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Marie Nelson steps down from Hot Docs as president
Maria Nelson
Courtesy of Mimi Ho
Hot Documents President Marie Nelson — a former ABC News and Disney executive who took the helm in June 2023 — has left the struggling Canadian documentary festival.
“It is with deep regret and gratitude that the Hot Docs Board of Directors announces that our President Marie Nelson has shared the news that she will be stepping down from her role at Hot Docs,” the festival said in a statement. That’s from a Hot Docs Board of Directors that recently reduced from 14 to three members and temporarily closed its Toronto cinema over the summer while the event restructures financially.
Interim executive director Janice Dawe and managing director Heidi Tao Yang will lead Hot Docs as it tries to survive a post-pandemic financial crisis, the festival confirmed. Hot Docs was plunged into chaos ahead of the 2024 edition, when artistic director Hussain Currimbhoy and 10 programmers left the festival’s organizing team.
A year ago, Nelson replaced Chris McDonald, who first as CEO and then as president led the Hot Docs festival in Toronto for 25 years.
Financial troubles like those faced by Hot Docs as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides have spread to rival Canadian festivals, including Montreal’s annual comedy event Just For Laughs. Just For Laughs’ parent company, Groupe Juste Pour Rire Inc., recently filed for bankruptcy protection and has begun selling off key assets as the organization also tries to recover from pandemic-era closures and disruptions to in-person events.
And the Toronto Film Festival faced its own cost-cutting after Canadian telephone giant Bell, the title sponsor since 1995 and with its name on the Bell Lightbox, the event’s home, said it would stop your financial support.
No replacement sponsor has been announced by TIFF yet, even though the federal government has stepped forward with a $23 million investment over three years to fund the first official film market.