Debbie Nightingale, Hot Docs Festival Co-Founder, Dies at 71

Debbie Nightingale, Hot Docs Festival Co-Founder, Dies at 71

Debbie Nightingale, a co-founder of the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, which eventually became the largest documentary event in North America, died July 10 after a bout with cancer. She was 71.

“Every part of the Hot Docs we know today grew from what Debbie helped establish,” execs at the Toronto-based festival said in a statement. “She recognized the importance of documentary filmmaking and providing a place where filmmakers, funders and audiences could connect. Without her, we wouldn’t be here. Her legacy will be forever felt, and she will be truly missed.”

Nightingale and veteran documentary maker Paul Jay in 1993 launched a documentary showcase that would eventually become Hot Docs. She helped raise the initial $100,000 to get the festival off the ground and served as its first festival manager and later as executive director. 

Born in Toronto on Oct. 14, 1953, Nightingale had been producing the Trade Forum at the Festival of Festivals, the forerunner of the Toronto International Film Festival, when Jay urged her to explore the launch of a documentary showcase for the Canadian Independent Film Caucus, today known as the Documentary Organization of Canada.

“It was because of her involvement, on spec, that the festival flew,” Jay told the POV Magazine in a 2007 interview. Nightingale went on to become a prolific film and TV producer, with such credits as the TV series Living in Your Car, the hockey movie Chicks With Sticks and the animal adventure comedy Bailey’s Billion$, which starred Jennifer Tilly and Dean Cain.

She eventually left the Canadian film and TV industry to run the Haute Goat Farm as a farmer. “Debbie was not only the founder but the true heart and soul of Haute Goat — a dreamer, a doer and an inspiration to all who crossed her path. Her love for animals, people and the land was the magic behind every visit, every experience and every smile on the farm,” the Facebook page for the farm in Port Hope, Ontario, wrote in remembrance.

Nightingale is survived by her husband, Shain Jaffe, a retired literary agent, and her children, Sarah, Leland and Noah. The family asks that donations in her memory be made to the Ontario Veterinary College in Guelph.