Jennifer Baichwal's 2009 documentary Act of God examines the effects of being struck by lightning. (Alex Hermant/Hot Docs)

Toronto's Hot Docs film festival programmers had a record number of submissions for this year's lineup, leading organizers to tout the 2009 program as the strongest in the event's 16-year history.

Organizers revealed details for the upcoming festival at a packed downtown Toronto club Tuesday morning, with 171 films to unspool across 10 screening programs. The selections span a range of topics from macro issues like international environmental conflicts (Waterlife, The Cove, H2Oil) to a fascinating stories about individuals, such as an Indian boy facing life with a facial deformity (Ganesh: Boy Wonder).

'The filmmakers presenting work at the festival bring us things strange and valuable. Things we may not have learned in any other way. This is the power of contemporary documentary.'

—Sean Farnel, programming director, Hot Docs

Sean Farnel, the festival's director of programming, said he and his colleagues knew early on that deciding this year's lineup was going to be particularly tough.

"We were seeing a lot of great work.," he said on Tuesday. "We knew that we would be declining and turning away some very great work.

"The filmmakers presenting work at the festival bring us things strange and valuable. Things we may not have learned in any other way," he said, paraphrasing a quote by George Orwell.

"This is the power of contemporary documentary."

Jennifer Baichwal, whose film Act of God had previously been announced as the festival's opener, said it was a great honour to be chosen "because of the filmmakers in whose company we're lucky to be.

"We do have an incredibly strong documentary filmmaking community in this country," she added. "We're very proud to be part of that community, at this festival and all the time."

A few highlights from this year's festival include:

• Objectified — Helvetica director Gary Hustwit's exploration of contemporary design and manufactured objects.
• Outrage — In which Oscar-nominated director Kirby Dick discovers closeted U.S. politicians who crusade against the gay and lesbian community.
• Carmen Meets Borat — A darkly comedic look at the Romanian villagers portrayed in British comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's 2006 cult hit film Borat.
• Burma VJ — An acclaimed Danish film telling the story of underground video journalists in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and how they shared the story of the 2007 uprising with the world.
• The Red Chapel — A film that follows a Danish journalist who sneaks into North Korea for a cultural exchange, posing as a member of a comedy troupe with two Korean-born comics.
• Broke — A vérité film following the day-to-day operations of an Edmonton pawnshop and its place in the community.
• My Greatest Escape — The tale of French career criminal Michel Vaujour, notorious for his repeated, dramatic prison escapes.
• Tyson — A candid interview with, and biography of, notorious boxer Mike Tyson.
• We Live in Public — The Sundance-celebrated film about dot-com pioneer Josh Harris's art projects, including his 1999 experiment Quiet: We Live In Public, which saw more than 100 artists filmed 24 hours a day for a month while living together an underground bunker in New York.
• Paris 1919 — Inspired by Margaret MacMillan's acclaimed book.
• Fig Trees — A tribute to HIV/AIDS activists who fought for the right to receive live-saving drugs.
• Reporter — A look at Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Nicholas Kristof's reporting of the humanitarian atrocities in the Congo.
• Cooking History — A portrait of 20th century wartime battles, as told by the military cooks feeding soldiers.
• Inside Hana's Suitcase — Based on CBC producer Karen Levine's book Hana's Suitcase, which followed a Japanese teacher and her class as they unraveled the story of a Holocaust victim through her battered suitcase.

This year's themed program is Let's Make Money, a series uniting films that explore topics like finance, the corporate world, gambling and the pursuit of wealth. Hot Docs will also shine a spotlight on documentary films from South Korea.

The excellence in Canada's documentary industry right now "is the result of a critical mass of talented filmmakers — as [Nick de Pencier and Jennifer Baichwal] pointed out — and the support of key institutions and companies, either by mission or by regulation," Farnel said.

"We point to the Canadian slate of documentaries at Hot Docs as a sterling example of the importance of bringing Canadian stories and perspectives to our both screens and the world's screens."

Further accolades for Obomsawin

Celebrated filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin will be honoured with the Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award. (Jeff Bear)Celebrated documentarian Alanis Obomsawin, who last year was honoured with a retrospective at New York's Museum of Modern Art and won a Governor General's lifetime achievement award, will be the subject of a Hot Docs retrospective and receive of the festival's outstanding achievement prize.

Speaking on Tuesday, Obomsawin paid tribute to the talent of her filmmaker peers.

"I am very touched and very honoured to have been chosen for this award, because I know so many of my colleagues deserve it too," she said, her voice full of emotion.

"I am very happy for what I represent: the First Nations people of this country. And I take the honour in the name of all the people … in these films that I make."

This year's program will also include a retrospective tribute to maverick filmmaker Ron Mann as well as a program dedicated to the National Film Board, which is celebrating is 70th anniversary.

Telefilm chief Wayne Clarkson, Toronto International Film Festival CEO Piers Handling, and other guest programmers were asked to choose their favourite NFB documentaries of the past 70 years, with the final slate to be screened in a special program during Hot Docs.

Officials also revealed the addition of two new cash prizes for Canadian films at this year's event: $15,000 for the best Canadian feature and $10,000 for the special jury prize, determined by a panel of filmmakers, journalists and other industry professionals. The awards gala is scheduled for May 8.

The 16th annual Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, expected to draw 100,000 moviegoers and 2,000 industry professionals, takes place in Toronto April 30-May 10.

A Syncrude bucket wheel extractor in front of their plant in Fort McMurray, Alta., in a scene from the documentary H2Oil. (Shannon Walsh/Hot Docs) With files from the Canadian Press