12 awards announced at Hot Docs film festival for documentaries in Toronto

TORONTO – Twelve awards and $85,000 in cash and prizes have been presented to Canadian and international filmmakers at the Hot Docs festival in Toronto.

The Best Canadian Feature Documentary Award went Friday to “A Little Wisdom,” which explores an isolated Buddhist monastery in Nepal through the eyes of a rambunctious five-year-old novice.

The Special Jury Prize — Canadian Feature Documentary was presented to “What Walaa Wants,” about a young woman named Walaa who sets her sights on becoming one of the few women to join the Palestinian Security Forces.

“Transformer,” which tells the story of a father, ex-marine and world-record powerlifter who goes through a sex change, won the Emerging Canadian Filmmaker Award for Michael Del Monte.

The Special Jury Prize — International Feature Documentary was awarded to two documentaries, “Whispering Truth to Power” and “Wind of Swabia.”

The $50,000 award for Best Canadian Documentary is to be announced on Sunday and the top 10 favourite audience films of the 2018 festival will be released Monday.