Hot Docs ‘running out of time’ as organization sounds alarm over film festival’s future

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Thanks to the lingering effects of the pandemic and the myriad challenges facing the documentary-cinema marketplace, Hot Docs is sounding the alarm that its future as an organization is at stake.

“We find ourselves dealing with significant operational challenges – so much so that it puts the sustainable future of the organization on quite shaky ground,” Marie Nelson, president of Hot Docs, told The Globe and Mail in an exclusive interview this week. “And now we’re running out of time.”

Hot Docs, which is celebrating its 31st anniversary this year, not only runs North America’s largest documentary film festival and industry market, but also operates the world’s only documentary-focused movie theatre, the 650-seat single-screen Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema, in Toronto’s west end. In 2019, the theatre averaged 750 guests a day. But after shuttering for two years during the pandemic – at which point moviegoer habits changed irrevocably – Hot Docs has struggled to bounce back.

“We cannot kid ourselves and believe that organizations that relied on live audiences, all of a sudden they could open their doors and the audiences would rush to return,” Nelson says.

While ticket sales at the cinema are up 65 per cent over this time last fiscal year, attendance is down 38 per cent compared to the year before the pandemic hit. Likewise, membership revenue is up 21 per cent over the same period last year, but is down 31 per cent when compared to the prepandemic era.

“We’re seeing the impact on both the festival and year-round side,” says Nelson. “As a result, we find ourselves in a situation where we have to turn to our government partners and say we really need your support. We have great support from the private-donor side, but that’s program-oriented funding, not money that we can use to keep the lights on.”

Nelson, an ABC News and PBS veteran who is less than a year into her role after long-time Hot Docs president Chris McDonald stepped down last May, says that while this year’s festival isn’t at risk, there will be noticeable changes when the 11-day event kicks off April 25.

“We had to approach this year with clear eyes on the financial outlook, and be as creative as possible in trying to make sure that we’re providing an appropriate level of value for our audiences and corporate partners,” Nelson says. “But what we’re saying is that we don’t want it to be the last Hot Docs Festival.”

The not-for-profit organization, which supports education through its expansive Doc for Schools program and administers a robust slate of production funds to support Canadian filmmakers (including this year’s Oscar-nominated film To Kill a Tiger), has been steadily diversifying its year-round offerings, including live author events and an annual podcast festival. Yet audiences, particularly the older-skewing demographic that gravitates toward non-fiction cinema, continue to be stretched financially or ensconced in at-home viewing habits.

“For us it’s a combination of needing more time for this growth to bear out and needing more time to restrategize what our full offering looks like,” says Nelson. “We have become a cultural hub that impacts the arts, but also tourism and a marketplace for filmmakers on a global scale. And all of those things support the agenda of the government.”

Prior to the pandemic, Hot Docs had been aiming to mount a capital campaign to renovate and expand its theatre by adding a second screen. Those efforts have now been paused.

“This appeal is unprecedented for us – the organization has always been in a position to not only address its challenges but create a surplus for itself,” says Nelson. “As someone in the first year of their presidency, trust me, this is not what I was hoping would be my first message. But at a certain point you have to face the reality that you’re presented with.”

Hot Docs is far from the only live-arts organization facing a crisis point. Last week, Toronto’s ImagineNative film and media arts festival postponed its 2024 edition after facing a financing “crunch” this past fall, while Toronto’s Reel Asian Film Festival made a rare public plea for funding last year after facing what it called an “unprecedented challenge.” Meanwhile, the Toronto International Film Festival has yet to announce a replacement for major sponsor Bell after the telecom ended its 28-year partnership at the end of last year.

In its most recent annual report, TIFF said that government grants contributed $14.9-million to its 2022 revenue, or 31 per cent. However, the report does not break out the $10-million of that total received from the two-year Major Festivals and Events pandemic support initiative (MFESI), which represents a significant portion of that funding. Hot Docs, which is appealing to all three levels of government for increased support, would not disclose to The Globe how much funding it received from municipal, provincial and federal sources for its latest fiscal year, which ends May 31.

As to why Hot Docs is going public now with their struggle, Nelson says that “in order for us to acknowledge the reality and seriousness of the situation, we need to let people know what’s at stake while there’s still an opportunity for us to find a fix. Or else it will be too late.”

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to include additional details about TIFF's government funding, which was not included in the organization's most recent annual report.