Episode 768: In The Seats With...Aisha Jamal, 'The Theft' and Hot Docs 2026

In this business, we all end up doing double duty....Well we got laid up for a couple of days, but luckily the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival is still running strong and we've got plenty of non-fiction still to talk about.In the spirit of double duty we got to talk with programmer Aisha Jamal about working as a programmer for the festival for a decade+, the evolution of documentary cinema, the importance of festivals like this and so very much more...AS WELL AS...Talking with her about her new film which just debuted on TVO, is available on the TVO Docs YouTube Channel and app which is called 'The Theft'.'The Theft' is set in the backdrop of Afghanistan as the film traces a series of 12th century marble panels looted from the country over the decades of political upheaval and rampant looting in recent memory.  The film tackles the consequences of the cultural looting of a country like Afghanistan and the complexities in getting these artifacts back to their home countries while they currently sit in many Western museums.It was a fascinating conversation on both fronts, and yet another testament to the importance of documentary film.Support documentary film, support Hot Docs, support the art form of cinema as it is such a vital cog in our collective consciousness and culture.