Catch Five B.C. Films at Hot Docs 2025

The Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is the largest North American documentary festival, conference, and market, through which over 200 cutting-edge films from all over the world are presented annually. Hot Docs celebrates the art of documentary filmmaking through its outstanding showcases and by creating production opportunities for documentary filmmakers.

Hot Docs returns this year between April 24 and May 4, 2025. Here are five B.C. films among its unique programming:

#SKODEN (dir. Damien Eagle Bear)
When director Damien Eagle Bear started his journey as a filmmaker, the first person he interviewed was Pernell Bad Arm, a homeless man he encountered while filming at a Lethbridge, Alberta shelter. Years later, Eagle Bear encounters Bad Arm’s face again—online, in a meme. Initially used disrespectfully by non-Indigenous people, the image was soon reclaimed by Indigenous memers, who added the popular Rez catchphrase “skoden” (from “let’s go, then”), transforming it into a rallying cry. The meme went viral. Revisiting his early recordings, Eagle Bear delves into the story of the man behind the image, speaking to Bad Arm’s family members and friends. His story reveals the complex relationship between Lethbridge and its unhoused Indigenous population, offering a poignant humanist perspective on Canada’s growing street community.

THE TRACK (dir. Ryan Sidhoo)
Once the pride of the city, Sarajevo’s 1.2-kilometre-long bobsleigh, luge and skeleton track is now overgrown with weeds, covered in graffiti and riddled with bullet holes from the Bosnian War. Today, it serves mainly as a tourist attraction. For young Olympic hopefuls Hamza, Zlatan and Mirza, however, the track is more than a relic—it’s their training ground. Despite chronic government underfunding for the sport, the boys are buoyed by the steadfast guidance of their seasoned Olympic coach Senad Omanovic, and they dedicate years to refining their technique and turns on the decaying track, which stands as a powerful visual reminder of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s ongoing post-war political struggles. Amid a large population of youth still grappling with economic despair and record levels of unemployment, the three use their sport and their dreams of representing their country in competition as a way to build a brighter, unified future.

 

 

DELTA DAWN (dir. Asia Youngman)
This expertly crafted hybrid film chronicles the electric rise to fame of wrestling sensation Dawn Murphy in the 1980s and early 1990s. Known as Princess Delta Dawn, she was the first Indigenous and Canadian woman to compete professionally in Japan.

SAINTS & WARRIORS (dir. Patrick Shannon)
The Skidegate Saints are perennial favourites to win the highly competitive All Native Basketball Tournament, an event players have called modern-day warfare. For over 60 years, this tournament in Prince Rupert, British Columbia, has been a multi-generational gathering place for First Nations from Haida Gwaii to celebrate their culture and community. The Saints have become leaders on and off the court, as they coach younger players and take on responsibilities within their clans. Basketball has provided the team’s members with many tools to succeed and this tournament is about more than just the game. It’s become a symbol of resilience emerging from residential school survivors and provides an opportunity to participate in Ceremony, after the Indian Act banned Potlatches until 1951.

AISHA’S STORY (dir. Elizabeth Vibert, Chen Wang)
When Aisha Azzam’s grandmother fled the Nakba in 1948, she carried with her a grinding stone. Decades later, now living in a refugee camp in Jordan, Aisha still uses that same stone to do her part in preserving Palestine’s rich culinary tradition and cultural heritage. Through her family’s grain mill, she grinds heritage grains and spices for her family and for the neighborhood. Even though Aisha’s daughters suffer from a genetic eye condition that leaves them essentially blind, she continues teaching them traditional recipes, while instilling in them the value of sumud—the Palestinian spirit of steadfastness. Aisha’s Story is a testament to the ways food remains central to Palestinian identity, rooted as it is in history, tradition, and the ongoing struggle for survival and resilience.