Hot Docs Festival Online Audience Award Winners
By John Corrado
This year’s special online edition of Hot Docs officially came to a close last night, and tonight the winners of the festival’s coveted Audience Award were announced during a live stream, which you can revisit on YouTube.
The first place finisher was The Walrus and the Whistleblower, director Nathalie Bibeau’s film about former Marineland trainer turned animal rights activist Phil Demers, which had actually premiered on CBC TV a few weeks ago as part of the Hot Docs At Home series. Bibeau’s film was also the top ranked Canadian documentary, as well as the overall winner. New this year, the winner is automatically eligible for consideration at the Academy Awards.
Also new this year, the top five ranking Canadian films are each taking home a $10,000 cash prize, generously sponsored by the Rogers Group of Funds. The lucky cash prize winners are The Walrus and the Whistleblower, 9/11 Kids, The Forbidden Reel, First We Eat, and There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace. A huge round of applause and congratulations are in place for these five very fine films. I really liked all five of them, so I’m glad they resonated with general audiences, as they were definitely highlights of the festival for me as well.
A full list of the winners, including the top twenty finalists is below. A large selection of festival titles are still available to stream until June 24th, the full lineup can be found here.
Rogers Audience Award Winners:
#1: The Walrus and the Whistleblower
#2: 9/11 Kids
#4: First We Eat
#5: There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace
Top 20:
#1: The Walrus and the Whistleblower
#2: 9/11 Kids
#5: The 8th
#6: Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story
#8: Transhood
#9: Coded Bias
#10: Green Blood
#11: If It Were Love (tie)
#11: Love and Fury (tie)
#13: First We Eat
#14: Sanmao. The Desert Bride
#15: There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace
#16: The Reason I Jump
#17: Mein Vietnam
#18: Softie
#19: The Last Archer
#20: Dope Is Death
Top 5 Short Films:
#1: Nancy’s Workshop
#2: Gun Killers
#3: The Lost Astronaut
#4: êmîcêtôcêt: Many Bloodlines
#5: Welcome Strangers
Top Mid-Length Films:
#1: Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story
#2: The Song of the Butterflies
#3: Dark City Beneath the Beat
#4: Mother-Child
#5: Daddy
Top Film by Program:
Artscapes: The Forbidden Reel
Canadian Spectrum: The Walrus and the Whistleblower
Deep Dive: Green Blood
International Spectrum: All That I Am
Made In Northern Ireland: The Dakota Entrapment Tapes
Markers: If It Were Love
Nightvision: Leap of Faith: William Friedkin on The Exorcist
Persister: The 8th
Revisionaries: Finding Sally
Special Presentations: Welcome to Chechnya
The Changing Face of Europe: Reunited
To Conserve & Protect: First We Eat
World Showcase: 9/11 Kids