For Viola

A screening series centering Black, Indigenous, and People Of Colour (BIPOC)-led stories and filmmakers, named in honour of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond.

To minimize barriers to audience participation, this series will always be free of charge. However, we ask that you consider a $10 donation in recognition of the value of work presented and to honour Viola Desmond (featured on the $10 banknote). As a non-profit, Hot Docs relies of donations; and half of the donations from this series will be shared with the filmmakers, who also receive screening fees.

Read Hot Docs’ Anti-Racism statement>>

Who Was Viola Desmond?
Viola Desmond (1914–1965) was a Black Nova Scotian entrepreneur and pioneer in the struggle against anti-Black racism in Canada. In 1946, Desmond was arrested and jailed when she refused to leave the whites-only seating area of a Nova Scotia cinema and was subsequently convicted and fined. In one of the first known legal challenges to racial segregation in Canada, she fought to overturn her conviction. She received a posthumous pardon from the Nova Scotia government in 2010.

Now playing…

Stay tuned for updates

Meet the For Viola series programmers

Past films…

• Chinatown Rising (D: Harry Chuck, Josh Chuck; USA)
• In My Blood It Runs (D: Maya Newell, Australia)
• Is the Crown at war with us? (D: Alanis Obomsawin, Canada)
• Lessons Injustice (D: Karen Chapman, Canada)
• No Visible Trauma (D: Marc Serpa Francoeur, Robinder Uppal; Canada)
• Unarmed Verses (D: Charles Officer, Canada)
• Two Gods (D: Zeshawn Ali, USA)

^{For Viola is supported by}