Hot Docs gets million-dollar boost from Rogers

News: Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund

Rogers Foundation partners with Hot Docs, Canada’s leading documentary festival, to create new production fund named after late Canadian communications mogul Ted Rogers

By The Ex-Press

The cash-strapped world of documentary film just got a million dollars richer: Hot Docs and The Rogers Foundation announced the creation of a new fund to help filmmakers realize their non-fiction visions through production grants worth up to $35,000 Thursday.

Part of a $5-million dollar endowment from The Rogers Foundation that also includes a $4 million gift to buy the Hot Docs theatre on Toronto’s Bloor Street, the new Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund will be administered by Hot Docs and support up to three or four projects each year.

“Hot Docs has a remarkable history of strengthening the documentary industry and supporting documentary filmmakers,” said Martha Rogers, chair of the Rogers Foundation. “We are proud to join their tradition with the establishment of the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Fund to provide direct funding to Canadian documentary filmmakers. Ted was a proud Canadian and a true lover of documentary, so this is a fitting legacy.”

In addition to the fund carrying Ted Rogers’s name, the historic Bloor Street theatre — opened in 1913 under the name Madison Theatre — will also be rebranded as the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.

Hot Docs president Chris McDonald said the Rogers Foundation’s support “recognizes the depth of talent in this country.”

“Doc-making has never been an easy way to earn a living, but it just got significantly more realistic for our Canadian filmmakers,” said McDonald. “Documentaries provide an urgently needed reflection of our society – warts and all. The Rogers Foundation’s generous support for doc-makers … provides them critical resources to tell their stories.”

Applications will open August 11, 2016. More information and eligibility requirements are available by visiting www.hotdocs.ca.