Holiday cheer will be spread at Hot Docs Cinema’s Free Festive Favourites series screenings, featuring the Christmas slasher Black Christmas, the 1984 black comedy-horror Gremlins, the lavish Technicolor Irving Berlin musical White Christmas, the beloved Dickens’ adaptation and cult-classic The Muppet Christmas Carol; the nostalgic comedy A Christmas Story; the 1990 family blockbuster Home Alone; Frank Capra’s heartwarming classic It’s a Wonderful Life; Bruce Willis’s explosive action film Die Hard; and everyone’s holiday guilty pleasure, Love, Actually.

All screenings are free (Max of two per person) and please bring a cash gift or non-perishable food item for The Stop, providing meals to those in need. More info and tickets here.

BLACK CHRISTMAS
D: Bob Clark | Canada | 98 min | 1974
The ultimate Christmas slasher! A sorority house is terrorized by a stranger who makes frightening phone calls and then murders the sorority sisters during Christmas break.

Friday, December 9 / 9 PM
Friday, December 23 / 9:15 PM

GREMLINS
D: Joe Dante | USA | 106 min | 1984
A young man inadvertently breaks the three essential rules concerning his new Christmas pet and unleashes a horde of malevolently mischievous monsters on his picturesque small town.

Tuesday, December 13 / 7 PM
Tuesday, December 20 / 1 PM

WHITE CHRISTMAS
D: Michael Curtiz | USA | 120 min | 1954
A successful song-and-dance team becomes romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save a failing Vermont inn, all culminating in a show-stopping performance on Christmas Eve.

Friday, December 16 / 3:30 PM
Sunday, December 18 / 4 PM

THE MUPPET CHRISTMAS CAROL
D: Brian Henson | USA | 85 min | 1992
The Muppet characters tell their version of the classic Charles Dickens’ tale of old and bitter miser’s redemption on Christmas Eve.

Saturday, December 17 / 1 PM

A CHRISTMAS STORY
D: Bob Clark | USA, Canada | 94 min | 1983
The comic mishaps and adventures of a young boy named Ralph, trying to convince his parents, teachers, and Santa that a Red Ryder B.B. gun really is the perfect Christmas gift for the 1940s.

Sunday, December 18 / 11 AM
Sunday, December 25 / 4 PM

HOME ALONE
D: Chris Colombus | USA | 103 min | 1990
Eight-year-old troublemaker Kevin McCallister must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation.

Monday, December 19 / 1 PM

IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
D: Frank Capra | USA | 131 min | 1946
An angel is sent from Heaven to help a desperately frustrated businessman by showing him what life would have been like if he had never existed.

Monday, December 19 / 4 PM
Friday, December 23 / 12:30 PM

LOVE, ACTUALLY
D: Richard Curtis | UK, France, USA | 135 min | 2003
Love is all around—and so is heartbreak—as multiple couples navigate romance, family, weddings and airports at Christmastime.

Wednesday, December 21 / 1 PM 

DIE HARD
D: John McTiernan | USA | 132 min | 1988
An NYPD officer tries to save his wife and several others taken hostage by German terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

Sunday, December 25 / 7 PM

 

About the Author

Bryen Dunn is a freelance journalist with a focus on travel, lifestyle, entertainment and hospitality. He has an extensive portfolio of celebrity interviews with musicians, actors and other public personalities. He enjoys discovering delicious eats, tasting spirited treats, and being mesmerized by musical beats.