Is My Living in Vain keeps its lead in the Hot Docs Audience Award race. The mid-length film by Ufuoma Essi, which explores the role of the church in Black communities on both sides of the ocean, held the top spot in today’s rankings update after debuting at number one yesterday. The top five remain generally static so far with previous leader Fauna holding in third and remaining the top feature. With most films having their number of screenings reduced from three to two this year, the rankings are seeing less movement than they had in previous years, especially when the virtual festival gave cinephiles more flexibility in their screening windows and therefore saw frequent shuffles in the rankings.
The race for the Rogers Audience Award, however, has some movement among the Canadian features. Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella drops to second place after its encore screening, but takes a nosedive in the overall rankings by falling from sixth to fifteenth place. Moving up, though is Zack Russell’s hometown favourite Someone Lives Here, about Toronto carpenter Khaleel Seivwright and his mission to shelter the homeless. The film jumps to the top spot in the hunt for the $50,000 Rogers Prize. It sits at sixth overall.
This year, Hot Docs changed its voting to electronic ballots. Festival attendees may scan a QR code at a screening and rate the film from 1 to 5. Voting closes thirty minutes after the screening ends.
The Hot Docs Audience Award rankings for May 3 are:
- Is My Living in Vain
- By Water
- Fauna
- 20 Days in Mariupol
- Lac-Mégantic – This Is Not an Accident
- Someone Lives Here
- Angel Applicant
- The American Gladiators Documentary
- Seven Winters in Tehran
- It’s Only Life After All
- Non-Aligned: Scenes from the Labudovic Reels
- Kanaval: A People’s History of Haiti in Six Chapters
- Roberta
- The Deepest Breath
- Without Precedent: The Supreme Life of Rosalie Abella
- Upstream
- Aitamaako’tamisskapi Natosi: Before the Sun
- Allihopa: The Dalkurd Story
- Because We Have Each Other
- Silvicola