“KING MATT THE FIRST” TO WORLD PREMIERE AT HOT DOCS
The programme for this year’s Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival has been announced, and King Matt the First – a new documentary by Jaśmina Wójcik – is among the invited titles. The film will be screened as part of the international Spectrum competition.
Founded in 1993, the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival the largest documentary film festival in North America. Traditionally held each spring, the festival pairs its screenings with international film markets and industry conferences. This year, however, the event is undergoing a scheduling shift, with its organisers set to announce further details later.
Jaśmina Wójcik’s creative documentary King Matt the First offers a contemplative journey into a world unencumbered by adult hierarchies and limitations. It is an intimate, sensory exploration led by curiosity – where emotion and perception guide the way. Yet beneath the surface, the film echoes with contemporary crises: war, pandemic, climate change. Can we truly pinpoint the moment childhood ends and adulthood begins? As grown-ups, do we genuinely recall what it means to be a child? And as we mature, do we irrevocably lose a certain kind of sensitivity? Most crucially, what can children teach us once we take the time to truly listen? These are among the many questions posed by Jaśmina Wójcik’s film (The Symphony of the Ursus Factory, 2018), which draws inspiration from the novel of the same name by Janusz Korczak (the pen name of Henryk Goldszmit). More than a century since its publication, Korczak’s words remain strikingly relevant. His book resonates in particular with the present moment – a world fraught with tension and uncertainty, especially from the perspective of young people on the cusp of adulthood.
You can find the full festival programme here.