The Champions, Part 1: Unlikely Warriors

Legendary Canadian documentarian Alanis Obomsawin digs into the tangled history of Treaty 9 — the infamous 1905 agreement wherein First Nations communities relinquished sovereignty over their traditional territories — to reveal the deceptions and distortions which the document has been subjected to by successive governments seeking to deprive Canada’s First Peoples of their lands.

NiiSoTeWak means “walking the path together.” Tapwewin and Pawaken are 10-year-old brothers trying to make sense of the world, their family and each other. They’re already grappling with some heady questions about identity. What does it mean to be a twin? What does it mean to be Cree? How do you define yourself when you’re forever linked to someone else? The twins discuss these questions with their two elder brothers — 22-year-old actor Asivak and 20-year-old basketball player Mahiigan — and their parents, Jules and Jake.

Women have always sought ways to terminate unwanted pregnancies, despite powerful patriarchal structures and systems working against them. This film provides a historical overview of how church, state and the medical establishment have determined policies concerning abortion. From this cross-cultural survey-filmed in Ireland, Japan, Thailand, Peru, Colombia, and Canada-emerges one reality: only a small percentage of the world's women has access to safe, legal operations.

Turkey's history has been shaped by two major political figures: Mustafa Kemal (1881-1934), known as Atatürk, the Father of the Turks, founder of the modern state, and the current president Recep Tayyıp Erdoğan, who apparently wants Turkey to regain the political and military pre-eminence it had as an empire under the Ottoman dynasty.

Behind closed doors in a car, three friends from the small town of Sept-Îles discuss their desire to reconnect with the North Shore, the region where they grew up. As the hours lenghten on the road 138, the young women reflect on the quest for identity that accompanies the regional exodus and reveals a social landscape decentralized from the metropolises.

What remains of the 2012 Quebec student protests? Little has changed in the decade that ensued. Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade exhume images of the battles, recorded live and relayed through the mass media, that flared up as anger and indignation went head-to-head with the rhetoric of power. Against these divisive images, the filmmakers overlay a historical perspective of the state and its police in Montreal, Quebec and Canada, delving into the roots of sanctioned violence. Their compelling glance at the past is, of course, a cry that continues to echo in the present day. While the voices have been silenced, revolt still brews. All it takes is a spark...

Part documentary, part drama, this film presents the life and work of Jack Kerouac, an American writer with Québec roots who became one of the most important spokesmen for his generation. Intercut with archival footage, photographs and interviews, this film takes apart the heroic myth and even returns to the childhood of the author whose life and work contributed greatly to the cultural, sexual and social revolution of the 1960s.

Hot Docs will commemorate Canada's 150th anniversary of Confederation with the commissioning of In the Name of All Canadians, a compilation of six short documentaries inspired by Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. From Indigenous rights to multiculturalism to the controversial ‘notwithstanding clause,’ participating filmmakers have each selected a specific aspect of the Charter to explore, looking at how it resonates in the stories of their fellow Canadians.

Take a breathtaking train a ride through Nothern Quebec and Labrador on Canada’s first First Nations-owned railway. Come for the celebration of the power of independence, the crucial importance of aboriginal owned businesses and stay for the beauty of the northern landscape.