It’s a wrap – the 28^th edition of North America’s largest documentary festival, Hot Docs, concluded on 9 May with 11 awards and CAD 67,000 (roughly €45,500) presented to Canadian and international filmmakers during an online ceremony. On the European front, Ostrov – Lost Island [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], directed by Svetlana Rodina and Laurent Stoop, was named Best International Feature Documentary. Described by Cineuropa as a story “between utopia and dystopia, speaking of modern-day Russia torn between nostalgia and harsh reality”, and focusing on the people living on the titular fishing island in the Caspian Sea, it led jurors Sheila Nevins, Kazuhiro Soda and Toni Kamau to call it “gorgeous and insightful”.

Its makers started their acceptance speech by mentioning a certain Ernest Hemingway quote, always in front of Rodina on her computer screen: “The great thing is to last and get your work done and see and hear and learn and understand.” “I personally learned and understood a lot from this project, also about myself,” she added. “This documentary is very important to us because we are trying to show another Russia than the one described in the media,” noted Stoop. “Unfortunately, we are moving further away from each other every day; a new ideological wall is being rebuilt between the West and Russia. And yet we are all the same.”

Mohamed El Aboudi’s School of Hope [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film], a co-production between Finland, France and Morocco, was given the Special Jury Prize. It shows Morocco’s Oulad Boukais tribe, suffering from an extended drought but still deciding to set up a school for the local kids. “The jury was impressed with the filmmaker’s devotion to this story and the immersive technique which created a visually touching story about the realities of climate change and the power of education,” it was stated, with El Aboudi expressing his wish for the prize to make people aware of small communities that “suffer in silence”, be it due to climate change or a lack of education.

Finally, Silent Voice by Reka Valerik and Sunny [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] by Keti Machavariani were noticed in the Best Mid-Length Documentary category, while the Emerging International Filmmaker Award went to Annabel Verbeke for her second feature, Four Seasons in a Day [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film], in which she eavesdrops on ferry passengers travelling between British-controlled Northern Ireland and EU member the Republic of Ireland, predictably gossiping about Brexit. “One year ago, I was doubting if I would ever be able to make this film,” she said. “In times when everybody was supposed to stay at home, it seemed pretty impossible to make a film about a border.”

You can find the full list of winners below:

Best Canadian Feature Documentary
Zo Reken – Emanuel Licha (Canada)

Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature Documentary
One of Ours – Yasmine Mathurin (Canada)

Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award
Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers - Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy (Canada)

Best International Feature Documentary
Ostrov – Lost Island [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] – Svetlana Rodina, Laurent Stoop (Switzerland)

Special Jury Prize – International Feature Documentary
School of Hope [+leggi anche:
recensione
scheda film] - Mohamed El Aboudi (Finland/France/Morocco)

Emerging International Filmmaker Award
Annabel Verbeke - Four Seasons in a Day [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] (Belgium/Norway/Croatia)
Honourable Mention
Margaret Byrne - Any Given Day (USA)

Best Mid-Length Documentary
Silent Voice – Reka Valerik (France/Belgium)
Honourable Mention
Sunny [+leggi anche:
recensione
trailer
scheda film] - Keti Machavariani (Georgia)

Best International Short Documentary
The Doll – Elahe Esmaili (Iran)

Betty Youson Award for Best Canadian Short Documentary
Ain’t No Time for Women – Sarra El Abed (Canada)
Honourable Mention
The Hairdresser – Lorraine Price (Canada)

Lindalee Tracey Award
Cailleah Scott-Grimes - Between Us (Canada)

Don Haig Award
Lalita Krishna (producer) - Bangla Surf Girls (Canada)

Rogers Audience Award
Fanny: The Right to Rock – Bobbi Jo Hart (Canada)
Kímmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy - Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers
Someone Like Me – Sean Horlor, Steve J Adams (Canada)
Still Max – Katherine Knight (Canada)
Hell or Clean Water – Cody Westman (Canada)