World premiere of Shawney Cohen’s intimate family portrait [pictured] to kick off 20th edition of the festival, which runs April 25-May 5.

Shawney Cohen’s The Manor will receive its world premiere as the opening film of the 20th Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which runs April 25-May 5.

Cohen’s intimate family portrait, set in the world of his family’s strip club, is one of 205 titles to be screened at this year’s festival, from 43 countries across 11 screening programs. Other films in the Special Presentations program include Lucy Walker’s The Crash Reel, Gus Holwerda’s The Unbelievers and Penny Lane’s Our Nixon.

Other programs at this year’s edition are the Canadian Spectrum (screening films such as Michelle Latimer’s Alias and Liz Marshall’s The Ghosts in our Machine), World Showcase (films including Matthew Pond & Kirk Marcolina’s The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne and Nebojsa Slijepcevic’s Gangster of Love) and Nightvision (showing Jeanie Finlay’s The Great Hip Hop Hoax and Michal Marzak’s Fuck for Forest, among others).

The 2013 Hot Docs will also present two retropspective programs: a mid-career focus on Peter Mettler and a retropspective honouring the work of Les Blank.

Over 2,000 industry delegates will be attending this year’s festival for its range of industry events and services, such as Hot Docs Deal Maker, The Doc Shop and the Hot Docs Forum, which runs May 1-2.

For the full lineup, visit Hot Docs’ website.

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