Chase Joynt and author Julietta Singh’s The Nest (National Film Board of Canada; pictured) will be among the world premieres at this year’s Hot Docs Festival.

The documentary feature’s world premiere was announced on Tuesday (March. 11) as part of the festival’s first slate of its Special Presentations program. It is produced by the NFB’s Alicia Smith and Justine Pimlott and follows Singh as she digs into the history of her childhood home, uncovering 140 years of forgotten matriarchs and political histories. Chanda Chevannes and David Christensen are the executive producers.

Joynt, whose previous feature documentary Framing Agnes (Fae Pictures) won both the audience award and the Innovator Prize in the NEXT program at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival, wrote the film alongside Singh.

Also set as a special presentation for its Canadian premiere is Patrick Shannon’s Saints and Warriors (InnoNative, Grand Scheme Productions), produced by Michael Tanko Grand. The Haida basketball documentary made its world premiere at Montana’s Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

The 32nd edition of the Hot Docs Festival runs from April 24 to May 4. The full festival lineup will be announced March 25. The other films taking part in the Special Presentations program can be found here.

Image courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada