The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is to open on April 26 with the Canadian bow of Alison Klayman’s documentary Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry.

The portrait of the international Chinese artist and political critic earned a special jury prize when it bowed at Sundance 2012.

And Hot Docs’ Canadian Spectrum program has booked Christy Garland’s The Bastard Sings the Sweetest Song, Ryan Mullins’ The Frog Princes, Angad Singh Bhalla’s Herman’s House, and Jonah Bekhor and Zach Math’s The Final Member, a film about Iceland’s penis museum.

The festival will also screen another Sundance breakout film, James Swirsky and Lisanne Pajot’s  Indie Game: The Movie, a look by the Canadian filmmakers into the lives of videogame developers.

Hot Docs is also to present retrospective programs on past works by Canadian filmmakers John Kastner and Michel Brault.

In all, Hot Docs will unspool 189 documentaries from a record 51 countries.

Hot Docs executive director Chris McDonald said his festival will program around 15 percent fewer feature-length docs this year, and screen 60 percent of the films three times, to preserve access for doc purists and ordinary cinema-goers.

“We have 12 films screening simultaneously on the final weekend, so we want to increase capacity and access for everyone,” he told Playback Daily as he unveiled the 2012 festival schedule at the Bloor Hot Docs Cinema.

And Elizabeth Radshaw, Hot Docs Forum and market director, added the 2012 industry events had been revamped to meet the demands of doc filmmakers working in a fast-changing and “unsettled” digital landscape.

Radshaw said Hot Docs was bringing in heavy-hitters like producer Ted Hope, director Davis Guggenheim (Waiting for Superman), Diane Weyermann and distribution guru Jon Reiss.

But as the industry increasingly shifts to broadcast and digital platforms, Hot Docs was also rolling out more in-depth interactive sessions to give filmmakers the tools to survive and thrive in today’s doc landscape.

“We want to analyze different strategies of hybrid docs – TV, digital – as filmmakers find new ways to connect with audiences,” Radshaw told Playback Daily.

Following on Hot Docs launching Doc Ignite as a crowdfunding site for Canadian documentary works-in-progress, the 2012 conference will mine the possibilities of crowdfunding and digital distribution, all supported by social media.

“Crowdfunding allows a direct connection to your audience, allowing them to be a fan and a noise-maker, to be part of something later,” Bradshaw told Playback Daily.

A complete list of Hot Docs films for the 19th edition of the festival, running April 26 to May 6, is available at www.hotdocs.ca.