Hot Docs has chosen English documentarian and journalist Adam Curtis to be this year’s recipient of its annual retrospective and Outstanding Achievement Award, while also celebrating Canadian filmmaker John Zaritsky with a Focus On retrospective.

Curtis, whose documentaries include The Century of the Self, The Power of Nightmares, It Felt Like a Kiss and All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace, will be honoured during the 21st annual Hot Docs festival, which runs this year in Toronto from April 24 to May 4.

“Adam Curtis blends journalism and cinematic storytelling to critique media and power in society with an unmatched style and complexity,” said Hot Docs director of programming Charlotte Cook in a statement.

“It’s our pleasure to be able to showcase the work of a master of our craft and to celebrate his incredible contribution, not only to the art form, but to our culture as a whole.”

Meanwhile, Zaritsky will be the subject of  Hot Doc’s annual Focus On retrospective, which showcases the work of a mid-career Canadian filmmaker. His films include The Suicide Tourist, Born in Africa, Leave Them Laughing, Broken Promises, and the Academy Award-winning doc Just Another Missing Kid.

The festival will next month announce which of Curtis’s and Zaritsky’s films are to screen in the retrospectives.

Hot Docs has previously given its Outstanding Achievement Award to filmmakers including Les Blank, Michel Brault, Terence Macartney-Filgate, Kim Longinotto, Alanis Obomsawin, Richard Leacock and Heddy Honigmann; while previous Focus On recipients have included Peter Mettler, John Kastner, Alan Zweig, Tahani Rached, Ron Mann and Jennifer Baichwal.

From Realscreen