Typically, the announcement of the lineup for the annual Hot Docs conference and festival — North America’s largest doc fest — is greeted with anticipation from filmmakers and audiences alike. But the unveiling of the programming for the 2024 edition at a press conference on Tuesday (March 26) was overshadowed by the organization’s internal turmoil, which became very public earlier this week.

At the festival’s press conference, Hot Docs president Marie Nelson (pictured) set out to address both the financial crisis facing the not-for-profit, and the personnel issues that culminated in both the mass resignation of 10 programmers announced via social media late Sunday night, and the belatedly announced departure of artistic director Hussain Currimbhoy, who only stepped into the role in November of last year.

“[There are] times when we have been more concerned with change than with making sure our people were taken care of, and when you do that, you find yourself in the situation we’re in right now,” Nelson said in her opening address at the presser. She went on to admit that the organization had “change[d] a lot of processes” and “attempted to do [some things] that pushed us beyond our boundaries.”

Additionally, Nelson obliquely indicated that internal division over the festival’s public stance on current events on the “geopolitical stage” — presumably including the Israel-Palestine conflict and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, though this was not specified in her comments — could also have been a contributing factor to staff discontent. (Canadian documentary publication POV, in an update to its initial story on the programmer exodus, included anonymous statements from a former Hot Docs board member describing “internal disagreements about the festival’s public statements regarding Israel and Palestine.”)

In conclusion, Nelson expressed her desire that the programmers who departed this week would return for the 2024 festival, “and if they don’t come back this year, that they will come back next year.”

That might not be the likeliest of scenarios, if a joint statement issued by the departed programmers the same day as the press conference is any indication. The statement, obtained by Playback sister publication Realscreen, outlines some of the reasons for their mass resignation.

“We consider ourselves to be a principled, process-driven programming team, but this year we were unable to carry out that process,” the statement reads, alleging “a lack of respect for protocol and business communication”; “the dismissal and/or diminishment of team members’ voices”; and “breaches of contracts across various programs.”

The statement goes on to say that members of the programming team “approached HR, senior management, the president and then the board in good faith to share our concerns. There was an effort by all parties to work together, until a request by the programming team for public transparency (regarding the above concerns) was denied.”

The programmers conclude by expressing their continued support for the films that will be featured in this year’s Hot Docs festival, which as of press time is still scheduled to take place in Toronto from April 25 to May 5.

Hot Docs provided a statement in which it reiterates its previous assertion that Currimbhoy stepped down from his role as artistic director on March 20 for “personal reasons.”

In regards to the allegations in the programmers’ joint statement, the statement from Hot Docs reads: “Hot Docs is not in a position to comment on internal personnel matters due to a variety of confidentiality concerns. As was stated at this morning’s press conference by president Marie Nelson and director of festival programming Heather Haynes, we are holding the door open for any programmers who would like to return this year or for future festivals.”

This story originally appeared in Realscreen

Photo by Mimi Ho