Hot Docs 2026: A Look at Middle Eastern and North African Films
Toronto, 23 April - 3 May 2026 | 17 films connected to Iran, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Türkiye, Morocco and Afghanistan
![Abbas Souzian [Journalist]'s avatar](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!jkIz!,w_108,h_108,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ffa826ba8-cee6-41c0-830f-dfeaee93b2ca_1330x1330.jpeg)
Hot Docs takes place in Toronto from 23 April to 3 May 2026, bringing together a wide international selection of documentary work. The festival remains an important platform for non-fiction cinema, world premieres, and filmmakers from different parts of the world.
This year, my coverage is focused on films connected to the Middle East and North Africa. Based on the official festival schedule, 17 titles in the program are linked to the region through their production background, their subject, or both.
This first report brings these films together in one place as an opening overview of their presence at this year’s festival. In the coming days, I will continue following the program closely and hope to publish interviews with some of the filmmakers, along with further coverage of the festival.
Iran
LandStone
Director: Faraz Fadaian
Production: Iran, Switzerland
Story: In the Iranian desert, an elderly man and his wife face mortality and fading bonds. Seeking solace in a handmade cave, the man struggles to reconnect with his past in a lyrical portrait of a vanishing way of life.
Screenings: Saturday, April 25, 5:00 PM; Sunday, April 26, 10:00 AM
Venue: TLB 4; TLB 3
A Fox Under a Pink Moon
Directors: Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhalaghi
Production: Iran, Denmark, France
Story: Filmed on her phone over five years, 16-year-old Soraya documents her attempts to flee Iran for Austria. The young Afghan artist turns domestic violence and displacement into a self-narrated story of survival.
Screenings: Thursday, April 30, 7:45 PM; Friday, May 1, 3:00 PM
Venue: TLB 2; TLB 3
Vanishing Tracks
Director: Hamed Zolfaghari
Production: Iran, France, Norway, South Korea, Qatar
Story: In Iran’s remote nomadic landscape, a family tries to preserve its traditional life. When their sheep vanish overnight, tensions rise between the parents and their three sons.
Screenings: Monday, April 27, 5:30 PM; Tuesday, April 28, 1:30 PM
Venue: TLB 2; TLB 3
A War on Women
Director: Raha Shirazi
Production: Italy
Story: Through intimate interviews and archival footage, the film traces 40 years of feminist resistance against the Islamic Republic, leading to a movement shaped by the women the regime tried to silence.
Screenings: Sunday, April 26, 6:00 PM; Thursday, April 30, 5:45 PM
Venue: Hot Docs Cinema
Constant Battles
Director: Mackenzie Stannard
Production: Canada
Story: A young Canadian woman determined to become the first Iranian-born female Olympic boxer confronts her own anxiety and her mother’s past trauma.
Screenings: Saturday, April 25, 5:15 PM; Sunday, April 26, 10:45 AM
Venue: TLB 3; TLB 4
Palestine
American Doctor
Director: Poh Si Teng
Production: USA, Palestine, Denmark, Malaysia, Qatar
Story: Three American physicians, Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian, risk everything to save lives in besieged Gaza while confronting political truths and a collapsing medical system.
Screenings: Tuesday, April 28, 5:15 PM; Wednesday, April 29, 11:30 AM
Venue: TLB 1
House of Hope
Director: Marjolein Busstra
Production: Netherlands, Palestine
Story: In the West Bank, a school run by a couple teaches Palestinian children non-violent resistance and offers a refuge from growing uncertainty.
Screenings: Thursday, April 30, 8:30 PM; Friday, May 1, 10:30 AM
Venue: TLB 1
In Conversation with Marjolein Busstra, Director of House of Hope
Documentary filmmaking on Palestine has many dimensions. There is a great deal of information and a great deal of pain, and everyone can look at Palestine from a different angle. That is why there is such a wide variety of documentaries coming from this land.
