Hot Docs organizers have announced that artistic director Shane Smith will depart after eight years curating the annual Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Smith’s decision to leave comes on the heels of the festival’s 30th-anniversary edition in April, the event’s first fully live festival since the COVID-19 pandemic, and just a little more than a month after Hot Docs appointed Marie Nelson as the organization’s new president.

His final day at Hot Docs will be June 30, but he will remain involved as a consultant throughout the transition period. The search for his successor will begin this month.

During his tenure, Smith (pictured) led his team to shape diverse and inclusive festivals championing underrepresented voices. Under his leadership, the past six editions of Hot Docs featured gender parity among directors, with the 2023 event seeing 40% of directors identifying as Black, Indigenous or persons of colour, as well as a record 72 countries being represented in the official selection.

Smith’s legacy includes the introduction of such programs as Persister, which features female-led stories of women speaking out and being heard; Markers, focused on experimental work; and Deep Dive, a showcase for long-form, episodic work.

“With the success of our 30th anniversary now under our belt and the incredibly talented Marie Nelson at the helm as our new president, Hot Docs is on solid footing to chart an exciting path forward. The time seems right for me to do so as well and to explore new opportunities,” said Smith in a statement. “I’m extremely proud of the work that we’ve done together as a team, especially during the uncertainties of the past few years. I’ll forever be grateful to Hot Docs programmers, staff, and particularly the filmmakers who have trusted us to share their stories with our audiences and industry colleagues during my time here.”

“On behalf of my co-chair Robin Mirsky and the entire board, I would like to thank Shane for his deep passion, incredible hard work and extraordinary vision,” added Lalita Krishna, co-chair of the Hot Docs board of directors. “He leaves the festival with a stellar reputation for offering audiences diverse and compelling stories that inform, inspire, and often challenge their understanding of the world, and for offering filmmakers a space where their work will be respected and embraced by enthusiastic and thoughtful audiences.”

Plans are underway for a reception in Smith’s honour later this summer, in recognition of his contributions to Hot Docs and the broader Canadian documentary community.

This story originally appeared in Realscreen