North America's largest documentary festival, Hot Docs, is presenting 166 films this year from as far away as Congo and Peru and starting with a movie about one of Canada's most iconic bands, Rush.

The Toronto festival, in its 17th year, chose from 2,088 entries representing 41 countries.

Two films will launch the annual event on April 29. The early screening that date will feature the much-anticipated Babies by French filmmaker Thomas Balmès, which follows four babies from Namibia, Mongolia, Japan and the U.S. in their first year.

A print entitled Marat/Sebastiao — Pictures of Garbage shows one of the artworks featured in the Brazilian/U.K. documentary Waste Land. (Courtesy of Vik Muniz Studio)

Sean Farnel, director of programming, calls Babies a "joyful work [that] beautifully observes the wonder of nascent life while gently underscoring the commonality and connectedness of the human species."

Later that first night, the filmmakers behind Global Metal, Scot McFadyen and Sam Dunn, will unspool Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage, a biopic of one of Canada's most influential bands.

Farnel says Rush fans won't be disappointed.

The organizer, who says he has watched 300 documentaries annually for the past decade, told CBCnews.ca that he has noticed this season's crop of nonfiction celluloid seems to focus on the personal.

"There are more family stories, quieter, introspective films yet incredibly tender stories that we can connect with."

Farnel says he's still amazed when he watches documentaries, which he calls the "Swiss Army Knife of expression," because they are consistently "elastic and creative" as a form of art.

Among the films in the Canadian program are 27 new ones from filmmakers across the country.

While that category has films as diverse as a light-hearted one about a comedienne battling Lou Gehrig's disease, Leave Them Laughing, to one that delves into the world of waitressing, Dish — Women, Waitressing and The Art of Service, programmers say the main theme seems to be death, or "how death and dying affect us as a society, as families, as individuals."

Among the films in the Canadian Spectrum program is:

• Life With Murder: veteran filmmaker John Kastner reconstructs what life is like for the parents of a 20-year-old man convicted of murdering his sister.
• In the Name of the Family: Shelley Saywell examines the killing of young women in North America in so-called "honour killings."
• Mark: a personal homage by Mike Hoolboom to a friend and activist who killed himself.

From anorexia to eating champ

One of the intriguing Canadian films on offer is The Story of Furious Pete, directed by Toronto TV host/reporter George Tsioutsioulas, who says the film stemmed from his own fascination with the world of competitive eating.

"That's where I met Pete [Czerwinski] and found out he was former anorexic and he's a top competitive eater. I thought, how do you go from one extreme to another?" says Tsioutsioulas, who describes his film as "bizarre, gross, inspiring and funny."

Czerwinski's life unravelled in 2002 when he was 16. His mother discovered she had multiple sclerosis and his father was hospitalized for bipolar disorder. The teen himself was also told he had cancer that same year, though this would prove to be a misdiagnosis.

"I needed some control, so I started to control my eating," said Czerwinski, now 24. His anorexia landed him in hospital and nearly killed him. Somehow, he battled back, and Czerwinski says it took him about three years to fully overcome his disorder.

"It's well worth exposing my life," he says about going before the cameras. "I know how hard it is to overcome an eating disorder, and the fact that I can help people was more than enough for me to want to participate in the film."

Another film having its world premiere at the festival is Juan Baquero's Listen to This. The documentary is the culmination of a three-year odyssey in which the director followed three children, who blossom through a music program at an elementary school located in Toronto's Jane-Finch neighbourhood, often the subject of news reports on gang activity and crime.

"I'm from Colombia, and that country has often gotten a bad rap in the media," notes Baquero, 44, who is now a resident of Canada after arriving five years ago from Bogota.

"When I learned about Jane and Finch, I knew I wanted to go out there .… I'm trying to show that reality is way more subtle than what the media leads you to believe."

Spotlight on South America

In the international realm, Farnel encourages audiences to head to Waste Land, a Brazilian-U.K. documentary about artist Vik Muniz, who collaborates with pickers of recyclable materials at the world's largest landfill site to make beautiful works of art.

Other notable works from outside Canada include:

• Bhutto, by Duane Baughman and Johnny O'Hara, an epic biography about the late Benazir Bhutto, who became Pakistan's prime minister.
• Enemies of the People, by Thet Sambath and Rob Lemkin, a stunning confessional interview with the second-in-command during the Khmer Rouge's brutal regime detailing the atrocities both he and Pol Pot planned and committed.
• Joan Rivers — a Piece of Work, by Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg, an exposé that peels back the comic's "nipped n' tucked public mask" as she attempts to keep relevant in a youth-obsessed world.
• Steam of Life, by Joonas Berghäll, Mika Hotakainen, is an amusing piece that coaxes intimate stories from Finnish men as they sit naked in their saunas.
• Congo in Four Acts, features four short pieces from young Congolese filmmakers about the disturbing reality of every day life in their country.
• The People vs. George Lucas, by Alexandre Philippe, examines the testy relationship between Star Wars creator George Lucas and his legions of devoted fans.
• Cooking Up Dreams, by Ernesto Cabellos, travels through the kitchens of Peru's jungle, mountains and coastline as families, farmers and famous chefs share their precious recipes.

For the first time, this year's festival will include four days of outdoor screenings at the top of a parking garage in downtown Toronto.

The event, which finishes May 9, also has a spotlight on South America and a retrospective of 10 films from award-winning British director Kim Longinotto.

Some of Longinotto's films featured at Hot Docs include Sisters in Law, Rough Aunties, Shinjuku Boys, Divorce Iranian Style and Hold Me Tight, Let Me Go.