A film about honor killing was among the cream of the crop at this year’s Hot Docs film festival, which bestowed the best Canadian feature prize to Shelley Saywell’s In the Name of the Family during its awards ceremony on Friday.

The veteran Toronto filmmaker received a $15,000 cash prize for the film that takes a close look at recent honor killings, where young women were killed by family members, and examines the beliefs behind the crimes.

The ceremony handed out 10 awards overall and over $72,000 in cash prizes to winning filmmakers. Also among them was Israel’s Yael Hersonski, who nabbed the best international feature award for A Film Unfinished, which examines an unfinished Nazi propaganda film discovered after the Second World War.

The jury prize for an international feature went to The Oath — Laura Poitras’ portrait of a former bodyguard of Osama Bin Laden, while John Zaritsky’s Leave Them Laughing claimed the jury award for a Canadian feature. His film shines the spotlight on Carla Zilbersmith, a comedian afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s disease, who, while she doesn’t perform live anymore, continues to flip the finger to the disease with her stinging wit.

In his acceptance speech, the soft-spoken Zaritsky dedicated the award to his star, who he acknowledged was ‘in the last days of her life.’

Renowned U.K. doc-maker Kim Longinotto was the recipient of the outstanding achievement award for a body of work that includes such acclaimed films as 1995’s Shinjuku Boys and 2008’s Rough Aunties. Meanwhile, the Lindalee Tracey Award, given annually to a Canadian filmmaker whose work illustrates a ‘passionate point of view, a strong sense of social justice and a sense of humor,’ went to 20-year-old Toronto filmmaker Ayanie Mohamed.

The short documentary award, sponsored by Playback, was given to Swedish director Jonas Odell for Tussilago, which deftly combines animation with its narrative to tell the story of a young girl caught up in a web of intrigue due to a relationship with a west German terrorist.

The Hot Docs audience award and top 10 favorite films of 2010 will be announced Monday. The festival this year featured 170 films from 2,200 submissions, and marked a 10% increase over last year’s attendance.
From Realscreen Online