Canadian festival Hot Docs is to bestow its 2014 Doc Mogul Award on Mette Hoffmann Meyer (pictured), commissioning editor of documentaries for Danish public broadcaster DR TV.

She will be presented with the award on Apr. 29, during the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which runs next year from Apr. 24 to May 4.

The award is presented to someone who has made an essential contribution to the documentary industry.

Hoffmann Meyer has supported films including Taxi to the Dark Side, The Gatekeepers, Burma VJ: Reporting from a Closed Country and Pussy Riot: A Punk Prayer. She has also co-initiated and exec produced multi-doc seasons Why Democracy? in 2008 and Why Poverty? in 2012.

“Her unparalleled support of point-of-view documentaries puts Mette in a class of her own,” said Hot Docs executive director Brett Hendrie. “She has a special eye for unique stories and great talent, making her invaluable to the documentary community. Mette is a long-time friend of Hot Docs and an early supporter of the festival and the Forum, and we look forward to celebrating her as the 2014 Doc Mogul.”

“Documentaries are among the most important ways of describing the world we live in,” said Hoffmann Meyer. “Broadcasters should feel proud of them. I’m lucky to have been born curious, and I find it hard to say how much I am happy to have worked with brilliant, inquiring filmmakers. I also believe in public service broadcasting as a core institution, without which you cannot have a modern democracy.”

Earlier this year the fest named Women Make Movies’ Debra Zimmerman its 2013 Doc Mogul, while in past years recipients have include Participant Media’s Diane Weyermann, IDFA’s Ally Derks, Films Transit International’s Jan Rofekamp, HBO’s Sheila Nevins, the BBC’s Nick Fraser and Knowledge Network’s Rudy Buttignol.

From realscreen