Director Bobbi Jo Hart’s Fanny: The Right to Rock, Elle-Máijá Tailfeathers’ Kimmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy, Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams’ Someone Like Me, Katherine Knight’s Still Max, and Cody Westman’s Hell or Clean Water have each earned a portion of this year’s $50,000 Rogers Audience Award.

Courtesy of the Rogers Group of Funds, the prize was announced by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival via livestream on its final night of festivities (May 9), and saw each of the five top-polling audience favourites walk away with $10,000. This is the second year in the row the prize was split between winners.

All the films made their world debuts as part of the festival’s Canadian Spectrum program – with the exception of Fanny (pictured), which made its world premiere as part of the Persister section.

Notably, as unveiled last week, Tailfeathers’ Kimmapiiyipitssini: The Meaning of Empathy earned the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award, while the Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award went to writer-director-producer Emanuel Licha’s zo reken.

Written, directed and produced by The Body Remembers When the World Broke Open filmmaker, Tailfeathers’ latest project turns the camera on her own community, the Kainai First Nation in Alberta, documenting their fight against the opioid crisis. It spotlights the people behind the addiction, dedicated frontline workers, as well as her mother Dr. Esther Tailfeathers who is one of the few medical doctors working on the reserve. Producers also include Lori Lozinski and David Christensen, who also serves as executive producer.

Meanwhile, director-writer Yasmine Mathurin’s debut feature documentary received the Special Jury Prize – Canadian Feature Documentary. One of Ours follows Josiah Wilson’s exploration of identity and self after he is racially profiled at an Indigenous basketball tournament. Producers include Laura Perlmutter and Andrew Nicholas McCann Smith, and executive producer Sienna Films’ Jennifer Kawaja.

Additionally, the Betty Youson Award for Best Canadian Short Documentary went to director-writer Sarra El Abed and producer Isabelle Grignon-Francke’s Ain’t No Time for Women.

As well, last week saw the Canadian Forum Pitch Prize at the Hot Docs Forum presented to Wilfred Buck.

A project from Jackson’s Toronto-based Number 3 Productions and the National Film Board of Canada, the film from director-producer Lisa Jackson and producer Alicia Smith follows a man who has been called the Indiana Jones of Indigenous star knowledge, weaving his past and present to explore colonization’s impact on Indigenous ways of knowing. The $10,000 cash award is allocated to the best Canadian pitch at the Forum, which is voted on by attending international buyers.

Canada-U.S. co-venture Made in Ethiopia also received an honourable mention, which comes with a $2,000 prize. Directed and produced by Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan, the film from Made in Ethiopia and Gobez Media examines the story of three women who navigate the bumpy expansion of the biggest Chinese industrial park in Ethiopia. Tamara Dawit is also credited as a producer.

As announced today, Made in Ethiopia also walked away with the Sunny Side of the Doc Pitch Prize. New this year, the winner receives a complimentary pass to the event.

As well, director Sara Dosa’s Five of Love was among the first look Pitch Prize winners at the Forum. Produced by Dosa, Shane Boris and Ina Fichman, the unexpected love story about two scientists who die in a volcanic explosion won the third prize of $25,000.

Additionally, Hot Docs unveiled it has raised $72.9K for its Hot Docs Independent Cinema Relief Fund, exceeding its goal by over 240%. It also said 72 applications had been submitted to the fund with the list of cinemas selected for grants to be announced later this month.