The Hot Docs board of directors has named Canadian and international film industry veteran Diana Sanchez as the organization’s new executive director.

Beginning her new position on March 31, Sanchez (pictured) will be tasked with overseeing the strategic direction and management of the annual, Toronto-headquartered Hot Docs film festival, conference and market — with its 2025 edition launching on April 24 — as well as the organization’s Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema screening venue and its other year-round programs and activities. She takes over the role from Janice Dawe, who has served as Hot Docs’ interim executive director since May 2024.

A 25-year industry veteran, Sanchez has held key positions at several prominent international festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) — where she served as senior director of film and international programmer — the Miami Film Festival, the Rotterdam Film Festival and the Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF).

In her new role, Sanchez will be spearheading a period of significant rebuilding for Hot Docs, which underwent unprecedented upheavals throughout 2024. In March of that year, then–Hot Docs president Marie Nelson issued an appeal for urgent financial support for the organization, citing a “significant operational deficit.” That unconventional public announcement was followed soon thereafter by the mass departure of 10 programmers mere weeks ahead of the 2024 Hot Docs festival — who alleged that the organization had fostered a “toxic workplace” — and the belated revelation that artistic director Hussain Currimbhoy had also left Hot Docs, after only a few months in the role.

Nelson subsequently stepped down as Hot Docs president in July 2024, while the organization’s board of directors executed its own restructure by reducing itself to a “focused working board” of three members in order to start implementing a revitalization plan alongside interim ED Dawe.

In a statement on the new appointment, one of the Hot Docs board’s co-chairs, Nicholas de Pencier, said that “[Sanchez’s] leadership will usher in an exciting new era for the organization […] we look forward to her vital contribution in reshaping Hot Docs’ future, strengthening our festival and cinema, and continuing to champion filmmakers in Canada and beyond.”

Photo by Dewey Chang