Hot Docs has revealed the five Canadian feature-length documentary projects selected to receive a total of $150,000 through the second iteration of the Hot Docs Incubator.

The program is designed to advance mid-career Canadian documentary filmmakers, including directors, producers and editors, who have feature-length projects with strong creative and market potential. The Hot Docs Incubator is supported by Netflix as part of the Canadian Storytellers Project.

The documentaries include director-producer Ashley Duong’s Ba’s Book (Intuitive Pictures, Da-Lê Films), about the intergenerational legacy of war via a father’s experience with the Vietnam War and the Iranian Revolution; Emily Graves’ Becoming a Landscape (November Films), following the director’s personal experience of climate change; and Aïcha Diop’s Gawlo (Studio Tokosel), where the director seeks out ancestors separated by the slave trade.

Rounding out the docs is Émilie Martel’s Land of No Pain (Kannon Films), following a conservationist trying to save endangered primates from inbreeding in the Ecuadorian Amazon; and Vincent Toi’s Séga: La musique de l’océan Indien (Sega: The Music of the Indian Ocean), produced by Arpent Films Doc, about a musician from Mauritius attempting to reclaim her Creole identity through the music genre Séga.

Participants will receive essential support through grants, training, mentorship and financial backing, engaging filmmakers in intensive workshops focused on story development, market readiness and career growth.

Attendees at the 2025 Hot Docs Festival will have the opportunity to see work-in-progress scenes from these projects, presented to international industry professionals and decision-makers.

A version of this story originally appeared in Realscreen

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