacement, documentaries, Elizabeth Vibert, Hot Docs, Sasha Wortzel

Every spring, documentary fans set their sights on Toronto and the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. This year’s event, the 32nd annual edition, which ran for 11 days from April 24 to May 4, brought audiences 113 non-fiction offerings from a whopping 47 countries. Add to that the 150 featured Q&As, and it’s not hard to see why Hot Docs is a mainstay of the annual cinematic circuit. Despite a turbulent year behind the scenes, festival programmers managed to bring another impressive programme of films from a wide range of filmmakers and backgrounds. With their latest run, Hot Docs upheld their mandate of presenting a wide swath of points of view, ensuring representation from across a spectrum of marginalised voices, including women, the queer community, filmmakers in exile, and more.

EDA Awards Festivals News

IDFA 2017: The Female Gaze is Gone — Jennifer Merin reports

November 27, 2017September 4, 2023 Jennifer Merin 0 Comments ally derks. the female gaze, barbara visser, dok leipzig, doxa, gender parity, Hot Docs, IDFA

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam, otherwise known as IDFA, has accomplished during the decades since it was co-founded by Ally Derks, who is rightly revered in the documentary film realm. But Ally Derks has moved on, and IDFA is changing its outlook. This year, the festival dropped its The Female Gaze program and is, apparently, no longer focusing on ongoing issues of gender parity faced by the international community of women filmmakers.

Interviews

Sharon Shattuck on FROM THIS DAY FORWARD and Growing Up With A Transgender Dad – Linda Barnard Interviews

April 27, 2015May 15, 2019 Linda Barnard (Archived Contributor) 0 Comments Bruce Jenner, documentaries, Hot Docs, Sharon Shattuck, transgender, Trisha Shattuck

As documentary filmmaker Sharon Shattuck planned her wedding two years ago, she recalled her father’s unsettling request, made when she was about 13 on the drive to school: “Whenever you get married, I hope that you’ll let me wear a dress when I walk you down the aisle.”