Hello.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, mesdames et monsieurs, for the opportunity to present here.
My name is Samantha Hodder and I'm with the Documentary Organisation of Canada. I'm the executive director. With me is Danijel Margetic, who is a member of our lobby committee of the national board.
The Documentary Organisation of Canada is a national, non-profit, professional arts association that represents almost 700 independent documentary filmmakers across Canada. They live in all provinces and territories, and they range in size and scope from the kitchen-table filmmakers to people who own companies and employ more than 50 people on a regular basis.
It's an auspicious day for us to be here before the committee, because last night was the opening of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Film Festival, which we very proudly founded 14 years ago. You are probably aware of some of the aspects of this festival, but it has grown and grown. Every year it has grown 25%. This year they've added more than 20% more films and have reached an all time high of 2,000 delegate badges. I say this because, obviously, the people who are here lining up around the corner and buying industry passes and the industry that's supporting this are ample evidence that the documentary genre is growing in size and scope. People want to see this, and the Canadian public wants to watch these documentaries.