Full thoughts as an employee at Hot Docs for many, many years:
Hot Docs began as a wonderful (and small) documentary organization lead by a passionate group of folks who cared deeply about documentaries, the filmmakers and the industry as a whole. When I joined, it was clear there was so much care and love, built upon years of great programming and industry programs. The energy was palpable and it was a joy to work there despite high stress levels and low pay.
But over the years, I watched as things changed, not mildly, but drastically.
The pandemic rocked Hot Docs hard with staff layoffs, revenue loss and the ultimate struggle so many cinemas are facing now...getting people back to watch films. This is valid and a major problem for all arts organizations that everyone is looking to try and overcome.
But ultimately the problems that Hot Docs faces most gravely are not the financial ones and run far deeper than that. What is most disheartening is that post-pandemic, Hot Docs continues to use the pandemic as an excuse for the lack of leadership and communication. After the departure of the former Executive Director, things began to move quickly downhill. Even before this programming mass exodus, there was another staff exodus of about 50 people over a year or two. The turnover rate was unlike anything I've ever seen.
Executives at high levels continued to maintain exceptionally high salaries while coordinators and managers picked up scraps and were pushed to their breaking points with the requirements of the organization and lack of resources. When staff would depart, they were often never replaced and the work fell to the next person to pick up the pieces. Everyone was leaving unhappy and angry with the organization, and thus there was little desire for detailed documentation for the next person given the frustrations. This is the cycle of toxicity that was running rampant at Hot Docs.
I watched as person after person left this organization; people who cared so deeply about the work and mandate of Hot Docs. I've never seen such a hardworking and passionate group of people who could not get through to management. Meeting after meeting was held to try and get execs to understand the morale of the staff, the difficulties we were facing and to try and bring fresh new voices into the mix..and nothing stuck.
The hiring of an American president also signaled a very significant change in the organization. The focus shifted, and Canadian content seemed to be on the chopping block despite this being a Canadian festival, rooted in the buzzing and beautiful documentary scene here. Meanwhile the new president was flying in from the US to be in the office, and the organization was paying for her hotels and travel (first class). She was also unreachable for most of the staff to communicate with.
Now, here we are and the programming team has quit en masse in solidarity with one another. I am incredibly proud of this team for standing up for themselves, the filmmakers and the documentary industry. I have seen first hand what goes on there and I have so much respect for this team doing this and I stand in solidarity with them. This is SO much larger than finances, or 'sinking ship' mentality. These programmers are some of the most dedicated in the industry, and are so invested of the future of these filmmakers, so whatever happened here..you can be sure it is *bad*.
I hope that if Hot Docs makes it through this, that it will be a wake-up call. The festival is beloved, as it should be, but not at the expense of its filmmakers OR staff.
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