Batata takes the lead in the races for the Hot Docs Audience Award and the Rogers Audience Award for Canadian film. The documentary directed by Noura Kevorkian debuted at number one in today’s update for the audience rankings. Batata is a longitudinal study of Syrian migrants ten years in the making that observes refugees as they search for work and try to rebuild their lives amid a global crisis.
Yesterday’s leader, Okay! (The ASD Band Film) dropped to ninth place as new films overtook the ratings, including Jacquelyn Mills’ Geographies of Solitude, which debuted in the runner-up spot for the Rogers Award and in fifth overall. Appearing in the runner-up spot today is Navalny, directed by Daniel Roher, which had its hometown premiere as part of the Scotiabank Big Ideas series. Navalny notably played to a full house that greeted Roher, subject Christo Grovzev, and the film’s cast and crew with a sustained standing ovation following the screening. The screening had was one of the most enthusiastic receptions I’ve ever seen at Hot Docs and will be one to watch. Navalny previously won the Audience Award for U.S. documentary at Sundance, as well as the distinction as the festival’s overall audience favourite.
The May 1 Audience Award rankings are as follows:
- Batata
- Navalny
- American Scar
- Tolyatti Adrift
- Geographies of Solitude
- Dad Can Dance
- African Moot
- Smell of Money
- Okay! (The ASD Band Film)
- Bigger than Trauma
- Attica
- The Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith
- In the Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis
- Nelly & Nadine
- Be My Voice
- And Still I Sing
- Haulout
- A History of the World According to Getty Images
- Still Working 9 to 5
- Split at the Root
