The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival has unveiled the 52 projects selected for the 2025 edition of its Deal Maker program, with 16 Canadian docs making the cut.

With projects coming from 45 countries, five of those Canadian docs will also be featured in the Works-In-Progress screenings at the annual event.

Deal Maker is a one-on-one pitch meeting program for producers seeking financing and distribution from the international marketplace, taking place April 29 and 30 with online meetings set for May 2. The program is supported by Telefilm Canada, Ontario Creates and the City of Toronto.

Works-In-Progress screenings, meanwhile, take place on April 28, and allow selected filmmakers to gain feedback and attract further investment and support for projects in various stages of production. All Works-In-Progress projects will participate in Deal Maker meetings.

The Canadian Works-In-Progress selections include Emily Graves’ Becoming a Landscape, produced by November Films’ Aeyliya Husain; director and co-producer Aïcha Diop’s Gawlo (Lantern Films, Studio Tokosel), produced by Jessica Hallenbeck; and Elizabeth Mirzaei’s Hands Before Time (Intuitive Pictures, Mirzaei Films), produced by Ina Fichman, founder and president of Montreal-based Intuitive.

Rounding out the Canadian entries in both programs is the English and Spanish-language Land of No Pain (Kannon Films), directed and produced by Émilie Martel; and Vincent Toi’s Sega: The Music of the Indian Ocean (Arpent Films Docs, working title), produced by Guillaume Collin.

Remaining Canadian projects selected for the Deal Maker program include Betrayal (Ferocious Films), directed and produced by Lena Macdonald; Clones in Heat (Hands Up Films, JA Productions, Fathom Film Group), directed by Andrew Moir and produced by Moir and Jessica Adams; Far from Home (Hunt + Gather Films), directed by Kristi Tethong and produced by Kristi and Losel Tethong; From Fire, Comes Light (Trail Films), directed by Chad Galloway; and How to Die (Gaudete Films), directed and produced by Robin McKenna.

Also included is Patrick Shannon’s Saints and Warriors (Uninterrupted Canada, InnoNative, Grand Scheme Productions), produced by Michael Tanko Grand, which is set for its Canadian premiere at the festival. Varun Trikha’s Shape of Silence (Sitara Productions, Parabola Films), produced by Trikha and Marie-Michèle Cyr; and Hayley Morin’s Under the Arbor (Sentia Films), produced by Morin and Mackenzie Stannard, were also selected.

Rounding out the Deal Maker projects is Ashley Duong’s untitled Vietnam film (Intuitive Pictures, Da-Lê Films), produced by Fichman and Duong; and the Japan/Canada coproduction Welcome to Our Bathhouse (double tommy, Eizensha Co., Intuitive Pictures), directed by Tommaso Barbetta and Setsuya Kakinuma.

Lastly, there’s the Canada/South Africa coproduction Dreaming in Blue, directed by Gunjan Menon and produced by Indian-Canadian filmmaker Saiyam Wakchaure. The film hails from Menon and Wakchaure’s Beyond Premieres and South Africa’s Nature, Environment and Wildlife Filmmakers.

The 34th edition of Hot Docs runs April 24 to May 4.

Image courtesy of Hot Docs