The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival has hired Toronto-born producer and festival programmer Hussain Currimbhoy (pictured) as its new artistic director.

The Toronto-based festival announced Currimbhoy’s appointment on Monday (Nov. 13), noting that he will oversee programming for the annual festival – which will run from April 25 to May 5 in 2024 – as well the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema and its national education program, Docs for Schools.

He succeeds former artistic director Shane Smith, who stepped down from the role in June after eight years of leading the festival’s programming.

Currimbhoy has worked as a festival programmer at several organizations, including the Sundance Film Festival, Sheffield DocFest and the Melbourne International Film Festival. He also launched the Gåsebäck Film Festival in Sweden this year.

As a producer, Currimbhoy has worked on feature documentaries such as And, Towards Happy Alleys, Praying For Armageddon, Tomorrow’s Freedom, and The Beloved. He has also worked with the non-profit film fundraising organization CMP, a.k.a. The Chicago Media Project, as director of investment and global strategy.

Hot Docs has also promoted Heather Haynes to director of festival programming, effective immediately. Haynes has been with Hot Docs for more than 17 years, most recently serving as associate director of festival programming.

The festival will have an “expanded roster” of programmers this year, according to a news release. The team includes festival programming manager Kristin Boivin; Angie Driscoll, senior international features and shorts programmer; senior Canadian programmer Alex Rogalski; senior international programmer Myrocia Watamaniuk; and programming administrative coordinator Sadia Ali.

Hot Docs president Marie Nelson said Currimbhoy will “curate the next chapter of our organization’s story,” in a statement on his appointment. “I am confident that with his unique vision, tremendous experience, and remarkable talents, he will successfully steer Hot Docs’ programming team into an exciting new phase,” she added.

“I must paraphrase poet and author Mahmoud Darwish to sum up how I feel about delivering a new vision for Hot Docs: ‘When you see something beautiful, it breaks walls down.’ Together with Hot Docs’ world-renowned programming team and a lot of bonhomie, we will do just that,” said Currimbhoy. “Our aim is to deepen our festival and year-round programming to provide even more opportunities for our audiences to engage with the best of documentary film in all its forms.”

Image courtesy of Hot Docs