Held from April 24 to May 4, this year’s Hot Docs Festival produced a total of 14 awards and $90k in cash and prizes, celebrating Canadian and international filmmakers with stories to tell.

Betty Youson Award for Best Canadian Short Documentary: Delta Dawn (d. Asia Youngman)

• • Chronicles the electric rise to fame of wrestling sensation Dawn Murphy in the 1980s and early 1990s. Known as Princess Delta Dawn, she was the first Indigenous and Canadian woman to compete professionally in Japan. Prize: $3,000 cash supported by John and Betty Youson

Best International Short Documentary: Alice (d. Gabriel Novis)

• • Tells the story of Alice, a trans multi-artist from Alagoas and childhood friend Gabriel Novis. The narrative reveals her experiences in key locations from her youth in Alagoas while questioning the elitism, misogyny and transphobia present in the surfing community, and how she uses surfing to grieve her father’s death. Prize: $3,000 cash courtesy of TVO Docs

Hot Docs is an Academy Awards-qualifying festival for short documentaries and as winners of the 2025 Hot Docs Best International Short Documentary and the Betty Youson Award for Best Canadian Short Documentary, Alice and Delta Dawn will qualify for consideration in the Documentary Short Subject category of the annual Academy Awards without the standard theatrical run, provided they comply with Academy rules.

Don Haig Award: Cornelia Principe

Canadian producer Cornelia Principe received the Don Haig Award as the producer of Shamed (d. Matt Gallagher). The award is given to an outstanding independent Canadian producer with a film in the festival in recognition of their creative vision, entrepreneurship and track record for nurturing emerging talent. Prize: $5,000 cash courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation

• • An online vigilante, self-described as the “Creeper Hunter,” seeks out potential sexual predators and ambushes them in videotaped confrontations, exposing them to the court of public opinion.

Best Mid-Length Documentary: Climate In Therapy (d. Nathan Grossman)

• • Seven climate scientists gather to discuss a taboo subject in their field: emotions. What emerges is a transformational discussion that humanizes the enormity of the climate crisis, powerfully voicing the unspeakable. Prize: $3,000 cash courtesy of Mubi

Lindalee Tracy Award: Regan Latimer

This award honors an emerging Canadian filmmaker with a passionate point of view, a strong sense of social justice and a sense of humor. Prize: $5,000 cash from the Lindalee Tracy Fund, $5,000 in-kind voucher from Picture Shop, and a hand-blown glass sculpture by Andrew Kuntz

Docs for Schools Student Choice Award: Writing Hawa (d. Najiba Noori, Rasul Noori)

• • After freeing herself from a constraining 40-year arranged marriage, the filmmaker’s mother hopes for a brighter future not only for herself but also her daughter and granddaughter, but her dreams are decimated by the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan. Prize: $5,000 cash courtesy of Scotiabank

first look Awards for Works-In-Progress: The Blue Sweater with a Yellow Hole (d. Tetiana Khodakivska); Land of No Pain (d. Émilie Martel), and Untying the Knot (d. Chona Mangalindan).

• • Hot Docs first look is a curated access program for philanthropic and documentary-loving supporters that grants them behind-the-scenes access to new projects in development, and the world of documentary pre-production and production financing. Prize: $5,000 cash each, courtesy of Suzanne DePoe, Peter Goring and Richard Sugarman

Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award: #skoden (d. Damien Eagle Bear)

The Earl A. Glick Emerging Filmmaker Award is given to a Canadian filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film. Prize: $3,000 cash

• • An iconic meme of a homeless, Indigenous Blackfoot man from Alberta named Pernell Bad Arm sparks a poignant exploration of the man behind the viral phenomenon.

Bill Nemtim Award for Best Social Impact Documentary: Talal Afifi and Giovanna Stopponi

The Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary recognizes the producers of a Hot Docs official selection film who find and tell compelling stories that inspire social or political change, and encourage their audiences to change their attitudes or behaviours or strive for policy change. This year’s award went to Talal Afifi and Giovanna Stopponi, the producers of Khartoum (d. Phil Cox, Ibrahim Ahmed, Anas Saeed, Timeea Ahmed, Rawia Alhag). This award helps the winning filmmaking team optimize the impact of the film through outreach and marketing activities. Prize: $10,000 cash courtesy of the Bill Nemtim Legacy Fund

• • A group of displaced Sudanese filmmakers empower five of their fellow citizens to re-enact dramatic testimonies of their nation’s descent into civil war and their journeys to neighbouring East Africa seeking refuge.

In the Best Social Impact Documentary category, the jury also acknowledged Writing Hawa. 

DGC Special Jury Prize-Canadian Feature Documentary: Paul (d. Denis Côté)

• • To cope with depression and social anxiety, shy Paul finds comfort in doing domestic chores for dominant women. Prize: $5,000 cash courtesy of DGC National and DGC Ontario

Best Canadian Feature Documentary: Agatha’s Almanac (d. Amalie Atkins)

• • A cinematic portrait of simple seasonal living in which a fiercely independent Mennonite woman lives alone on her ancestral farm in Southern Manitoba. Prize: $10,000 cash courtesy of Telefilm Canada

Emerging International Filmmaker Award: Unwelcomed (d. Amilcar Infante, Sebastian Gonzalez Mendez)

This award is given to an international filmmaker whose competing film is their first or second feature-length film. Prize: $3,000 cash courtesy of Donner Canadian Foundation

• • Unwelcomed examines contrasting perspectives around the migrant crisis in Chile following the country’s most violent anti-immigrant protest, sparked by an unprecedented influx of migrants from Venezuela.

Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary: River of Grass (d. Sasha Wortzel)

In memory of long-time Hot Docs supporter Joan VanDuzer, River of Grass received this award and a $5,000 cash prize.

• • An ode to the Florida Everglades, this film explores its historical and ongoing challenges through the writings and testimonies of environmentalists, educators, and current denizens.

In the Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary category, the jury also acknowledged I Dreamed His Name (d. Angela Carabalí).

Best International Feature Documentary: I, Poppy (d. Vivek Chaudhary)

• • Mangilal fights corrupt officials affecting the community while his elderly mother, Vardibai, tends their poppy farm in India. Prize: $10,000 cash

I, Poppy will qualify for consideration in the Best Documentary Feature category of the annual Academy Awards without the standard theatrical run, provided the film complies with Academy rules.

The 2025 awards for films in competition were determined by four juries.

Canadian Feature Documentary Jury:
Mads K. Mikkelsen, Head of Programme, CPH:DOX
Sarah Ouazzani, Artistic Director, DOXA Documentary Film Festival
Noland Walker, Principal Content Consultant/Co-Curator, Independent Lens (ITVS)

International Feature Documentary Jury:
Brett Story, Director/Producer
Inti Cordera, Executive Director, DocsMX
Shane Smith, TVO Docs Programmer Mid-Length Documentary +

Bill Nemtin Award For Best Social Impact Documentary Jury:
Alison Duke, Writer/Director/Producer
Sabine Lange, Commissioning Editor, ARTE
Ali Weinstein, Filmmaker

Short Documentary Jury:
Aeyliya Husain, Filmmaker
Yvonne Ashley Kouadjo, Series Producer, Op-Docs (The New York Times)
Ruth Somalo, Filmmaker / Programmer & Independent Curator