HotDocs14 has just ended having screened 197 films from over 40 countries. These compelling stories attracted 192,000 documentary enthusiasts to 452 public screenings across Toronto. Good news for the filmmakers, the prizes were backed with money. HotDocs has caught fire. See the winners here.
Audience Award Winners:
1. THE BACKWARD CLASS (D: Madeleine Grant, Canada), the story of the Dalit students of Shanti Bhavan school in India preparing to make history by becoming the first from their “untouchable” caste to take high-school graduation exams.
2. MEET THE PATELS (D: Geeta V. Patel, Ravi V. Patel; USA), in which a first-generation Indian-American decides to find love the old-fashioned way by letting his parents find him a wife;
3. THE CASE AGAINST 8 (D: Ben Cotner, Ryan White; USA), which looks at the emboldened movement to strike down California’s Prop 8 as unconstitutional.
2014 Filmmaker-To-Filmmaker Award Winner:
NE ME QUITTE PAS (D: Niels van Koevorden, Sabine Lubbe Bakker; Netherlands, Belgium), and coming in a close second is BEYOND CLUELESS (D: Charlie Lyne; UK, Canada).
Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award:
OUT OF MIND, OUT OF SIGHT (D: John Kastner; P: John Kastner, Deborah Parks, Silva Basmajian; Canada) Sponsored by the Documentary Organization of Canada, the award includes a $10,000 cash prize courtesy of Hot Docs.
Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature Documentary:
BEFORE THE LAST CURTAIN FALLS (D: Thomas Wallner; P: Kerstin Meyer-Beetz; Belgium, Canada, Germany) Sponsored by the Directors Guild of Canada and DGC Ontario, the award includes a $5000 cash prize courtesy of Hot Docs.
Before the Last Curtain Falls – Trailer from gebrueder beetz filmproduktion on Vimeo.