Hot Docs 08 Awards

Awards time for Hot Docs 08! It amazes me festival after festival, how I always seem to miss the films that win the awards. Perhaps that is why I list the films that made the strongest impressions during my festival wrap up write up. Out of the winners here, the only one I saw a few including Corridor #8 on Day 6 and the award is well deserved, and insightful cultural experience that left room for some natural humour. I also caught a fair number of the the top films from the audience awards including Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai on Day 6, Anvil! The Story of Anvil on Day 2 and All Together Now. See all the details of the awards ceremony on April 25/08 from the official announcements (April 26/08, April 28/08 and the International Documentary Challenge Winners). Congratulations to all the winners, it was a stellar year!

The English Surgeon (dir: Geoffrey Smith)
The Best International Feature Documentary Award

To See if I'm Smiling (dir: Tamar Yarom)
Special Jury Prize for international feature documentary

Corridor #8 (dir: Boris Despodov)
HBO Documentary Films Emerging Artist Award

Junior (dir: Isabelle Lavigne & Stéphane Thibault)
Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award

FLicKeR (dir: Nik Sheehan)
Special Jury Prize for Canadian feature documentary

The Apology Line (dir: James Lees)
Best Short Documentary Award (up to 29 minutes)

It's Always Late for Freedom (dir: Mehrdad Oskouei)
Best Mid-Length Documentary Award (between 30-59 minutes)

Shock Waves (dir: Pierre Mignault & Hélène Magny)
CIDA (Canadian International Development Agency) Award for best Canadian film on an international development issue

Alzheimers: A Family's Journey (dir: Ayesha Khalid & Katie Rastrick)
Doc It! Award - 1st Place

Tiny's Footprint (dir: Natalie Linton, Inthuja Selveratnam & Alisha Sunderji)
Doc It! Award - 2nd Place

Richard Leacock
Outstanding Achievement Award

Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze/ 沿江⽽上)
Don Haig Award

Elizabeth Lazebnik
Lindalee Tracey Award

Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai (dir: Lisa Merton & Alan Dater)
1st place - Hot Docs Audience Award

Here are the runners up for the Hot Docs Audience Award:
2nd place - Planet B-Boy (dir: Benson Lee)
3rd place - Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About his Father (dir: Kurt Kuenne)
4th place - The English Surgeon (Dir: Geoffrey Smith)
5th place - Triage: Dr. James Orbinski's Humanitarian Dilemma (dir: Patrick Reed)
6th place - Anvil! The Story of Anvil (dir: Sacha Gervasi)
7th place - The Beetle (dir: Yishai Orian)
8th place - Daddy Tran: A Life in 3-D (Dir: Siu Ta)
9th place - Stranded, I've Come From a Plane that Crashed in the Mountains (dir: Gonzalo Arijon)
10th place - All Together Now (dir: Adrian Wills)

Hot Docs runs from April 17-27/08 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada