Hot Docs is celebrating its 12th year with a new look, new industry events and an unusual pair of sports documentaries – one about a triumph, the other a tragedy.

More than 40,000 members of the public and 1,500 international doc professionals will gather in Toronto April 22 to May 1 to view, discuss and deal for more than 100 documentaries, including 36 from Canada, 14 from Israel and dozens more from 23 countries around the world.

The festival – formally the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival – launched its new brand in February along with a new logo and the tagline ‘Outspoken. Outstanding.’ Organizers say the rebranding stems from the festival’s tremendous growth over the last 12 years and a desire to reflect the event’s broadening reach and scope.

According to Hot Docs executive director Chris McDonald, while there is not much room to grow the industry component of the festival beyond the current 1,500 industry professionals expected this year, the potential ceiling for public attendance at screenings is limitless.

‘We don’t want the industry component to grow beyond where it is right now,’ he says. ‘But in terms of actual attendees… I’d love to double it in the next five years.’ Last year, the festival drew 37,000 moviegoers.

At a March 30 press conference, organizers announced the 2005 lineup, which includes the international premiere of Murderball, the story of quadriplegic athletes competing in a full-contact rugby tournament, as the festival’s opening documentary. Another notable film making its world premiere is Belgium’s Heysel ’85 – Requiem for a Cup Final, the closing-night documentary about the soccer final 20 years ago where 39 fans were trampled to death in Brussels’ Heysel Stadium.

Also announced, Quebec filmmaker Paul Carrière’s 67-minute film The Cross and Bones will make its world premiere as the Canadian Spectrum opener.

In addition to the annual Canadian Spectrum, programs for 2005 include International Showcase, and Real Kids, Real Teens, as well as a Spotlight on Israel.

Also on the slate is a retrospective of work from Errol Morris, this year’s recipient of Hot Docs’ Outstanding Achievement Award. While Morris, who won an Academy Award for the feature The Fog of War, will be officially recognized at the festival’s awards presentation April 29, the retrospective of five of his films, including A Brief History of Time, Fast, Cheap & Out of Control and The Thin Blue Line, will screen throughout the festival. Morris will also participate in an on-stage interview April 30.

Closer to home, doc vet Larry Weinstein will be the subject of this year’s Focus On program, which highlights the talent of an established Canadian director. Weinstein’s documentaries, focused on the intangible art of making music, have been broadcast in more than 40 countries and have won several international awards. His short Making Overtures: The Story of a Community Orchestra was nominated for an Oscar in 1986.

According to organizers, this year’s submissions showed a marked increase in the number of projects being shot on digital video. Hot Docs managing director Brett Hendrie says that 50% of the 2005 lineup was shot digitally, with five in high-definition. Hendrie attributes that growth to the fact that more documentaries, traditionally shot on formats such as Betacam, are being transferred to film for theatrical distribution.

‘Doc makers have realized that they are not producing just for television but for theatrical distribution,’ he says. Since digital footage can be converted to film much more cleanly than videotape, the format is increasingly becoming the preference for doc makers.

This year’s industry events feature professional development programs including Filmmaker Discussions, a series of panels on the creative aspects of doc filmmaking; Producer Seminars, moderated discussions on the business of making docs; Kickstart, a half-day series of panels for emerging and mid-career filmmakers on the fundamentals of doc production and distribution; and National Film Board Coffee Talks, daily open discussions between NFB filmmakers and those from around the world.

The NFB, in conjunction with the Canadian Television Fund, will also host the second annual Doc Policy Summit on April 25. Thirty industry delegates will discuss the future of documentary production and distribution and will be presented with the findings of research initiated after last year’s summit, including new information on documentary audiences, economic performance, financing, social impacts and a review of programs and policies.

In addition, this year’s lineup of professional development events features Master Classes with directors Eugene Jarecki and Dennis O’Rourke.

Hot Docs marketing and networking events include Rendezvous, where successful applicants are matched with international commissioning editors for a maximum of two 15-minute one-on-one meetings, to be held April 29.

The Doc Shop and Sales Office will also be open throughout the festival to help connect doc buyers and sellers.

New this year, Speed Networking will kick off a week of Producer-to-Producer Meetings, designed to facilitate international coproduction. Participants will run through a series of five-minute meetings with each other.

The sixth year of Hot Docs signature industry event, the Toronto Documentary Forum, April 27-28, will feature a total of 30 project pitches selected from among 159 submissions.

Twenty-five projects in the regular program will be co-pitched by producer/financier teams. Five additional projects will be pitched in the event’s new Feature Rough Cut program, designed for feature-length docs already at a rough-cut stage that have yet to secure market financing.

In total, the TDF will feature three pitches from Israel, two from each of Australia, France, the U.K. and Germany, one from each of Mexico, Norway and Sweden, as well as 10 from the U.S. and six from Canada. Canadian pitches include As Seen on TV: The K-Tel Story from MidCanada Entertainment’s Kevin Dunn and Blood Sweat & Code – How Computer Games are Transforming the World from Rachel Low of Red Apple Entertainment.

With files from Peter Vamos

-www.hotdocs.ca