Robert Cohen’s film about rediscovering his national identity, the Canada/US copro Being Canadian, and Violeta Ayala’s drug smuggling doc The Bolivian Case are to screen alongside Sundance award-winners (T)ERROR (pictured) and Dreamcatcher at the 2015 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

The Toronto-based festival – which runs from April 23 to May 3 – has revealed 17 documentaries screening as part of its Special Presentations program, which features both world and international premieres, as well as award-winners from recent international festivals and works by veteran documentarians.

Films from Sundance screening at Hot Docs include the U.K./Canada coproduction How to Change the World, Bill Ross IV and Turner Ross’s Western,, Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker’s Welcome to Leith and Lyric R. Cabral and David Felix Sutcliffe’s (T)ERROR, as well as Brett Morgen’s Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck and Kim Longinotto’s Dreamcatcher.

Elsewhere, alongside the world premieres of Being Canadian and The Bolivian Case is the North American premiere of Andreas Koefoed’s The Arms Drop, on a British arms dealer’s search for an M15 agent, and Mattias Bittner’s War of Lies, about a refugee in Germany who had a hand in the 2003 Iraq invasion. John Zaritsky’s Canadian documentary, A Different Drummer: Celebrating Eccentrics will have its Toronto priemere at the festival,

The festival’s anniversary screenings include Jennie Livingston’s film on the 1980s New York black and Latino LGBT ball scene Paris is Burning, and Barry Avrich’s doc on talent agent Lew Wasserman, The Last Mogul.

The complete special presentations program and full selection of festival films are to be announced on March 17, including the opening night film.

Documentaries announced today are found below. Descriptions are courtesy of Hot Docs and edited by Playback sister publication realscreen:

THE ARMS DROP
Andreas Koefoed | Denmark | 2014 | 94 min | North American Premiere
After narrowly escaping execution and surviving eight years in an Indian prison, a British arms dealer hunts down the MI5 agent who betrayed him, leading to a shocking confrontation with the man who started it all.

BEING CANADIAN
Robert Cohen | Canada, USA | 2014 | 89 min | World Premiere
Calgary hometown boy turned Hollywood comedy guru Rob Cohen (The Simpsons, The Big Bang Theory) returns to Canada on an epic quest to rediscover our national identity. Meeting up with Mike Myers, Seth Rogen and even the Trailer Park Boys along the way, just imagine Sherman’s March, but wearing a toque.

THE BOLIVIAN CASE
Violeta Ayala | Australia, Bolivia, Colombia, USA | 2015 | 75 min | World Premiere
Three Norwegian teenaged girlfriends get caught smuggling cocaine out of Bolivia. Why does only one take the fall? Cue a tabloid media storm, professional kidnappers and a behind-bars pregnancy in this sensational exposé.

THE CIRCUS DYNASTY
Anders Riis-Hansen | Denmark | 2014 | 75 min | Canadian Premiere
The success and longevity of two of Europe’s greatest circus families hangs in the balance as their respective heirs fall for one another—but combining love and work may be their greatest challenge yet.

DEMOCRATS
Camilla Nielsson | Denmark | 2014 | 109 min | Canadian Premiere
Can sworn political enemies work together for a common good? Follow Zimbabwe’s unlikely coalition government of reigning dictator Mugabe’s party and his opposition as they slyly maneuver and reluctantly negotiate to forge a new constitution.

A DIFFERENT DRUMMER: CELEBRATING ECCENTRICS
John Zaritsky | Canada | 2014 | 86 min | Toronto Premiere
Oscar-winning director John Zaritsky celebrates eccentrics in this light-hearted but affectionate look at non-conformists—from a Utah cave dweller who hasn’t used money in 12 years to a beloved Vancouver psychic often seen with her pet duck in a buggy.

DREAMCATCHER
Kim Longinotto | UK | 2015 | 98 min | Canadian Premiere
Acclaimed filmmaker Kim Longinotto crafts a deeply moving portrait of a former teenage prostitute who fought her way off the streets to become an unstoppable force for change in the lives of Chicago’s at-risk women.

DRONE
Tonje Hessen Schei | Norway | 2014 | 78 min | Canadian Premiere
A penetrating investigation into the war on terror’s defining weapon—the armed drone—featuring incisive analysis from pilots, military experts and powerless bystanders who live in fear of becoming the collateral damage of this high-tech weaponry.

EVERY LAST CHILD
Tom Roberts | UAE, Pakistan | 2015 | 82 min | Canadian Premiere
Caught in the crosshairs of violence and politics, healthcare workers are everyday heroes as they struggle to protect children from polio in Pakistan—the epicenter for this crippling disease that has once again become a global threat.

HOW TO CHANGE THE WORLD
Jerry Rothwell | UK, Canada | 2015 | 112 min | Canadian Premiere
In the early 1970s, a group of young Canadians combined forces to create Greenpeace. Using interviews and previously unseen footage, this is the story of a group of friends who set out to change the world.

KURT COBAIN: MONTAGE OF HECK
Brett Morgen | USA | 2015 | 132 min | Canadian Premiere
In this first fully authorized cinematic portrait of music legend Kurt Cobain, never-before-seen home movies, striking animation and interviews with those who knew him best take us into the life and mind of an icon.

THE LAST MOGUL
D: Barry Avrich | Canada, USA | 2005 | 110 min | Anniversary Screening
To celebrate 10 years since its release, a special screening of Barry Avrich’s The Last Mogul allows audiences to revisit this portrait of one of the most powerful men in show business: Lew Wasserman.

PARIS IS BURNING
Jennie Livingston | USA | 1990 | 71 min | Anniversary Screening
Electrifying audiences with a window into the fierce—and fiercely competitive—world of the 1980s New York black and Latino LGBT ball scene, this paradigm-shifting classic is as audacious and profound as the day it was released 25 years ago.

(T)ERROR
Lyric R. Cabral, David Felix Sutcliffe | USA | 2014 | 93 min | International Premiere
This Sundance award winner exposes the shocking practices and murky justifications driving FBI counterterrorism investigations by following an informant who provides full access on the trail of a new suspect.

WAR OF LIES
Matthias Bittner | Germany | 2014 | 89 min | North American Premiere
How did one refugee in Germany become the US government’s justification for the 2003 Iraq invasion? The unrepentant Iraqi “engineer”—the lone source of weapons of mass destruction misinformation—finally reveals how the war based on his lie truly began.

WELCOME TO LEITH
Michael Beach Nichols, Christopher K. Walker | USA | 2015 | 86 min | International Premiere
A real-life horror story unfolds in the near-deserted town of Leith, North Dakota, when a white supremacist attempts to buy up land in a plot to establish a community of neo-Nazis.

WESTERN
Bill Ross IV, Turner Ross | USA, Mexico | 2014 | 93 min | International Premiere
As a cowboy and a lawman navigate their rapidly changing hometowns and an ever-growing divide, Western paints a stunning and subtle portrait of two towns straddling the US-Mexico border that previously existed in harmony.

– From realscreen