Come See Me in the Good Light is the winner of this year’s Hot Docs Audience Award. The film maintained its hold as the overall audience favourite throughout the entirety of the festival. The doc debuted at number one last Sunday and held the top spot throughout the 11 day event.
Directed by Ryan White, Come See Me in the Good Light observes poets Andrea Gibson and Megan Falley as the former receives a terminal cancer diagnosis embraces each day with renewed hope to return to the stage. White was on hand for the film’s Canadian premiere while Falley joined virtually for the Q&A. The film previously won the overall Festival Favourite Award at Sundance, marking a rare distinction for a doc to receive the winning vote from the audience at North America’s top two festivals for documentary. The film will be released by Apple later this year.
Taking the runner up spot and winning the Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Film is Endless Cookie. The honour carries a cash prize of $50,000, courtesy of Rogers, and was presented to the team last night ahead of an encore screening. Directed by Seth Scriver and Peter Scriver, Endless Cookie is a hilarious animated tale in which the half-brothers come together as Seth flies up north to collect Pete’s stories and learn about life in his Indigenous community. The film opens theatrically in June from Mongrel Media.
“This beautiful collaboration between two brothers brings to the screen an authentic approach to storytelling that moves hypnotically across Toronto’s Kensington Market in the 1980s and present-day in the First Nations community of Shamattawa, in Northern Manitoba, resulting in an unforgettable work of cinema that shows us the endless boundaries of the documentary artform and where it can take us,” noted Hot Docs’ Director of Programming Heather Haynes in a statement from the festival. “As we close out this year’s Hot Docs Festival, I want to thank all of the filmmakers who trusted us to share their stories and their work over these past 11 days. 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.”
Rounding out the audience awards are Aisha’s Story, directed by Elizabeth Vibert and co-directed by Chen Wang, which was the top vote-getter among the mid-length films. Martin Edralin’s La Mayordomía won the audience award for best short documentary. The votes come from 179 screenings across the festival. The festival previously announced jury prize winners including Agatha’s Almanac and I, Poppy.
“As we celebrate the close of Hot Docs this year, I’m struck by what a truly special festival this has been,” said Diana Sanchez, Executive Director, in a statement from Hot Docs. “Conversations with excited audience members, top-notch film tips from our incredible volunteers, meeting so many visiting filmmakers from around the world and hearing the passion and pride they bring to their work, it has been a whirlwind of a week and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. Our impactful Docs For Schools program filled our cinema with over 2,000 middle and high school students and became some of our visiting filmmakers’ most unforgettable festival screenings. So many subjects and special guests filled our hearts and minds with an endless outpouring of courage, authenticity and hope for the future. 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.”
The top 20 features in the Hot Docs Audience Award rankings are:
- Come See Me in the Good Light (D: Ryan White | P: Jessica Hargrave, Ryan White, Tig Notaro, Stef Willen | USA | 2025 | 104 min)
- Endless Cookie (D: Seth Scriver, Peter Scriver | P: Daniel Bekerman, Chris Yurkovich, Alex Ordanis, Jason Ryle, Seth Scriver | Canada | 2024 | 97 min)
- Antidote (D: James Jones | P: James Jones | United Kingdom | 2024 | 90 min)
- Coexistence, My Ass! (D: Amber Fares | P: Rachel Leah Jones, Amber Fares, Valérie Montmartin | USA, France | 2025 | 95 min)
- Saints and Warriors (D: Patrick Shannon | P: Michael Grand | Canada | 2024 | 97 min)
- 2000 Meters to Andriivka (D: Mstyslav Chernov | P: Mstyslav Chernov, Michelle Mizner, Raney Aronson-Rath | Ukraine | 2025 | 106 min)
- Mr. Nobody Against Putin (D: David Borenstein, Pavel Talankin (co-director) | P: Helle Faber | Denmark, Czech Republic | 2025 | 90 min)
- Selena y Los Dinos (D: Isabel Castro | P: Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements, J. Daniel Torres, David Blackman, Simran Singh | USA | 2025 | 106 min)
- Cutting Through Rocks (اوزاک یوللار) (D: Sara Khaki, Mohammadreza Eyni | P: Mohammadreza Eyni, Sara Khaki | Iran, USA, Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Qatar, Chile | 2025 | 95 min)
- Parade: Queer Acts of Love & Resistance (D: Noam Gonick | P: Justine Pimlott | Canada | 2025 | 96 min)
- Deaf President Now! (D: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim | P: Nyle DiMarco, Davis Guggenheim, Amanda Rohlke, Jonathan King, Michael Harte | USA | 2024 | 100 min)
- Facing War (D: Tommy Gulliksen | P: Anne Marte Blindheim, Danielle Turkov Wilson | Norway | 2025 | 100 min)
- The Nest (D: Chase Joynt, Julietta Singh | P: Alicia Smith, Justine Pimlott | Canada | 2025 | 89 min)
- Writing Hawa (D: Najiba Noori, Rasul Noori (co-director) | P: Christian Popp, Hasse van Nunen, Renko Douze | France, Netherlands, Qatar, Afghanistan | 2024 | 85 min)
- The Gardener and the Dictator (D: Hui Wang | P: Jun Zhang, Hui Wang | Canada | 2025 | 98 min)
- Holloway (D: Sophie Compton, Daisy-May Hudson | P: Alice Hughes, Polly Creed, Sophie Compton, Tarquin Ramsay | UK | 2024 | 87 min)
- The Last Ambassador (D: Natalie Halla | P: Peter Drössler, Arash T. Riahi, Sabine Gruber, Natalie Halla | Austria | 2025 | 80 min)
- The Track (D: Ryan Sidhoo | P: Ryan Sidhoo | Canada | 2025 | 90 min)
- Spreadsheet Champions (D: Kristina Kraskov | P: Anna Charalambous, Charlotte Wheaton, Nick Batzias | Australia | 2025 | 86 min)
- Aisha’s Story (D: Elizabeth Vibert, Chen Wang (co-director) | P: Elizabeth Vibert, Salam Barakat Guenette | Canada | 2025 | 62 min)
