Aki

Director Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe)
Year 2025
Run Time 83min
Genre Documentary
A visually stunning documentary following a Northern Ontario Anishinaabe community over the course of a year. With almost no spoken dialogue, and a strong focus on the natural beauty of the land, this poetic portrait is truly unique.
 

Director

Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe)

Writer

Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe)

Producers

Darlene Naponse (Anishinaabe), Jamie Manning

Genre

Documentary

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Environment, Female Filmmaker, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Other Language

Degrassi: Whatever it Takes

Director Lisa Rideout
Year 2025
Run Time 111min
Genre Documentary
From the late 1980s to the 2010s, Degrassi was an undeniable Canadian cultural phenomenon. Fueled by the juggernaut that was Degrassi Junior High, and gaining a new audience with Degrassi: The Next Generation, this franchise became more than just another high school drama. 

Featuring interviews with some of your favourite cast members (including Drake, arguably Degrassi’s most famous graduate), and the crews and creators of the various series, this is a nostalgic look at a seminal series that’s also not afraid to ask the tough questions about the sacrifices that were made to bring it to life.

“An ode to one of Canada’s greatest entertainment exports. It will make you laugh, it might make you cry, but more than anything, it will hopefully make you proud.” - Kevin Bourne, SHIFTER

Director

Lisa Rideout

Writers

Lisa Rideout, Celine Wong

Cast

Drake, Kevin Smith, Linda Schuyler

Producers

Erin Sharp, Carrie Mudd

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Arts and Culture, Female Filmmaker

Original Language

English

Endless Cookie

Directors Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver (Cree)
Year 2025
Run Time 97min
Genre Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Drama
2026 spotlight contributor Staff Pick
Seth Scriver, living in Toronto, has always looked up to his half-brother Pete, a gifted storyteller who lives in Shamattawa, a First Nations reserve in Northern Manitoba. Using his signature psychedelic animated style, Seth brings Pete’s stories to life, intersplicing them with satirical vignettes about Canadian culture and perspectives.

Wildly imaginative and lovingly crafted over the course of nearly a decade, this unique animated documentary won the Audience Choice Award at Hot Docs in 2025 and Best Animated Film from the Toronto Film Critics Association. 

Endless Cookie is not like anything else and yet it is very much like life.” — Jennie Kermode, Eye For Film

Directors

Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver (Cree)

Writers

Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver (Cree)

Cast

Peter Scriver, Seth Scriver

Producers

Daniel Bekerman, Alex Ordanis, Chris Yurkovich, Jason Ryle (Anishinaabe), Seth Scriver

Genres

Animation, Comedy, Documentary, Drama

Interests

BIPOC Stories, Family Relationships, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Languages

Cree, English

There Are No Words

Director Min Sook Lee
Year 2025
Run Time 98min
Genre Documentary
2026 spotlight contributor Sook-Yin Lee
Still grappling with the grief stemming from her mother’s suicide decades ago, filmmaker Min Sook Lee re-examines her childhood and her family’s history with a new lens. In her incredibly candid interviews, she doesn’t shy away from the tough questions, leading to the surfacing of uncomfortable truths.

In this poignant documentary that brilliantly weaves together her family’s story with Korea’s political climate, Lee finds a bridge from the personal to the universal, tracing the complicated journey from grief to healing.

Director

Min Sook Lee

Writer

Min Sook Lee

Cast

Min Sook Lee

Producers

Sherien Barsoum, Chanda Chevannes

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Asian Filmmaker, Family Relationships, Female Filmmaker

Original Languages

English, Other Language

Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas

Director Larry Weinstein
Year 2017
Run Time 52min
Genre Documentary

Every year, millions of people celebrate the Christmas season with a soundtrack of feel-good classics, most of which were written by Jewish songwriters. This insightful documentary showcases artists like Irving Berlin, Johnny Marks, and Mel Tormé who used universal themes of joy, love, and family to tell the story of the holiday.


Director

Larry Weinstein

Weinstein has received three Gemini awards for his work, including Best Direction for Beethoven’s Hair. Weinstein also directed the docs Mulroney: The Opera, The Devil’s Horn, Leslie Caron: The Reluctant Star, and Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas, and co-directed Our Man In Tehran. His latest, Propaganda: The Art of Selling Lies, premiered at Hot Docs 2019.

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Arts and Culture, History

Original Language

English

Tomson Highway: kipimâtisinaw tapâhpeyahk

Director Barry Bilinsky (Métis/Cree)
Year 2022
Run Time 5min
Genre Documentary
Legendary Cree playwright Tomson Highway finds that his purpose in life always comes back to music, storytelling and laughter.
 

Director

Barry Bilinsky (Métis/Cree)

Writer

Barry Bilinsky (Métis/Cree)

Cast

Tompson Highway (Cree)

Producer

Chehala Leonard (Aseniwuche Winewak)

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Arts and Culture, Biography, BIPOC Stories, Indigenous Filmmaker

Original Language

Cree

Hebron Relocation

Director Holly Anderson (Labrador Inuit)
Year 2022
Run Time 15min
Genre Documentary
Decades after being forcibly relocated from the town of Hebron, a community of Labrador Inuit reflect on the residual trauma of losing the connection to their ancestral home.

Director

Holly Anderson (Labrador Inuit)

Writer

Holly Anderson (Labrador Inuit)

Producers

Latonia Hartery, Katherine Baulu

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Biography, BIPOC Stories, Discrimination, Female Filmmaker, History, Indigenous Filmmaker, Social Justice & Politics

Original Language

English

Doors of War

Directors Taras Lesiuk, Annick Sheedy McLellan
Year 2025
Run Time 66min
Genre Documentary

Directors

Taras Lesiuk, Annick Sheedy McLellan

Writers

Annick Sheedy McLellan, Taras Lesiuk

Producers

Annick Sheedy McLellan, Taras Lesiuk

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Arts and Culture, Female Filmmaker, Global Experiences, History, Social Justice & Politics

Original Languages

English, Other Language

We The North: From Prehistoric to Historic

Director Sami Khan
Year 2025
Run Time 76min
Genre Documentary
This documentary offers an in-depth look at how the fledgling Toronto Raptors franchise transformed into a cultural phenomenon, uniting communities and reshaping Canada's identity. The Raptors' story is the ultimate underdog tale, with an unprecedented look into the team's global impact and its lasting influence across Canada and beyond.
 

Director

Sami Khan

Producers

Stephanie Azam, Vinay Virmani

Genre

Documentary

Interests

BIPOC Stories, History, Sports

Original Language

English

500 Days in the Wild

Director Dianne Whelan
Year 2023
Run Time 124min
Genre Documentary

Director

Dianne Whelan

Writers

Dianne Whelan, Tanya Maryniak

Cast

Dianne Whelan

Genre

Documentary

Interests

Environment, Female Filmmaker, Strong Female Leads

Original Language

English