or 15 years, Hot Docs has dolled out truths from cinematic spoons (Colonel Jessep doesn’t think you can handle it). Since its inception in 1993, the festival has continuously expanded. Now it’s the biggest documentary film celebration on the continent. This year’s edition will screen over 170 films at eight different venues, including the Bloor, the Cumberland, the Winter Garden, and others. With that much celluloid to choose from, it’s tough to decide what’s worthy. Always altruistic, Martibiboys.com has come up with a guide to Hot Docs’s best bets.

Carts of Darkness
A solid play on words typically connotes documentary goodness. Thus, Murray Siple’s Carts of Darkness brims with potential. The Conrad nod aside, Carts… portrays that oft-ignored subculture of sportsmen: the homeless cart jockey. Following a group of bottle collectors-turned-downhill racers, the film should combine social commentary with thrilling action shots. Beware of broken glass.

Citizen Havel
The favourite playwright/statesman of rockstars the world over, Václav Havel has had a storied life. Moving from the theatre to the world stage, he endured communist oppression and imprisonment, ultimately ascending to the Presidency of Czechoslovakia and, later, the Czech Republic. Along the way, he picked up famous friends from disparate arenas. Look for Jacques Chirac, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and the Rolling Stones to show up in Pavel Koutecky and Miroslav Janek’s doc. Oh, and disregard the cloyingly familiar title (damn you, Orson).

Her Name is Sabine
Like Tarnation, Her Name is Sabine is an actor-directed autobiographica story that focuses on a special-needs family member. However, unlike Tarnation’s Jonathan Caouette, the auteur/star in question is already hugely famous (at least in France). …Sabine follows César Award-winning actress Sandrine Bonnaire’s sister, the titular Sabine, as she struggles with autism. Fictional accounts of psychiatric challenges are typically compelling, but their non-fiction counterparts can be devastating.