A month before the kick-off of the 31st edition of the Hot Docs documentary festival and conference in Toronto, its artistic director and 10 of its programmers have left their positions.

Following news of the departure of the programmers, the festival issued a statement regarding the situation which also confirmed that Hussain Currimbhoy (pictured), Hot Docs’ recently appointed artistic director, has exited the team.

“Hot Docs has announced that Hussain Currimbhoy stepped down from his role as Artistic Director on March 20th due to personal reasons,” the statement read. “Hussain was fundamental in programming this year’s festival.

“Festival director Heather Haynes will lead the programming department in preparations for this year’s festival, April 25-May 5,” it continued. “Regrettably, some members of the programming team have decided not to participate in this year’s festival. We thank them for their contributions.

“We look forward to celebrating this year’s films with our audiences and bringing them together with filmmakers to share their important stories.”

The programmers announced their departures from the Hot Docs team late Sunday evening (March 24) via a shared statement on assorted social media platforms, which read “I have made the heartbreaking choice to exit the 2024 Hot Docs Festival. I do so with 9 of my fellow colleagues, listed below. I will continue to fight for films and filmmakers — they are the bedrock of all film festivals, and the reason I do this job.”

The departing programmers are: Samah Ali, international programmer, features; Vivian Belik, international programmer, mid-lengths; Jesse Cumming, international programmer for the ‘Markers’ program; Angie Driscoll, senior international programmer, features and shorts; Margaret Pereira, international programmer, mid-lengths; Gabor Pertic, international programmer, features; Kaitlynn Tomaselli, international programmer, features; Myrocia Watamaniuk, senior international programmer, features; Mariam Zaidi, international programmer, shorts and Canadian programmer, features and shorts; and Yiqian Zhang, Canadian programmer, features and shorts.

Watamaniuk had been with the festival since 2001, while Driscoll had been on the team since 2003. Pertic and Zaidi also had long tenures with the festival team, from 2010 and 2016 respectively.

As with Currimbhoy’s departure, no specific reason has yet been given for the programmer exodus, either from the programmers themselves or from the festival team. The situation was first reported by Screen Daily.

The fest has seen significant change in its senior team over the past couple of years. Marie Nelson came on board as president in May 2023 following the departure of previous president Chris MacDonald, a longtime member of the Hot Docs executive team, who was appointed sole president after the departure of former co-president Heather Conway in 2022. At the time of her resignation, Conway had only spent six months in her dual role as co-president and executive director.

Meanwhile, Sundance and Sheffield Doc/Fest alum Currimbhoy was named as artistic director for Hot Docs last November, replacing the outgoing Shane Smith (whose appointment to the programming team at Ontario public broadcaster TVO was announced last week).

At the same time as the announcement concerning Currimbhoy’s appointment, Hot Docs announced that Heather Haynes, a 17-year member of the festival team, had been promoted to director of festival programming. That announcement in November also boasted that the upcoming edition of the fest would feature an “expanded roster” of programmers.

Earlier this month, Nelson made an urgent public appeal for financial support from members, citing “a significant operational deficit that threatens our long-term sustainability.”

In the letter to members, Nelson wrote: “While we’re already seeing positive signs of recovery as audiences both old and new are returning to the cinema, and while we’ve taken steps to reduce our overhead without impacting our core programming, we are quickly losing runway and urgently need direct support to ensure our future viability.”

According to an article in Canadian documentary publication POV, Nelson and Currimbhoy, in a joint interview with the magazine, said the lineup for films at the 31st Hot Docs fest would be somewhere between 15 to 20% smaller than previous years. The article also states that some programming strands — including Markers, which focused on experimental docs, and Deep Dive, which spotlighted episodic documentaries — would not be returning. New thematic programs introduced to the fest for this year, according to the piece, include the tech-oriented Emergence, The Art of Resistance, and Pop/Life, a strand dedicated to music documentaries.

While the statements provided by both the festival and the exiting programmers concerning the whole affair prompt more questions than answers, the POV article, updated following the news of Currimbhoy’s departure, includes comments from an anonymous former Hot Docs board member who confirmed to the magazine that they resigned from the board, citing “a lack of confidence in the governance, work culture, and practices.” According to the former board member, there were also internal disagreements regarding the fest’s public statements concerning the Israel-Palestine conflict.

The programmers’ exit comes a day before Hot Docs is set to host a press conference for the upcoming festival, which is slated to run in Toronto from April 25 to May 5.

This story originally appeared in Realscreen

Updated March 26