Artistic director Hussein Kurimbhoy and several programmers resigned ahead of this year’s edition of Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival.
Heather Haynes, festival director, will now lead the programming department.
A statement from the Toronto-based event said: “Hot Docs has announced that Hussain Kurimbhoy has resigned from his position as Artistic Director on March 20 due to personal reasons. Hussain has been instrumental in the programming of this year’s festival. Festival Director Heather Hines will lead the programming department in preparations.” “For this year’s festival, from April 25 to May 5. Unfortunately, some members of the programming team have decided not to participate in this year’s festival. We thank them for their contributions. We look forward to celebrating this year’s films with our audiences and bringing them together with filmmakers to share their important stories.”
In a statement posted on Facebook, senior international programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk wrote: “I have made the heartbreaking decision to exit the 2024 Hot Docs Festival. I do so with 9 of my colleagues listed below. I will continue to fight for films and filmmakers, they are the cornerstone of all film festivals, and the reason I do this work.
The colleagues mentioned by Watamaniuk are Samah Ali, Vivian Bielik, Jesse Cumming, Angie Driscoll, Margaret Pereira, Gabor Bertek, Caitlin Tomaselli, Maryam Zaidi, and Yiqian Zhang.
Although no reason was given for the withdrawal, Mary Nelson recently told CBC that this year’s festival could be her last without further support from government funding partners, and that the organization is still recovering from pandemic-era losses, including the festival’s two-year closure. Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.
Kurimbhoy, who has worked at the Sundance Film Festival, Sheffield Duckfest, Melbourne Film Festival, Nordisk Panorama Film Festival, Doc 10 and the Red Sea Film Festival, takes up his position in November 2023. diverse I have reached out to Currimbhoy for an adaptation