Come See Me in the Good Light Leads Hot Docs Audience Award Rankings

And they’re off! After the first full day of screenings, Come See Me in the Good Light leads the rankings for this year’s Hot Docs Audience Award.

Ryan White’s moving film had its Canadian premiere last night with a full house at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema. The audience was audibly moved throughout the screening, but the collective experience also accentuated the film’s great sense of humour as spoken word poet Andrea Gibson faced her terminal cancer diagnosis with a heartfelt refusal to quite. White attended the screening for a Q&A, along with Gibson’s partner, poet Megan Falley, who joined virtually.

Come See Me in the Good Light previously won the overall Festival Favourite Award at Sundance, along with audience awards at Full Frame, Boulder, and Cleveland. It has two more screening at Hot Docs and will be released later this year by Apple. It’s among POV‘s top picks for the festival.

The film edged out Canadian animated film Endless Cookie, which topped the ratings released yesterday after only five features played in the Hot Docs schedule. The film by brothers Seth and Pete Scriver held the top spot for the Rogers Audience Award for Canadian film, which carries a cash prize of $50,000. It’s followed by Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance.

Audiences have a chance to vote on the audience award following each screening. They have one hour to vote following the event.

The top 20 films in the Hot Docs Audience Award rankings are:

1. Come See Me in the Good Light
2. Endless Cookie – Eligible for the Rogers Audience Award
3. Nobody Against Putin
4. Antidote
5. Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance – Eligible for the Rogers Audience Award
6. Aisha’s Story
7. The Last Ambassador
8. Always
9. Life After
10. Widow Champion
11. Yalla Parkour
12. I Dreamed His Name
13. Climate in Therapy
14. Ai Weiwei’s Turandot
15. Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man – Eligible for the Rogers Audience Award
16. Walls – Akinni Inuk
17. My Missing Aunt
18. I Wanted To Hear Your Voice
19. Shifting Baselines – Eligible for the Rogers Audience Award
20. The Granny & Fishes

Hot Docs runs through May 4.