Canadian filmmakers delving into the far corners of the world – and the limits of human endurance – mark topical themes in the Canadian fare selected for this year’s Hot Docs International Documentary Festival.

Canadian films include Vic Sarin’s The Boy From Geita, Julia Kwan’s Everything Will Be and Madeleine Grant’s The Backward Class, organizers announced Tuesday. The Backward Class, Everything Will Be and The Boy From Geita will all be featured in the Canadian Spectrum program.

Other notable Canadian films in the spectrum program include Ray Klonsky and Marc Lamy’s David & Me, following a filmmaker’s quest to prove a man’s innocence 28 years after his incarceration; Tony Girardin’s Marinoni, which looks at the story of a Canadian bicycle craftsman attempting a world cycling record at 75 years old; Amar Wala’s The Secret Trial 5, which follows the story of five Muslim men put in prison without charges under the Canadian security certificate program; and John Kastner’s Out of Mind, Out of Sight, a follow-up to last year’s Hot Docs title NCR: Not Criminally Responsible, which follows the filmmaker’s return to the Brockville Mental Health Centre to capture patients struggling for control of their lives.

Other Canadian films to screen at the festival include Igal Hecht’s The Sheik, Bahman Tavoosi’s A Dress Rehearsal for an Execution,  Jean-Francois Caissy’s Guidelines, Vincent Toi’s I’ve Seen the Unicorn, Grant Baldwin’s Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story, Denis Cote’s Joy of Man’s Desiring, Matthew Bauckman and Jaret Belliveau’s Kung Fu Elliot, Claude Demer’s Where I’m From, Helen Klodawsky’s Come Worry With Us!, Danic Champoux’s Self (Less) Portrait,  Jean-Nicolas Orhon’s Slums: Cities of Tomorrow, Julie Perron’s The Sower, Gregory Gan’s The Theory of Happiness and Carole Laganiere’s Absences. 

The festival will also be teaming up with Entertainment One (eOne) and Cineplex Entertainment to bring back its Hot Docs Live! Simulcast initiative, with the Canadian premiere of Super Duper Alice Cooper.

Canadian directors Reginald Harkema, Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn will join rock icon Alice Cooper on-stage in Toronto for the premiere and a post-screening Q&A that Cineplex Entertainment’s Front Row Centre Events will simulcast to 47 theatres across Canada.

“The return of our Hot Docs Live! program will bring the excitement of the festival to more than 40 cities across Canada,” said Brett Hendrie, Hot Docs’ executive director, in a statement.

“If I said we had a secret plan to bring Alice Cooper, three great Canadian filmmakers, and the Hot Docs Festival into communities coast-to-coast, I’d be lying. But, happily these pieces came together and now national audiences from Saint John to Victoria will be able to attend Hot Docs.”

The festival will kick off 197-film program next month with the international premiere of Brian Knappenberger’s doc The Internet’s Own Boy: The Story of Aaron Swartz. The film, about the life of the late computer programmer and Internet activist, will launch an 11-day documentary slate, running from April 24–May 4, that will showcase films from 43 countries across 12 programs.

Meanwhile, in the International Spectrum program, docs will include Robert Greene’s Actress, a hybrid, present-tense portrait of The Wire actor Brandy Burre; Gabriel London’s The Life and Mind Of Mark DeFriest, a look at the titular Florida jail-breaker who is determined to escape the violence and despair of prison; and Helen Simon’s No Lullaby, which promises to look at three generations of a family that are silenced by a horrific secret.

The festival, which as previously reported is this year honoring Danish commissioner Mette Hoffmann Meyer as its Doc Mogul, will also screen a Made In Denmark program, featuring docs such as The Agreement, A Different Kind of Boy, and Songs for Alexis.

Hot Docs will also host a section entitled ‘Love, Factually,’ featuring romantic-themed documentaries such as Doug Block’s 112 Weddings, Philip Cox and Hikaru Toda’s Love Hotel, and Geeta V. Patel and Ravi V. Patel’s Meet the Patels.

“We are so proud to be showing these incredible films and combining them with amazing live events and experiences,” said Hot Docs director of programming Charlotte Cook in a statement. “We truly hope it will be a festival of ideas, discussion and amazement and we’re looking forward to bringing the best filmmaking in the world to the world’s greatest audience.”

The 2014 festival will also play host to a number of special events, including the international premiere of Sam Green’s ‘live doc,’ The Measure of All Things, which will be presented for one night only on Saturday, April 26.

Academy Award-nominee Green and New York musicians The Quavers take the stage to present a ‘live doc’ inspired by “the most curious, wonderful and shocking stories from the Guinness World Records book,” weaving together portraits, interviews and archival footage of the book’s most memorable characters, with Green narrating over The Quavers’ live soundtrack.

As previously reported, Hot Docs will this year be honoring Adam Curtis and Canadian filmmaker John Zaritsky with retrospectives.

– From Realscreen

Updated at 12:30 p.m. on March 18, 2014 

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated Before The Last Curtain Falls was a Canadian production.  The film is a Germany and Belgium production. Playback regrets the error.