16/04/2019 - For the second time, European Film Promotion is presenting a programme of outstanding European documentaries at the Toronto-based festival

On Monday, European Film Promotion (EFP) announced the European documentary films that will be presented at Hot Docs in Toronto (25 April-5 May) within the programme entitled The Changing Face of Europe.

The selection, curated to reflect on the social, cultural and economic changes affecting Europe today, from personal and cultural identity, through women's religious and sexual rights, to new life concepts, includes ten feature-length documentaries. Four of these will be having their international premieres and one will celebrate its North American premiere at Hot Docs. They were selected by the festival from amongst submissions made by European film promotion institutes that are EFP member organisations (the Danish Film Institute, the Estonian Film Institute, German Films, the Hungarian National Film Fund, the National Film Centre of Latvia, the Lithuanian Film Centre, the Slovenian Film Center, the Swedish Film Institute and Swiss Films). The selection underlines the exceptional diversity and excellence of European documentaries and also spotlights the increasing presence of works by women – eight of the ten films are by female directors.

Five of the movies look at different aspects of youth culture in Europe: Lord of the Toys by German first-time director Pablo Ben Yakov, Easy Lessons [+see also:
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Two of the films centre on female empowerment: The Reformist [+see also:
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Two movies focus on young people trying to start a better life: To Share or Not to Share by Estonian visual artist Minna Hint and her co-director Meelis Muhu, and Seahorse [+see also:
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Finally, Lithuanian filmmaker Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė’s environmental film Acid Forest [+see also:
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All of the filmmakers will be on hand to present their films and take part in post-screening discussions with the very well-versed Hot Docs audience. In addition, they will participate in industry events, including workshops, pitches, and meetings with festival programmers and acquisition executives, thus expanding their professional network on an international scale and supporting their films’ access to North American and other international markets. This year, the programme has been broadened to include a panel discussion, presented by EFP and Hot Docs, on Euro-Canadian co-production, providing a range of practical advice from seasoned producers.

Since 2017, EFP has also granted Film Sales Support (FSS) to European world sales companies so that they can promote and market films selected for Hot Docs. This year, two companies have seized the opportunity: German outfit Deckert Distribution will give a further push to the promotion of I Had a Dream [+see also:
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film profile] by Claudia Tosi, and Austria’s Filmdelights will do likewise for Una Primavera [+see also:
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This EFP initiative is supported by the European Union’s Creative Europe – MEDIA programme and the participating EFP member organisations.