Tired of your friends equating reality TV with documentaries? Pull them away from the Rock Of Love marathon and get them down to Hot Docs.

Returning to Toronto screens next Thursday with the premiere of Jennifer Baichwal’s Act Of God, this year’s edition of the international documentary festival features retrospectives dedicated to the work of Canadian documentarians Ron Mann and Alanis Obomsawin, a national spotlight on South Korea, a program focusing on the global economy and a 70th-anniversary celebration of the National Film Board.

Basically, there’s something for everyone. Well, almost everyone. Seriously, if your friends are stuck on Rock Of Love, it might be time to make some new friends.

Here are 10 things you can expect to do once Hot Docs gets going.

1 Cover your eyes. This year’s films come packing some powerful imagery, from the unflinching hospital footage of 65_RedRoses to the horrific dolphin slaughter of The Cove. And then there’s Graphic Sexual Violence, which is not an ironic title.

2 Open your wallet. If you don’t come away from the festival with at least one new charitable cause, you’re seeing the wrong movies. Clean water initiatives, famine relief, organ donation, poverty aid: you name it, there’s something you can be helping.

3 See something you’ve never seen before. Whether it’s a cow addicted to eating plastic bags (Rumenatomija Brandas Addiction) or a 12-year-old directing a horror film (Zombie Girl), there’s an excellent chance that Hot Docs will expose you to a totally new concept.

4 Expand your world view. Let the subjects of Amerika Idol, Afghan Star, Reporter, City Of Borders and Carmen Meets Borat show you parts of the planet you’ve never seen before… or at least, not in the same way. Or slip the bonds of Earth entirely and hang out with Soviet cosmonauts in Ascension.

5 Rediscover your city. This year’s festival explores Toronto from several angles: Invisible City focuses on Regent Park, Clubland looks at the conflict between entertainment-district entrepreneurs and condo residents, and Jackpot profiles the dotty world of St. Clair West’s Delta Bingo.

6 Join a cult. Best Worst Movie wants you to celebrate the abomination that is Troll 2, while Winnebago Man does its best to understand how a ranting RV pitchman could become a YouTube superstar. And Plane Days hangs out at Heathrow with the dedicated obsessives who catalogue the make and model of the wide-bodied aircraft that fly in and out.

7 Watch some music. Soulwax: Part Of The Weekend Never Dies goes around the world with the electro popsters; Ashes Of American Flags accompanies alt-rockers Wilco on their 2008 American tour. Riseup captures unknown Jamaican artists in performance, while Vashti Bunyan: From Here To Before chronicles the music world’s rediscovery of a forgotten 1970s folkie.

8 Find art in unexpected places. Objectified makes you take a second look at the manufactured objects you use every day (your toothbrush, your vegetable peeler, your Macbook), while Art & Copy explores the creative means by which you were sold them. And Roadsworth: Crossing The Line profiles a radical Montreal street painter who literally painted streets.

9 Despair for the future. The coming environmental collapse continues to weigh heavily on the minds of our documentarians. Titles like Waterlife, H2OIL, End Of The Line and Black Wave: The Legacy Of The Exxon Valdez will have you despairing for the future of water, wildlife and sushi, and not necessarily in that order.

10 Chill with the kitties. Sure, they’re going to grow into flesh-rending man-eaters, but watching cuddly, fuzzy cubs flopping around in The Tiger Next Door is a nice way to unwind after a couple of heavy enviro docs – until you realize the tigers are endangered, too.

See NOW’s massive roundup of reviews, interviews and features in next week’s Hot Docs special.