The eighth annual edition of the Hot Docs Podcast Festival is coming to Toronto for four days of panels, masterclasses, and conferences with the world’s greatest podcasters.
For the first time since 2019, the celebration is going to be in-person. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the non-for-profit organization pivoted to virtual editions of the festival. Now that the event is back and in full effect, there’s going to be an impressive lineup packed with live music, live storytelling and plenty of special guests.
In an interview with Now Toronto, Hot Docs Podcast Festival Special Programs Curator Will Di Novi explains the outstanding features attendees can expect this year.
“There’s going to be a really exciting new crop of special guests and podcasts that have never performed in Toronto before. So, we have great shows like ‘Dinner SOS’ and an amazing food podcast from Bon Appetit magazine that’s going to have special guests like Eden Grinshpan, the host of ‘Top Chef Canada.’ We’re going to have a great fashion podcast called ‘Articles of Interest,’ featuring the Canadian fashion designer Aurora James,” he said.
Di Novi says there is something for everyone to enjoy, whether they are into food, fashion, politics, music or pop culture. There’s going to be interactive activities as well as an excellent array of special guests.
“Our star studded lineup of shows is going to include special guests like Margaret Atwood reading a short story from The New Yorker with the ‘New Yorker Fiction Podcast’ and their first-ever live episode. I mentioned Aurora James, the great Canadian fashion designer, appearing with ‘Articles of Interest.’ Kevin Drew, the head, the lead singer of the amazing Toronto rock band, Broken Social Scene, will be in conversation and performing live with CBC’s Q,” he shared.
Festivals such as this can be a challenge to showcase and organize because it requires transforming auditory elements into a visual and entertaining display. Di Novi speaks on how Hot Docs has learned to adapt and personalize the medium into a world-class presentation throughout the past eight years of staging the podcast festival in Toronto.
“I think the challenge we always set for ourselves every year is how do we take this very intimate audio medium and turn it into an amazing live experience in a theatre. And fortunately, we’re working with the best podcasts in the world to achieve that goal,” he said.
“And so, what we’re going to have is amazing, live storytelling, thought provoking conversations on stage, lots of rich audio visual elements, and especially some great live music. So, we really think that folks who come to our events will come away with a really amazing live in-person, storytelling experience,” he added.
To see the full list of events, head to the Hot Docs Podcast Festival website.
Single tickets range from $33 to $39 depending on the podcast. All-access passes are $249 for regular customers and $239 for regular members. Creators forum passes are $149 for regular customers and $139 for regular members.
The Hot Docs Podcast Festival runs from Oct. 19 to 22 and takes place at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema located at 506 Bloor St. West.
