2016 HOT DOCS PODCAST FESTIVAL Announces Full Programming for November

Hot Docs has announced full programming schedule for the HOT DOCS PODCAST FESTIVAL, November 18-20, 2016 at the Hot Docs TEd Rogers Cinema. Canada's first international podcast festival will showcase creative non-fiction storytelling with chart-topping and award-winning podcasters, live podcast recordings, industry panels, and listening parties.

Joining the previously announced Criminal, Science Vs. and Sleepover are Canadian podcasts Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids, Under the Influence, Love Me, and The Imposter; and international Canadian premieres from Song Exploder featuring Reply All, and Mystery Show.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18

Opening the festival will be the Making, Supporting and Marketing Your Show panel, co-presented by Camp Tech, moderated by digital strategy expert, Avery Swartz. Swartz, with podcast producers JP Davidson (The Globe and Mail's Risk Takers), Dan Misener (Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids, Pacific Content), Katie Jensen (CANADALAND, The Imposter), and Hannah Sung (The Globe and Mail's Colour Code), will dig deep into the art of finding an audience through producing, marketing, and great storytelling.

Winner of the Best Documentary award at the 2015 Third Coast International Audio Festival, Radiotopia's Criminal was also named one the 10 Best Podcasts of 2015 by New York Magazine. In this Canadian premiere, Criminal delves into the questions behind the crime while focusing on the stories of "people who've done wrong, been wronged, or gotten caught somewhere in the middle," with live storytelling from host Phoebe Judge and scoring/mixing by Lauren Spohrer.

>From their humble beginnings in the upstairs room at the Victory Café in Toronto, Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids has turned into a hit show with sold-out readings across Canada. Dan and Jenna Misener are bringing their show back to Toronto where they will hand off the microphone to brave adults who will share their wonderful (and weird!) writing from childhood.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 19

Lindsay Michael, co-host of CBC's Podcast Playlist will moderate the Secrets of Audio Storytelling panel, co-presented by Podcast Playlist. Michael will be in conversation with three powerhouse podcasters in the burgeoning industry; producer and host Phoebe Judge (Criminal); producer Kaitlyn Sawrey (Science vs.); and producer Mira Burt-Wintonick (Love Me).

In this world premiere live event, Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly, voted Best New Podcast by iTunes in 2011, will take a fun and cheeky approach to uncovering the secrets of advertising with stories that tie together pop culture, human nature, and marketing.

The Canadian premiere live event of Gimlet Media's Science Vs. will wade through fads, trends, and the opinionated mob to decipher fact from fiction. Leaving no topic unturned, including organic food, gun control and fracking, the hit Australian show debuted at #1 on the US iTunes charts in 2015. Host Wendy Zukerman will make her Canadian debut by delving into the topic of favourite treats, from coffee to chocolate.

Song Exploder and Reply All, both included in New York Magazine's list of the 10 Best Podcasts of 2015, will come together for the world premiere of a special collaboration titled Song Exploder featuring Reply All. Radiotopia's Song Exploder breaks down incredible songs with the people who wrote them, and Gimlet Media's Reply All tells beautiful stories about the internet. In this first-ever live event, hosts Hrishikesh Hirway (Song Exploder) and PJ Vogt (Reply All) will turn their attention inward and break down one of Reply All's most memorable episodes.

Sleepover invites listeners to a modern-day slumber party, where three complete strangers agree to meet in a hotel room and spend the night. Sook-Yin Lee will host a special first-ever live "Power Nap" edition of her CBC hit in which she tackles her guests' emotional, physical and intellectual frustrations.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 20

Award-winning producers Mira Burt-Wintonick and Cristal Duhaime of CBC's hit podcast Love Me, will host the first-ever Love Me Listening Party. Burt-Wintonick and Duhaime will dim the lights and share a selection of stories from their favourite episodes about the messiness of human connection for this introspective and immersive listening party.

Gimlet Media's Mystery Show, hosted by This American Life alumna Starlee Kine, explores the everyday mysteries that baffle her guests-under the condition that the answer cannot be Googled. Vanity Fair exclaimed Kine "tap[s] into a fascinating, wistful vein of humanity, creating portraits of disparate lives that are funny and poignant." Named by iTunes as The Best New Podcast of 2015, Mystery Show will be presented live for the first time ever.

Wrapping up the inaugural Festival will be The Imposter presents Degrassiland. The Imposter, a new culture podcast from CANADALAND, is hosted by the irrepressible Aliya Pabani. In this grand finale of the HOT DOCS PODCAST FESTIVAL, Pabani and her team will explore the global impact of Canada's ultimate teen television franchise, Degrassi.

Passes are now available to Hot Docs TEd Rogers Cinema members only; passes go on sale to the general public Thursday, September 29; and single tickets go on sale Tuesday, October 4.

IF YOU GO:

Hot Docs presents
HOT DOCS PODCAST FESTIVAL
November 18-20, 2016
Hot Docs TEd Rogers Cinema, 506 Bloor Street West, Toronto, ON
Friday, November 18
PANEL: Making, Supporting and Marketing Your Show, co-presented by Camp Tech @ 10:30am
Criminal @ 6:30pm
Grownups Read Things They Wrote As Kids @ 9:30pm
Saturday, November 19
PANEL: Secrets of Audio Storytelling, co-presented by Podcast Playlist @ 9am
Under the Influence with Terry O'Reilly @ 12pm
Science vs. @ 4pm
Song Exploder featuring Reply All @ 7pm
Sleepover @ 10pm
Sunday, November 20
Love Me Listening Party @ 3:30pm
Mystery Show @ 6:30pm
The Imposter presents Degrassiland @ 9:30pm

For more information visit hotdocs.ca/podcastfestival or call 416-637-3123
Facebook | Twitter | #HotDocsPodFest

Need more Toronto Theatre News in your life?
Sign up for all the news on the Summer season, discounts & more...