Hot Docs festival to open with Jennifer Baichwal's film Into the Weeds

A new documentary from Toronto-based director Jennifer Baichwal will open the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival.

Organizers say the non-fiction slate will launch with Into the Weeds,about a former groundskeeper who took on a multinational agrochemical corporation after his terminal cancer diagnosis. It's the second time Baichwal will open the fest, after 2009's Act of God.

This year's run includes 226 films from 63 countries in 15 programs with themes ranging from social justice to personal identity.

After the pandemic shifted the past two editions online, a hybrid fest is set to bring back in-person screenings, conference sessions and networking events April 28 to May 8 in Toronto.

Audiences across Canada will be able to watch streamed titles through the online platform Hot Docs at Home.

Programming director Shane Smith is touting a lineup that "will leave audiences energized, inspired and, in some cases, outraged."

"It's been nearly three years since we last had a live festival, and we are elated to be able to bring these outstanding, outspoken stories to Toronto cinemas, and online across Canada," Smith said Wednesday in a release.

Other Hot Docs titles include Navalnyfrom Toronto filmmaker Daniel Roher. It will be part of the Big Ideas Series, where Dasha Navalny, daughter of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, is expected to discuss the film.

Others bound for the conversation series are members of the comedy troupe The Kids In The Hall,to discuss a previously announced film from director Reg Harkema, and U.S. activist and filmmaker Abigail Disney and director Kathleen Hughes of the previously announced film The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales.

A retrospective program will honour Indian documentarian Anand Patwardhan and his films, including 1994's Father, Son and Holy Warand 2018's Reason.