The truth is out there.

If you’re in or around Toronto, you’d be well-served to check out the offerings of The 2011 Hot Docs Festival, North America’s largest documentary film fest which is now eighteen years old. And if you think that the films being offered up are tiny passion projects that will never become available to you, I offer you the following names.

Conan O’Brien
Ron Sexsmith
A Tribe Called Quest
Ayrton Senna
Carol Channing
Morgan Spurlock
and Elmo.

That’s right – Elmo.

Stories by these people, and stories about these people are but a few of more than 200 films making up this year’s festival which runs from April 28th to May 8th here in Toronto. The subject matters can of course cover the political and the religious, but also the amusing, the inspiring, and unforgettable facets of the world we live in. Two of the films I saw during last year’s festival – GASLAND and WASTE LAND – actually went on to be nominated for Best Documentary Oscars.

Like last year, you can expect quite a bit of coverage here at the matinee. Expect opinions, recommendations, reactions and reviews. I’ll be doing previews in the days leading up to the festival with coverage going full-tilt on the 28th, including special editions of The Matineecast on-the scene.

The Festival’s website has gone live and can be found here. If you’re in or around the city, I can’t recommend this chance to soak up some outspoken and outstanding films highly enough.