Acclaimed producer and co-founder of Toronto-based Border City Pictures Cornelia Principe has been named this year’s winner of the Hot Docs Don Haig Award.

The honour recognizes the creative vision, entrepreneurial spirit and track record of mentorship of Canadian independent producers who have a film at Hot Docs. The award is named after the editor and producer following his 2002 death with the winner of the award receiving a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.

Principe (pictured) is at the 2025 Hot Docs Festival as the producer of Matt Gallagher’s Shamed (Border City Pictures), which is having its world premiere at the Toronto festival. The film follows the story of the online vigilante Jason Nassr, whose methods of exposing alleged child predators led him – the self-described “Creeper Hunter” – to being sentenced on criminal charges. In 2004, Gallagher and Principe established Border City Pictures, collaborating on projects such as Dispatches From A Field Hospital and How to Prepare for Prison.

Principe will be presented the award on May 2 at the Hot Docs Awards Presentation. This year’s jury comprised the award’s winners for the last two years, Alison Duke (2024) and Bonnie Thompson (2023), alongside Hot Docs board co-chair Nicholas de Pencier.

Past accolades for the Principe include an Academy Award and Peabody nomination as well as a Canadian Screen Award win for Nisha Pahuja’s 2022 feature To Kill a Tiger as well as Hot Docs’ 2019 Rogers Audience Award for Gallagher’s documentary Prey. Principe also coproduced the Canada/France documentary Russians at War via Raja Pictures.

“Don Haig left an indelible impression on me as I was starting out. So, to now receive an award in his name, at Hot Docs, and to be included in a group of producers whose work I respect and admire is a huge honour,” said Principe in a statement.

Image courtesy of the National Film Board of Canada