There’s no shortage of documentaries about bold, brave women around the world taking a stand, fighting for change, and making a difference. And Hot Docs programmers always do a great job of bringing many of these films to its audiences. Here are six from this year’s lineup.
32 Meters (5/8)
This is one of those documentaries that would, in my opinion, benefit from a little more context being provided to the viewer at the outset, be it via title cards or chyrons, so that what’s going on (and where it’s happening) is a bit clearer. Because for the first half hour of this film, I didn’t know where we were or why. Directed by Morteza Atabaki, the doc is set in a remote mountain village in Turkey, where everyone seems to work at munitions factory (?) and where the annual shooting contest has been cancelled. So, a group of four spirited and joyful women decide to organize a shooting contest of their own, with one catch: only women will be allowed to compete. The film then follows the quartet as they attempt to recruit participants, secure equipment and sponsors, and get the word out. An unexpectedly sweet story of sisterhood, the doc is a bit slow and somewhat subdued, which made it feel draggy in sections, and it was never clear to me which woman was which because they’re never identified onscreen. It also seemingly begins before the actual premise does, and some of the scenes felt staged or reenacted (vs. happening organically in front of the camera), which made me wonder how and when the director found this story in the first place.
A Fox Under a Pink Moon (7/8)
The astonishingly sophisticated pieces produced by the young artist at the center of this unconventional but gripping documentary are just part of the reason to check it out. Shot over the course of five years using just her smartphone, the doc follows Soraya — a teenaged bride, who’s only 15 years old at the outset — as she makes multiple attempts to flee Iran in the hopes of reuniting with her mother in Austria. Standing in her way are iffy smugglers, unreliable transport, and an abusive, older husband whose beatings routinely leave Soraya bruised and bloodied on camera. Juxtaposed against her harrowing confessionals are gorgeous, imaginative animated sequences (inspired by her art) illustrating her hopes, fears, struggles and dreams, which reveal a thoughtful introspective heroine mature beyond her years, and create an almost art-film vibe to the entire film. Truth be told, I was fully bracing to dislike this film (“a documentary shot on a phone? by a teenager? oh this should be rich…”), but could not have been more wrong and more pleasantly surprised.
TCB: The Toni Cade Bambara School of Organizing (7/8)
Cleverly structured like an anthology of short stories, this compelling and comprehensive doc from co-directors Louis Massiah and Monica Henriquez profiles the titular author, activist and academic, whose work centered the Black experience, and put both civil rights and women’s rights at the forefront. A gifted writer and storyteller — and a style icon who embraced fashion and glamor as much as revolutionary thought — “TCB” viewed writing as a form of activism, and the film traces her social and literary journey from her Washington Heights childhood to her enduring legacy decades after her 1995 death. Exploring pivotal chapters in her life, the film uses fabulous archival footage and photos (especially of 1940s New York City) interspersed with reflections and commentary from her contemporaries, colleagues, friends and family, including her brother Walter, daughter Karma, and close friend (and former editor) author Toni Morrison. Satisfying for fans of her work and newcomers alike, it’s a wonderful, info-and-insight-packed biography worthy of its visionary subject.
Where the Waves Took Her (6/8)
The title of director Janna Stallein’s moving and mixed-format documentary can be interpreted in two ways, with “took” serving as a synonym for “brought” and/or “killed.” The film juxtaposes the experiences of rescuers with the rescued, weaving personal accounts from five migrant women (Fahma, Jeanine, Joseline, Julie and Mariame), who survived perilous journeys across the Mediterranean to Europe in overcrowded vessels, into the story of German midwife Anne-Katrin’s first rotation aboard the SOS Humanity, an NGO ship aiding migrants lost at sea. The survivors’ harrowing tales of migration reveal the realities facing asylum seekers — who trade one trauma for another and who are more terrified of living in the place they’re fleeing than the potential of dying on their journey to freedom — while Anne-Katrin and the international crew do what they can to care for the women and children they pluck from the ocean. Stallein deftly captures the anxiety, fear, chaos, camaraderie and stress of the collective experience aboard the rescue ship, sometimes with just a fleeting shot or a facial expression and, in doing so, crafts an effective women-helping-women film about resilience.
Truck Mama (4/8)
Kenyan Evaline Mumbua Mutuku is a woman who loves the open road and who’s working in a male-dominated field — long-haul trucking — and director Zippy Nyaruri’s documentary follows her on a one-week job that becomes a three-week ordeal. While she’s pregnant at the outset, the film suddenly and inexplicably jumps ahead two years to find her struggling to balance motherhood with her work. She then accepts a seemingly straightforward job that is quickly plagued with… tire troubles. The multiple issues with her rig and the journey itself (including extended delays, problematic border crossings, vehicle breakdowns, makeshift repairs and the like) make up the bulk of the narrative, and there is scene after scene of Evaline driving or waiting or talking on the phone. But that’s about it. Shot verité style, the doc felt like more of a cursory (and cautionary) travelogue than an insightful profile, and I kept thinking that, had this been a short film, it would have been great. But stretched to feature length, it’s a bit of chore.
The Woman Who Poked the Leopard (4/8)
Like Truck Mama, this doc has a vibrant, engaging subject at its center, but it fails to capitalize on that personality and, instead, feels rather flat. This time, it’s Dr. Stella Nyanzi — a writer, feminist, activist, queer-rights advocate, and Ugandan MP candidate in Kampala, who doesn’t just speak truth to power… she SCREAMS it — being profiled. Jumping back and forth in time, and sprinkled with clips of some of Nyanzi’s infamous anti-oppression actions (taking off her shirt and waving her breasts in the faces of armed military is a signature move), the film tracks key moments in her life and career, including being imprisoned and beaten because of a poem she wrote about the brutal dictatorship of Yoweri Musevni. But I found this film about such an energetic, opinionated and passionate figure decidedly lacking in energy and passion, instead feeling flat, bogged down in long, repetitive sequences featuring family conversations about soccer practice and getting Stella roused for meals (?). These scenes don’t really add much to the narrative, and result in dulling the shine of what you’d otherwise expect to be an interesting and exciting biography of an interesting and exciting trailblazer.
Check out more of Moviepie’s coverage of Hot Docs 2026 here!
