The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival 2025 runs April 24 to May 4 in Toronto.
For the first time in Hot Docs Festival history, a new program — Made In Exile — will showcase documentaries created by filmmakers and participants who, driven from their homelands by war, conflict, or humanitarian crises, continue to tell stories that demand to be heard.
This lineup will include deeply personal and timely narratives from Afghanistan, Sudan, Ukraine, Palestine and beyond.
Receiving a world premiere as part of Made In Exile is The Longer You Bleed, which explores the emotional toll that constant consumption of war imagery takes on a group of Gen Z Ukrainians in Berlin. Receiving a Canadian premiere are Khartoum, in which a group of displaced Sudanese filmmakers empower five fellow citizens to re-enact dramatic testimonies of their nation’s descent into civil war; Writing Hawa, in which a mother is freed from the constraints of a 40-year arranged marriage, only to see her hopes for a brighter future decimated by the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan; and Yalla Parkour, a nostalgia-fuelled journey that reveals the harsh realities facing Palestinians.
Special thanks
Ahead of the Made in Exile program at the 2025 Hot Docs Festival, Peter Raymont (White Pine Pictures) produced a trailer (above) for PEN Canada showcasing the vibrant PEN community of writers in peril and writer in exile. PEN is grateful to Mr. Raymont, as well as the creative team who leant their skills and vision to this trailer:
Producer: Peter Raymont, White Pine Pictures
Editor: Sarah Peddie
Graphics: Charlie Shekter
Orignal music composed and performed by Kevin Zi-Xiao He
Archive Research: Connie Littlefield
