The Hot Docs Award for Best International Feature Documentary is an annual Canadian film award, presented by the Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival to the film selected by jury members as the year's best international feature film in the festival program. The award was presented for the first time in 1998; prior to that year, awards were presented in various genre categories, but no special distinction between Canadian and international films was presented.
The award jury also presents a Special Jury Prize to a second film besides the primary winner.
The award is an Academy Award qualifying prize, meaning that a winner of the award is automatically eligible to be submitted for Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film consideration.Matthew Carey, "Hot Docs Announces Prizes: Awards Go To ‘I, Poppy,’ ‘River Of Grass,’ ‘Paul,’ ‘Khartoum’ And More". Deadline Hollywood, May 2, 2025.
Winners
Best International Documentary Feature Year Film Filmmaker(s) Ref 1998 In My Father's House Fatima Jebli Ouzzani "World's best documentaries honoured Filmmaker Allan King given first lifetime achievement award at fifth annual Hot Docs!". The Globe and Mail, March 23, 1998. Wasteland (Auf Der Kippe) Andre Schwartz 1999 A Murder in Abidjan (Un crime à Abidjan) Mosco Boucoult Tamsen Tillson, "Canuck hot docs picked". Variety, May 11, 1999. 2000 Godard on TV (Godard à la télé) Michel Royer "Hot Docs presents awards at seventh annual festival: Zyklon Portrait takes best short, editing, humanitarian prizes". National Post, May 8, 2000. Long Night's Journey Into Day Deborah Hoffmann, Frances Reid 2001 Southern Comfort Kate Davis Brenda Bouw, "My Left Breast wins gold award at Hot Docs festival". National Post, May 8, 2001. 100 Per Cent White Leo Regan 2002 All About My Father (Alt om min far) Even Benestad "Hot Docs prize goes to Montreal director". The Globe and Mail, May 7, 2002. 2003 Power Trip Paul Devlin "Hot Docs festival hands out 12 awards". The Globe and Mail, May 6, 2003. 2004 Checkpoint (Machssomim) Yoav Shamir "Hot Docs announces its picks of the year". The Globe and Mail, May 3, 2004. 2005 Street Fight Marshall Curry "Hogtown muckraker digs up prize at Hot Docs". National Post, May 2, 2005. 2006 37 Uses for a Dead Sheep Ben Hopkins "Hot Docs pulls record crowds with 13th fest". Toronto Star, May 9, 2006. 2007 Losers and Winners Ulrike Franke, Michael Loeken "Hot Docs film festival breaks attendance record with 68,000 taking in films". Canadian Press, April 30, 2007. 2008 The English Surgeon Geoffrey Smith "Prizes dished out at 15th annual Hot Docs festival". Alaska Highway News, April 30, 2008. 2009 One Man Village Simon El Habre James Bradshaw, "Davis's Invisible City wins $15,000 Hot Docs prize". The Globe and Mail, May 9, 2009. 2010 A Film Unfinished (Shtikat haArkhion) Yael Hersonski "Propaganda tale wins Hot Docs prize movies; Bin Laden bodyguard film also a winner". Toronto Star, May 9, 2010. 2011 Dragonslayer Tristan Patterson Guy Dixon, "Julia Ivanovna film wins $15,000 Hot Docs prize". The Globe and Mail, May 6, 2011. 2012 Call Me Kuchu Malika Zouhali-Worrall, Katherine Fairfax Wright "‘The World Before Her' wins best Canadian feature at Hot Docs". The Globe and Mail, May 4, 2012. 2013 Dragon Girls (Drachenmädchen) Inigo Westmeier Adam Benzine, "Hot Docs 2013: When I Walk, Dragon Girls, scoop prizes". Playback, May 6, 2013. 2014 Waiting for August Teodora Ana Mihai Paula Bernstein, "Hot Docs 2014 Winners Announced: ‘Out of Mind, Out of Sight’ Wins Best Canadian Feature Documentary". IndieWire, May 3, 2014. 2015 The Closer We Get Karen Guthrie Jennie Punter, "‘The Closer We Get’ Takes Top Award at Hot Docs". Variety, May 1, 2015. 2016 Brothers (Brødre) Aslaug Holm Etan Vlessing, "Hot Docs: Norway’s ‘Brothers’ Doc Diary Takes Top Jury Prize". The Hollywood Reporter, May 6, 2016. 2017 The Other Side of the Wall Pau Ortiz Jordan Pinto, "Rezolution’s Rumble wins Hot Docs audience award". Playback, May 8, 2017. 2018 We Could Be Heroes Hind Bensari Norman Wilner, "Hot Docs 2018: A Little Wisdom, Transformer among award winners". Now, May 5, 2018. 2019 Hope Frozen Pailin Wedel Jennie Punter, "‘We Will Stand Up,’ ‘Hope Frozen’ Take Top Prizes at Hot Docs". Variety, May 4, 2019. 2020 Stray Elizabeth Lo Norman Wilner, "Prayer For A Lost Mitten, Stray win top awards at Hot Docs 2020". Now, May 19, 2020. 2021 Ostrov: Lost Island Svetlana Rodina, Laurent Stoop Kevin Ritchie, "Hot Docs 2021: Zo Reken, One Of Ours claim top prizes". Now, May 7, 2021. 2022 Blue Island Chan Tze-woon Sadaf Ahsan, "Jacquelyn Mills’ ‘Geographies of Solitude’ wins Hot Docs’ best Canadian film award". Toronto Star, May 7, 2022. 2023 The Mountains (Bjergene) Christian Einshøj Etan Vlessing, "Hot Docs Awards: Christian Einshoj’s ‘The Mountains’ Takes Top Jury Prize". The Hollywood Reporter, May 6, 2023. 2024 Farming the Revolution Nishta Jain John Hazelton, "Hot Docs 2024 wraps, Rogers Audience Award for best Canadian doc goes to ‘Yintah’". Screen Daily, May 5, 2024. 2025 I, Poppy Vivek Chaudhary 2026 House of Hope Marjolein Busstra Matthew Carey, "West Bank-Set ‘House Of Hope,’ ‘Saigon Story: Two Shootings In The Forest Kingdom’ Among Big Winners At Hot Docs". Deadline Hollywood, May 1, 2026.
Special Jury Prize Year Film Filmmaker(s) Ref 2005 The Swenkas Jeppe Rønde 2006 My Grandmother's House (La casa de mi abuela) Adán Aliaga 2007 Without the King Michael Skolnik 2008 To See If I'm Smiling Tamar Yarom 2009 Cooking History Peter Kerekes 2010 The Oath Laura Poitras 2011 The Castle (Il Castello) Massimo D'Anolfi, Martina Parenti 2012 The Law in These Parts (Shilton Ha Chok) Ra'anan Alexandrowicz 2013 Cloudy Mountain Zhu Yu 2014 Walking Under Water Eliza Kubarska 2015 The Living Fire (Жива ватра) Ostap Kostyuk 2016 God Knows Where I Am Jedd Wider, Todd Wider 2017 A Cambodian Spring Christopher Kelly 2018 Whispering Truth to Power Shameela Seedat Wind of Swabia Corrado Punzi 2019 For Sama Waad Al-Kateab, Edward Watts 2020 499 Rodrigo Reyes 2021 School of Hope Mohamed El Aboudi 2022 The Wind Blows the Border Laura Faerman, Marina Weis 2023 Name Me Lawand Edward Lovelace 2024 Death of a Saint Patricia Bbaale Bandak 2025 River of Grass Sasha Wortzel 2026 The 49th Year Heidrun Holzfeind
References