"Act of God" filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal is shown during an interview with The Canadian Press in Toronto on Tuesday, April 21, 2009. A new documentary from Toronto-based director Jennifer Baichwal will open the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn

TORONTO - Veteran documentary filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal will open the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival with a self-described "David and Goliath"-style tale that leads a slate heavy with stories about social justice and attempts to reclaim power.

The Toronto-based filmmaker's "Into the Weeds" follows a former groundskeeper who took on a multinational agrochemical corporation after his terminal cancer diagnosis.

"It's a story that had to be told," Baichwal said at a Hot Docs press conference Wednesday that outlined this year's lineup.

"It shows the bravery and tenacity of a group of people who are suffering from health problems and go up against a monolithic company that everybody is scared of."

This will be Baichwal's second film to open the festival, after 2009's "Act of God," but she pointed to a lifelong partnership that defined her career.

"We grew up together," she said. "When Hot Docs started, that's when my partner Nicholas de Pencier and I started making films.

"I'm so proud of what it's become and what it gives back to the international documentary community. It makes it a huge honour to open again; this is a fitting, beautiful return."

Overall, this year's run includes 226 films from 63 countries in 15 programs with themes ranging from fighting for human rights to navigating personal identity, and which programming director Shane Smith predicted "will leave audiences energized, inspired and, in some cases, outraged."

Baichwal suggested the best documentaries start with anger.

"At heart, people are good, so when they experience or hear about injustice, especially systemic, entrenched injustice, it's enraging. But the anger is what propels us into activism."

Director Barri Cohen's film, "Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children," makes its world premiere with the story of her two late half-brothers, who were institutionalized at the notorious Huronia Regional Centre in Orillia, Ont., in the 1950s.

The institution was the subject of a class-action lawsuit in 2013 over allegations of physical and sexual abuse of its residents, there because of developmental and intellectual disabilities.

"Documentary at its best shines a light on dark places and there's an infinite number of secrets and stories," Cohen said.

"There's something redemptive about when people speak to another person or broad audience. There's something alchemical about sharing, it can be very healing."

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.

"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.

Other Hot Docs titles include "Navalny" from 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 on their legacy 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."

Harkema said he's thrilled to bring some "fun" to the festival, where he expected "it will be the closest I've ever felt to being a rock star."

The director said it's a bonus to get to do that by revisiting a group that had a "profound" impact not only on himself but countless Canadian comedians, including Mae Martin, Jennifer Whalen and TallBoyz.

"(The Kids) have been through so much, now everyone is a little older and groovier, they're not fighting as much, they've had their ups and downs," Harkema said of the quintet. "The vibe was really good."

Toronto filmmaker Barry Avrich will also bring a lighter touch as he, too, returns to Hot Docs with the previously announced "The Talented Mr. Rosenberg," about Toronto con man Albert Rosenberg.

While recent Netflix favourites "The Tinder Swindler" and "Inventing Anna" have covered similar territory, Avrich promised his profile is "10 times the scammer story."

Of the newly announced titles, the Canadian Spectrum program includes Toronto director Mark Bone's "Okay! (The ASD Band Film)," which introduces four musicians on the autism spectrum to the world as they prepare for their first live show.

The Persister program, which spotlights inspirational women, features "Category: Woman" from Toronto filmmaker and former Olympian Phyllis Ellis, who examines the rampant policing of women's bodies in sports.

And in the popular Deep Dive program, Montreal-based director Nathalie Bibeau's "Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith" is an Amazon Original true crime docuseries that looks at the controversial investigation into the murder of a 22-year-old Oshawa, Ont. woman.

A retrospective program is also in the works, which this year will honour Indian documentarian Anand Patwardhan and his films, including 1994's "Father, Son and Holy War" and 2018's "Reason."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 30, 2022.

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