Toronto/CMEDIA: Hot Docs wrapped its 2025 edition on 4th night after an 11-day Festival that brought to Toronto cinema screens 113 documentaries from Canada and around the world.
Sharing pressing stories of our time and showcasing global filmmaking talent from a total of 47 countries, the 32nd Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival featured 179 screenings on five screens at two venues across Toronto.
The festival included 150 filmmaker Q&As, including four extended discussions with filmmakers and special guests as part of the Big Ideas Series, and a special panel discussion with filmmakers participating in our first-ever Made In Exile program.
“As we celebrate the close of Hot Docs this year…meeting so many visiting filmmakers from around the world…I’ve enjoyed every minute of it…The Festival engaged audiences at every turn. I’m incredibly proud of our team and what they’ve accomplished to ensure Hot Docs continues to thrive in its mission of celebrating and advancing Canada’s rich documentary storytelling tradition,” Diana Sanchez, Executive Director, Hot Docs had said.
The Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary, which recognizes the top Canadian feature as determined by audience poll with a cash prize of $50,000 CAD, was announced at a free encore screening at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. Endless Cookie (D: Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver), a colourful collage of animated vignettes that explore the complex bond between two halfbrothers—one Indigenous, one white—with humorous and heartfelt tales, received the prize, courtesy of Rogers.
“We’re thrilled that Endless Cookie has been selected by Hot Docs audiences as the winner of this year’s Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary…an authentic approach to storytelling …resulting in an unforgettable work of cinema that shows us the endless boundaries of the documentary artform…It’s the coming together of filmmakers, audiences, industry and volunteers that creates the community of Hot Docs and leaves its mark on this city, and the world, year after year,” Heather Haynes, Director of Programming, Hot Docs had said.
With $90,000 CAD in cash and prizes announced at the Hot Docs Awards Presentation on Friday, May 2, and $50,000 CAD awarded yesterday as part of the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary, this year the Festival awarded a total of $140,000 CAD in cash and prizes.
Votes submitted by Festival audiences after in-person screenings are the criteria for determining Hot Docs Audience Awards.
It was determined at the close of the Festival that Come See Me in the Good Light (D: Ryan White) placed first in the overall audience poll and won the Hot Docs Audience Award.
The top mid-length film in the audience poll, winning the Audience Award for Mid-Length Documentary, was Aisha’s Story (D: Elizabeth Vibert, Chen Wang (co-director)). The top short film, winning the Audience Award for Short Documentary, was La Mayordomía (D: Martin Edralin).
The 20 documentaries in the audience poll are:
1. Come See Me in the Good Light (D: Ryan White)
2. Endless Cookie (D: Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver)
3. Antidote (D: James Jones)
4. Coexistence, My Ass! (D: Amber Fares)
5. Saints and Warriors (D: Patrick Shannon)
6. 2000 Meters to Andriivka (D: Mstyslav Chernov)
7. Mr. Nobody Against Putin (D: David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin (co-director))
8. Selena y Los Dinos (D: Isabel Castro)
9. Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) (D: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni)
10. Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance (D: Noam Gonick)
11. Deaf President Now! (D: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim)
12. Facing War (D: Tommy Gulliksen)
13. The Nest (D: Chase Joynt, Julietta Singh)
14. Writing Hawa (D: Najiba Noori, Rasul Noori (co-director))
15. The Gardener and the Dictator (D: Hui Wang)
16. Holloway (D: Sophie Compton, Daisy-May Hudson)
17. The Last Ambassador (D: Natalie Halla)
18. The Track (D: Ryan Sidhoo)
19. Spreadsheet Champions (D: Kristina Kraskov)
20. Aisha’s Story (D: Elizabeth Vibert, Chen Wang (co-director))
The above titles join previously announced Hot Docs Docs for Schools Student Choice Award winner Writing Hawa (D: Najiba Noori, Rasul Noori (co-director)) to make up the full list of awards chosen by Hot Docs audiences as part of the 2025 Festival.
Serving as a vibrant hub for industry professionals, Hot Docs 2025 Festival welcomed 985 delegates from 54 countries to participate in the Hot Docs Industry Conference & Market featuring three days of professional programming, Works-in-Progress screenings, Hot Docs Deal Maker meetings, and networking opportunities.
Special guests from across the documentary making and marketing landscape were welcomed by Hot Docs Industry, including Andrew Peterson, Head of YouTube Canada; Canada Media Fund’s Emmanuelle Petrakis; The Nest filmmakers Chase Joynt and Julietta Singh; Impact Producer Sholeh Fabbri; and @ThatDocumentaryGirl Content Creator Christie Bosch.
