Hot Docs, the major nonfiction film festival in Toronto, has announced award winners for the event’s 33^rd edition.

Earning Best International Feature Documentary was House of Hope, directed by Marjolein Busstra, a film set in the occupied West Bank that focuses on an elementary school run by a couple who teach their young Palestinian students non-violent resistance, “offering a refuge from the escalating uncertainty that surrounds them.”

The award comes with a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Donner Canadian Foundation) and automatically qualifies the film for Oscar consideration.

“A powerful and unsentimental film that bears witness to a family-run Waldorf school in the West Bank and its profound commitment to nurturing the humanity of children,” writes the jury comprised of Robyn Citizen, Daniela Michel, and Lina Rodriguez. “For its clear-eyed portrait of educators whose quiet everyday resilience stubbornly insists on hope under the shadow of occupation and genocide, the jury enthusiastically presents Marjolein Busstra with the Hot Docs Best International Feature Documentary award for House of Hope.”

Best Canadian Feature Documentary went to Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom, directed by Kim Nguyen. The film reveals “the elusive connection between two families and photojournalist Eddie Adams’s iconic photo, ‘Saigon Execution,’ confronting family secrets left in the wake of the Vietnam War, exposing the resilience of survivors and blurred legacy of wartime memory.”

The award is accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize (courtesy of Telefilm Canada). Hot Docs hosted the world premiere for Saigon Story.

The jury, comprised of Avril Benoît, Jason Gorber, and Yiqian Zhang, writes, “For this film’s illuminating look at the story behind an iconic image and the city where it was captured, its compelling analysis of the lasting effects of a conflict from more than a half century ago, and its deep dive into the complex historical, political and emotional aspects that expand well beyond the frame of one of the most haunting moments ever captured on film, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Best Canadian Feature Documentary award to Kim Nguyen’s Saigon Story: Two Shootings in the Forest Kingdom.”

Coincidentally, a short documentary about the legacy of the Eddie Adams “Saigon Execution” photo — On Healing Land, Birds Perch, directed by Naja Phạm Lockwood – made the Oscar shortlist this past year.

The Hot Docs 2026 Awards Presentation was held Friday at El Mocambo in Toronto. The festival continues through Sunday. The Hot Docs Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary will be announced on Sunday – with the winner receiving a $50,000 cash prize, courtesy of Rogers. Winners of the Hot Docs Audience Award for feature and short documentary will be announced on Monday (May 4).

Scroll for the winners of awards in competition announced on Friday.

The festival’s Best International Short Documentary was presented to Replikka, directed by Piratá Waurá. “The short film offers an unforgettable look at Waura culture and their efforts to protect Indigenous land, traditions, and stories,” writes the jury, comprised of Fazila Amiri, Martin Edralin, and Shonna Foster. “Its beautiful cinematography and rhythmic sound design made a strong impression on the jury, in addition to its urgent call against the erasure of Indigenous culture and memory, and its unique perspective from within the Waura community.”

Best Canadian Short Documentary went to My Body Goes to Work, directed by Fernanda Molina. “In just 12 minutes, Fernanda Molina Perez Diez crafts an intimate and humanizing portrait of a Toronto sex worker, revealing the complexity behind job titles and underscoring the nature of care work in all its forms,” write jurors Amiri, Edralin, and Foster. “Raw and observant, the film left the jury in reflection on the everyday realities of sex work, reframing a life too often reduced to a label.”

Both Replikka and My Body Goes to Work earned $3,000 cash prizes and by virtue of winning at Hot Docs they automatically qualify for Oscar consideration.

Along with the above-mentioned films, these are the Hot Docs awards winners announced on Friday:

The Lindalee Tracey Award, which honors an emerging Canadian filmmaker with a passionate point of view, a strong sense of social justice and a sense of humor, was presented to Özgün Gündüz. The Lindalee Tracey award includes a $5000 cash prize from the Lindalee Tracey Fund, $5000 in-kind voucher from the Picture Shop and a beautifully glass blown sculpture by Andrew Kuntz.

Hot Docs Docs for Schools Student Choice Award is awarded to the documentary that receives the highest rating in the student audience poll was presented to Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride | Canada | 2026 | 90 min). At 16, Nekai Foster was shot while walking home in Toronto’s Jane and Finch neighborhood. His journey of survival and recovery—defying all medical odds as he relearns to walk—exposes how gun violence shapes bodies, families and communities.

The winner will receive a $5,000 cash prize.

Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award is given to a Canadian filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film. The award, which includes a $3,000 cash prize courtesy of the Earl A. Glick Family, was presented to Sébastien Trahan, the director of Code of Misconduct (D: Sébastien Trahan | P: Annie Bourdeau | Canada | 2026 | 88 min). An investigative journalist’s duty to follow the facts leads to the trial of five Canadian professional hockey players charged with sexual assault, unravelling our national pastime and questioning the institutions that hold the sport accountable.

Jury Statement: “For its journalistically rich examination of accountability and power and privilege within Canadian hockey, as well as the film’s amplification of voices calling for justice, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Earl A. Glick Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award to Sébastien Trahan for Code of Misconduct.”

Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary, sponsored by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund, which recognizes the producers of a Hot Docs 2026 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, went to directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim of The Seoul Guardians (D: Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim | P: Sona Jo, Shin Wan Kim | South Korea | 2026 | 71 min).

[Film description]: When martial law was shockingly declared in 2024, the people of Seoul took to the streets to protect their democracy. Driven by memories of past dictatorships, this urgent reportage-style film captures a night of chaos and powerful, collective citizen resistance.

A $10,000 cash prize accompanies the award, supported by the Bill Nemtin Legacy Fund.

Jury Statement: “For a film of great urgency that speaks to the vagaries of political upheaval, the power of protest, and the foundational need for any free society to have an engaged press ready to pursue the truth in all of its messiness and meaningfulness, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Bill Nemtin Award for Best Social Impact Documentary to the film team behind The Seoul Guardians, the directors Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim, and producers Sona Jo and Shin Wan Kim.”

Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award, supported by the R&M Lang Foundation, was awarded to Dawood Hilmandi, director of Paikar (D: Dawood Hilmandi | P: Frank Hoeve, Katja Draaijer | Netherlands | 2025 | 97 min). From exile in Amsterdam, filmmaker Dawood Hilmandi reflects on his family nickname, Paikar, the Persian word for warrior. Returning to Iran to reconcile with his authoritarian father, their journey to Afghanistan during a pandemic transforms a lifetime of displacement into a story of survival.

The award is given to an international filmmaker whose film in competition is their first or second feature-length film, and includes a $3,000 cash prize, courtesy of the R&M Lang Foundation.

Jury statement: For its poetic meditation on transgenerational trauma that evocatively navigates the entanglement of memory, war and exile from a deeply personal perspective—initiating a moving dialogue across a lifetime of displacement, the Jury presents the Hot Docs Emerging International Filmmaker Award to Dawood Hilmandi for Paikar.”

Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize-Canadian Feature Documentary, sponsored by DGC National and DGC Ontario, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the Canadian Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was presented to Ceremony (D: Banchi Hanuse | P: Banchi Hanuse | Canada | 2026 | 84 min). At Nuxalk Radio, a ramshackled station on the edge of the world, an inquiry into the vanished ooligan fish uncovers a chilling history rooted in the attempted erasure of the Nuxalk people and their enduring resilience.

The award comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of DGC National and DGC Ontario.

Jury Statement: “For this film’s poignant look at Indigenous resistance and reclamation of past-traditions, illustrating a community grappling to resuscitate unceded lands, all while showing how the actions of a Nation foster healing by respecting what came before while working towards a better future, the Hot Docs DGC Special Jury Prize for Canadian Feature goes to Banchi Hanuse’s Ceremony.”

Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary, in memory of long time Hot Docs supporter Joan VanDuzer, is awarded to a feature-length documentary in the International Spectrum Competition program that the jury feels is deserving of special recognition and was given to The 49th Year (D: Heidrun Holzfeind | P: Heidrun Holzfeind | Austria, Germany, Japan | 2026 | 88 min). Through thoughtful letters from prison, an anarchist incarcerated since 1980 reflects on his radical past. This meditative portrait pairs humane narration with contemporary Japanese landscapes, exploring the quiet tensions between aging, political militancy and time itself.

Hot Docs is pleased to present the winner with a $5,000 cash prize, in memory of Joan VanDuzer.

Jury statement: “For its astute view on political ideologies and its meditative exploration of the true costs of radical action beyond isolated moments of protest and conventional electoral politics—and the ways in which periods of dissent can fade into enforced consensus, the jury recognizes Heidrun Holzfeind’s elegiac yet piercing attention to one man and the echoes of his resistance with the Hot Docs Joan VanDuzer Special Jury Prize-International Feature Documentary.”

Canadian producer Jennifer Holness received the Hot Docs Don Haig Award, announced earlier in the Festival. 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, and comes with a $5,000 cash prize, courtesy of the Don Haig Foundation.