Hot Docs Film Fest Is Back! Here's what's queer this year...

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April 22, 2025

Justin Gray

We've gather our top 12 picks for the 2025 documentary film festival

April showers bring…FAB QUEER MADE FILMS! That’s right, Hot Docs is back, back, back again. Running from April 24 to May 4, the 2025 Hot Docs Festival brings the most brilliant, challenging, and beautiful documentaries from all across the globe to our enormous hamlet.

Out of the 113 films, 47 countries are represented with films made by, and featuring our extremely talented queer community. This year we’ve pulled a selection of 12 films from the program that we feel shan’t be missed. That being said, every and all the films in this year's festival should be explored and enjoyed so please make sure to head over to the Hot Doc’s website and do yourself the honour of seeing what else is offered. (Bonus: we're also listed every single queer and queer-ish film at this year's fest at the bottom of this post for you to check out.)

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Grab some popcorn, secure that Diet Coke, and sink in for 11 days of great films.

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Assembly:

Director(s): Rashaad Newsome and Johnny Symons

Category: Special Presentation=

Contemporary artist Rashaad Newsome is a prolific and visionary force, generating witty, exuberant and socially engaged works across a host of disciplines. With the dazzling Assembly, he adds “documentarian” to his formidable CV, collaborating with veteran filmmaker Johnny Symons. Together, the duo has created a dynamic record of Newsome’s titular 2022 exhibition at New York City’s Park Avenue Armory. A multisensory extravaganza, the show summoned a cast of global performers to transform a historic military facility into a queer, Afro-futurist utopia, employing forms including dance, sculpture, collage and video projection. At its centre was Being, a fully realized AI entity Newsome has programmed in the image of the griot, a West African cultural figure who serves as a historian, performer and healer. Via inventive hybrid storytelling and immersive visual effects, Assembly reveals the ideation process and painstaking preparations behind the hugely ambitious exhibition—and invites viewers to revel in the transcendent results. Julian Carrington.

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Come See Me in the Good Light:

Director: Ryan White

Category: Special Presentation

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Trying to contextualize and come to terms with a terminal cancer diagnosis comes with heartbreak and heavy realizations. Colorado Poet Laureate Andrea Gibson approaches their situation with honesty and art. Alongside their fellow poet partner, Megan Falley, Gibson works towards a big final performance, bringing their spoken word skills to life on an otherwise grim topic. The true beauty comes from within their relationship. We are brought into some of the most candid and intimate times in their lives. Hot Docs alum Ryan White (The Case Against 8, Ask Dr. Ruth) captures moments of heartache and humour in Gibson’s journey, showcasing how art can provide healing and meaning and that true love offers grace and acceptance. Gabor Pertic.

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Heightened Scrutiny

Director(s): Same Feder

Category: Special Presentation

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A powerful and urgent examination of the systemic assault on transgender rights across the United States, Sam Feder’s latest film follows ACLU attorney Chase Strangio as he prepares to be the first openly trans person to argue in front of the Supreme Court. Navigating the rapid-fire legal and political attacks coming from the right in recent years, Strangio and other trans activists present compelling evidence regarding how media coverage of trans issues, especially from mainstream, “prestige” outlets like The New York Times and The Atlantic, helped lay the groundwork that allowed Republican states to enact anti-trans laws. While Feder does not shy away from the real-life consequences of how a continuous stream of “just-asking-questions” stories leads to the increasingly dehumanizing treatment of the trans community, his film also highlights the trans community’s resilience, joy and support for each other in this challenging time. Throughout, Strangio exemplifies the strength of that community in his relentless quest for justice. Vicci Ho.

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My Boyfriend the Fascist

Director: Matthias Lintner

Category: World Showcase

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The relationship between Matthias, a left-wing Italian filmmaker, and Sadiel, an idealistic Cuban activist, unfolds against the astonishing beauty of the Alps over coffee, breakfast or lunch, and also love, sex and endless conversations about politics. Eventually, Sadiel’s passion for the freedom of his people and his disappointment in communist Cuba leads him to a shift towards right-wing ideologies. Though this strains the men’s relationship, Matthias tries to remain mindful of Sadiel’s progressive ideals. Meanwhile, he films with graceful sensitivity the day to day of their evolving relationship as they go through personal transformations, acting as a mirror of the political turmoil of our time. This intimate portrait of the loving relationship between two human beings who remain congenial despite being at political odds is also a revelation of the fine line between left- and right-wing politics, what makes them so similar, and of how the binary of polarized politics and ideologies can permeate our everyday lives and relationships. Lucila Moctezuma.

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Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance

Director: Noam Gonick

Category: Special Presentation

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Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance captures pivotal moments that sparked Canada’s 2SLGBTQI+ movement, honouring the activists and elders whose resistance led to the rights we have today.
Through rarely seen archival footage and first-person accounts, audiences are brought to the frontlines of the struggle. From police raids to early drag shows, community organizing to the House of Commons—the complex history of the country’s diverse communities is brought to life. Key milestones illustrate the power of taking it into the streets and underscore how easily the rights we’ve fought for can be revoked, making the documentary essential viewing for all Canadians.
Unflinching, bold, enraging, hopeful; Parade is a vital new chapter in the queer canon.