Who Is Still Alive
Director: Nicolas Wadimoff
Production: Switzerland, France, Palestine
Story: Nine Palestinians revisit the events that forced them to flee Gaza in 2024, mapping towns, camps and neighbourhoods while remembering loss and displacement.
Screenings: Saturday, May 2, 4:30 PM; Sunday, May 3, 1:30 PM
Venue: TLB 3; TLB 2
Another Day Shall Come
Director: Aida Kaadan
Production: Palestine, Qatar, Lebanon, France
Story: Short film included in the program Lessons in Liberation.
Screenings: Saturday, May 2, 2:15 PM
Venue: TLB 4
Syria and Lebanon
Birds of War
Directors: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak
Production: UK, Syria, Lebanon
Story: A love story grows between a Lebanese journalist based in London and a Syrian cameraman through 13 years of war, revolutions and exile.
Screenings: Wednesday, April 29, 5:30 PM; Thursday, April 30, 2:30 PM
Venue: TLB 1
Türkiye
32 Meters
Director: Morteza Atabaki
Production: Türkiye, Iran, Qatar
Story: In rural Turkey, Halime has long challenged tradition. She gathers women for a shooting competition, opening space for debate, resistance and unexpected alliances.
Screenings: Friday, May 1, 8:45 PM; Sunday, May 3, 10:30 AM
Venue: TLB 3; TLB 2
Interview with Morteza Atabaki director of "32 Meters"
On a cold spring afternoon in Istanbul, I sat down with Morteza Atabaki to speak about the screening of his film 32 Meters at Hot Docs in Canada. Atabaki is not someone who often gives interviews, so I was especially grateful that he accepted this conversation. Since 2005, he has worked across different artistic fields, and has studied alongside
Afghanistan
The Secret Reading Club of Kabul
Directors: Shakiba Adil, Elina Hirvonen
Production: Finland, Norway
Story countries: Afghanistan, Iran
Story: When the Taliban bars girls from secondary school, a group of friends forms a secret book club. Inspired by Anne Frank, they film their hidden lives as the story moves from Kabul to exile in Tehran and Germany.
Screenings: Saturday, April 25, 1:30 PM; Sunday, April 26, 7:15 PM
Venue: TLB 2; TLB 3
Paikar
Director: Dawood Hilmandi
Production: Netherlands
Story: From exile in Amsterdam, Dawood Hilmandi reflects on his family nickname, Paikar. Returning to Iran to reconcile with his authoritarian father, their journey to Afghanistan during the pandemic becomes a story of displacement and survival.
Screenings: Sunday, April 26, 4:00 PM; Monday, April 27, 8:15 PM
Venue: TLB 3
Libya
My Father and Qaddafi
Director: Jihan K
Production: Libya, USA
Story: A daughter traces the disappearance of her father, Libya’s former foreign minister and an opponent of Muammar Qaddafi, while exploring the long shadow of authoritarian rule on both family and country.
Screenings: Friday, May 1, 8:15 PM; Saturday, May 2, 11:45 AM
Venue: TLB 1; TLB 2
Morocco
Fatna, a Woman Named Rachid
Director: Hélène Harder
Production: Morocco, France, Belgium
Story: The film follows activist Fatna El Bouih, who was forcibly disappeared as a student in 1970s Morocco, as she reflects on her life and unfinished struggle for change.
Screenings: Friday, May 1, 2:30 PM; Saturday, May 2, 11:00 AM
Venue: TLB 2; TLB 1
L’mina
Director: Randa Maroufi
Production: Morocco, France, Italy, Qatar
Story: Short film screening with Parasisi.
Screenings: Friday, April 24, 9:00 PM; Saturday, April 25, 11:30 AM
Venue: TLB 4; TLB 3
4937 Kilowatts a Year
Directors: Ellie Delvaux, Madeleine Faburel-Dumail
Production: Belgium, Morocco
Story: Short film screening within the program Les Habitants.
Screenings: Saturday, May 2, 8:00 PM; Sunday, May 3, 11:00 AM
Venue: TLB 4
Tickets for Hot Docs screenings are available through the festival’s official box office.