The Canadian reign is over! An international title takes the lead for the first time during this year’s festival with today’s update in the Hot Docs Audience Award rankings. The German doc Who We Will Have Been, directed by Erec Brehmer and his late partner Angelina Zeidler, jumped from fifth to first as more ballots flowed in. Who We Will Have Been is a personal study of the filmmakers’ relationship and an exploration of grief and absence as Brehmer revisits photographs and videos to evoke Zeidler’s presence. Queer music doc Sirens, about the Lebanese music scene, sits in the runner-up spot.
Yesterday’s leader, Jason Loftus’s Eternal Spring, dropped to third place overall but continues to hold the lead in the race for the Rogers Audience Award for Canadian films. Moving up to fourth, and second in the Rogers race, is Barri Cohen’s Unloved. Okay! (The ASD Band Film) advances to fifth overall and into third for the Rogers prize. The political animals doc Hunting in Packs by Chloe Sosa-Sims trails in fourth for the Rogers Audience Award (sixth place overall) and former leader Beautiful Scars by Shane Belcourt sits in fifth (eighth overall). The top three Rogers Audience Award winners receive $25,000, $15,000, and $10,000, respectively, according to their final placement.
The Hot Docs Audience Award rankings for May 5 are:
- Who We Will Have Been
- Sirens
- Eternal Spring
- Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children
- Okay! (The ASD Band Film)
- Hunting in Packs
- Alis
- Beautiful Scars
- Relative
- Navalny
- Sam Now
- Category: Woman
- Smell of Money
- The Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith
- How Saba Kept Singing
- Batata
- Quiet Epidemic
- Shelter
- The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks
- Dad Can Dance