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Queer As Punk

Director:Yihwen Chen

Category: Artscapes

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Brash, defiant and wickedly funny, punk rockers Shh…Diam! are an underground sensation in Kuala Lumpur. An all-queer band led by charismatic trans man Farris Saad, they’ve won devoted fans with playful anthems like “I Woke Up Gay” and “Lonely Lesbian.” Even their name (“Shut up!” in Malay) is a joke, poking fun at those who’d rather queer folks just kept quiet. Malaysia’s harsh laws are no laughing matter, however, and they put Farris and his bandmates at real risk of state persecution. Filming over six years, director Yihwen Chen follows them to practices, gigs and protests, capturing their irreverent advocacy amid a spate of anti-LGBTQ raids and arrests. She also documents major developments in their personal lives and relationships, including Farris’s preparations for his surgical transition. Both an iconic portrait of fearless activism and an intimate chronicle of chosen family, Queer as Punk is an instant entry in the queer cult canon. Julian Carrington.

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Colossal

Director: Nayibe Tavares-Able

Category: Tipping Point

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Leading up to the 2020 elections in the Dominican Republic, director Nayibe Tavares-Abel explores the fragility of democracy through the history of her own politically polarized family. Her paternal grandfather, Froilán Tavares, one-time head of the electoral board, was accused in 1990 of enabling electoral fraud in favour of the authoritarian regime of Joaquín Balaguer. Prior to that, on her maternal side, her uncle Amín Abel was murdered for his left-wing activism against Balaguer. The building of a family tree, conversations with family members, and a wealth of archival materials guide the director in her search for answers while providing a sensitive lyrical texture for the film. Personal history and collective memory?intertwine beautifully to unfold the complex political history of Tavares-Abel’s country and at the same time shed light on themes that resonate beyond borders, such as election integrity and authoritarianism, and across family ecosystems through the vulnerability of truth and memory. Lucila Moctezuma.

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My Therapist Said, I Am Full of Sadness

Director: Monica Vanesa Tedja

Category: Shorts

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Monica grew up in a big, inseparable, devoutly Christian Chinese-Indonesian family, for whom togetherness was perceived as happiness. Moving away from home as an adult, Monica finds love and acceptance in their new, chosen family. But when their inner child shows up in therapy, Monica is challenged by the complicated reality of simultaneously feeling the saddest and happiest they have ever been. Mariam Zaidi.

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Orgy Every Other Day

Director: Samuel Döring

Category: Shorts

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Set in New York City’s queer underground party scene, Orgy Every Other Day is a bold exploration of the importance of creating spaces where diverse genders can come together and discover each other with abandon and always careful, respectful consent. Hawa Essuman.

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Selena y Los Dinoa

Director: Isabel Castro

Category: Special Presentation

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Isabel Castro’s Selena y Los Dinos charts the rise of Selena Quintanilla, the singer from Corpus Christi who, from a young age, was recognized as a formidable talent by her friends and family. Nurtured by early performances at quinceañeras and her family’s restaurant, Selena transforms, becoming a vocal powerhouse sensation, selling out concerts at the Houston Astrodome and breaking through barriers for women in the world of Tejano music. The film is told through an exquisite trove of never-before-seen family archives and grounded in intimate testimony from her family and bandmates, who continue to work tirelessly to ensure the legacy of the woman known as the Queen of Tejano Music remains intact 30 years after her passing. Winner of the US Documentary Special Jury Award for Archival Storytelling at the Sundance Film Festival, this is a heartfelt portrait and celebration of the life and legacy of an enduring icon whose life, tragically, faded far too soon. Essential viewing for all the Selena fans out there! Lauren Clarke.

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Spare My Bones, Coyote!

Director: Jonah Malak

Category: World Showcase

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The border between Mexico and the United States remains a political flashpoint as walls expand and deportations increase. Thousands risk their lives seeking safety and freedom, though for many that journey ends in tragedy. For over a decade, Ely and Marisela have voluntarily ventured into the sweltering US desert, leading group searches for the bodies of migrants with the hope of returning them to their families. Word has spread about this couple’s tireless efforts and now they receive daily messages from strangers across Latin America with desperate pleas to locate missing loved ones. The exhaustion, emotional toil and increasing burden the pair face highlight a catastrophic situation with no end in sight. However, their belief in the dignity of human life demonstrates the actions of few can impact many. Focusing squarely on those harmed directly by this crisis, Spare My Bones, Coyote! is a rare and powerful story of perseverance amid a majestic, unforgiving landscape. Alexander Rogalski.

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It’s Different For Girls

Director: Billie JD Porter

Category: Shorts

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In the post–Roe v. Wade United States, scientists are on the cusp of a watershed moment in birth control—the introduction of new, viable male contraceptives. As we watch brave individuals fight to make medical history, Big Pharma’s reluctance to invest in these new products remains a maddening obstacle to the groundbreaking prospect of changing family planning and gender politics forever. Mariam Zaidi.

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Thanks to our pal Bill at Hot Docs, we've also listed all the queer films at this year's fest to help guide you even further:

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‍2SLGBTQ+ SUBJECT

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Becoming Ruby

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2SLGBTQ+ FILMMAKERS (individuals below have self-identified based on sexual orientation and/or gender expression)

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#skoden - Damien Eagle Bear

American Pastoral - Auberi Edler

Betrayal - Lena Macdonald