From a “Village” to a “City”: Hot Docs Awards Their Best

A scene from Simon El Habre's "The One Man Village." Image courtesy of Hot Docs.

The 2009 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival handed out their awards in Toronto tonight, at a ceremony hosted by the CBC’s Jian Ghomeshi (of this fame). Simon El Habre’s “The One Man Village” and Hubert Davis’s “Invisible City” were the recipients of the fest’s two big prizes, with “Village” taking the Best International Feature Award and “City” winning the Best Canadian Feature Award. In all ten awards, including those for Festival films in competition and those recognizing emerging and established filmmakers, were presented and over $60,000 in cash prizes was handed out.

“The One Man Village,” produced in Lebanon, looks at the last inhabitant of a Lebanese village that was destroyed and deserted after the civil war. Hot Docs’ jury stated: “Exceptional clarity in the filmic storytelling of a simple man in the Lebanese highlands, told with great empathy and even more skill. This film is an enchanting and gripping film and at once a pleasant and powerful experience.” The Best International Feature Award is sponsored by A&E and comes with a $10,000 cash prize, courtesy of Hot Docs.

“Invisible City,” co-produced by the National Board of Canada, follows the lives of two black teenagers over three years as they navigate issues of race, crime and notions of manhood in Toronto’s Regent Park community. Said the jury: “The Award goes to a film that weds form and content with extraordinary grace and intelligence. It is no small feat to maintain a focus on the raw material of real human experience while honouring the documentary as a cinematic art form. Because it does all these things, and because it maintains the dignity of its subjects’ lives while asking difficult questions about the conditions under which those lives are lived, the jury has chosen Hubert Davis’s Invisible City as the best Canadian feature.” The Best Canadian Feature Award is sponsored by the Documentary Organization of Canada and the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation and comes with a $15,000 cash prize courtesy of the Brian Linehan Charitable Foundation.

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Special Jury Prize winners in both categories were Peter Kerekes’ Czech Republic-Slovakis co-production “Cooking History,” which won for International Feature and Kevin McMahon’s “Waterlife,” which took the jury prize for a Canadian Feature. Additionally, the Toronto Documentary Forum (TDF) - which runs concurrent with Hot Docs - announced first-ever Canwest-Hot Docs TDF Pitch Prize, awarded to the best Canadian pitch presented during the Forum.  International commissioning editors at the TDF table voted by secret ballot on the seven Canadian projects presented, ultimately awarding the $40,000 prize to Toronto’s White Pine Pictures for their project “The Team.” The award was presented at the TDF closing reception by Sarah Jane Flynn, Canwest’s director of factual content, to “The Team”‘s team, executive producer Peter Raymont and director Patrick Reed. The award funds will be used for the film’s production. Page 1 of 2 Next Login to recommend this article » posted on May 8, 2009 Films to Snag Login to Leave a Comment »