2026 Top 20 Audience Favourites & Rogers Award Winner

On Sunday, May 3, the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary, which recognizes the top Canadian feature as determined by audience poll with a cash prize of CAD 50,000, courtesy of Rogers was announced at a free encore screening at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.

The Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary winner is Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride, David Paperny).

Hot Docs Audience Awards

At the close of the Festival, it was determined that American Doctor (D: Poh Si Teng | P: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad) placed first in the overall audience poll, winning the Hot Docs Audience Award. The top short film was Sanyi the Rooster (D: Lotte Salomons | P: Kes Raven, Raphael Hogers, Nova Nagel).

1. American Doctor (D: Poh Si Teng | P: Poh Si Teng, Kirstine Barfod, Reem Haddad)

2. Steal This Story, Please! (D: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin | P: Carl Deal, Tia Lessin, Karen Ranucci, Diana Cohn, Caren Spruch)

3. A Fox Under a Pink Moon (D: Mehrdad Oskouei, Soraya Akhalaghi | P: Mehrdad Oskouei)

4. 32 Meters (D: Morteza Atabaki | P: Morteza Atabaki, Murat Ones)

5. Nekai Walks (D: Rico King | P: David Mcilvride, David Paperny)

6. Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions (D: Michelle Mama | P: Bill Taylor, Allison Grace)

7. Black Zombie (D: Maya Annik Bedward | P: Maya Annik Bedward, Kate Fraser, Hannah Donegan)

8. The Ballad of Judas Priest (D: Tom Morello, Sam Dunn | P: Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn)

9. The Seoul Guardians (D: Chul Young Cho, Shin Wan Kim, Jong Woo Kim | P: Sona Jo, Shin Wan Kim)

10. When a Witness Recants (D: Dawn Porter | P: Dawn Porter, Jennifer Oko, Miriam Weintraub)

11. Traces (D: Alisa Kovalenko, Marysia Nikitiuk | P: Olha Bregman, Natalia Libet, Violetta Kaminska, Izabela Wójcik, Dariusz Jablonski)

12. Sanyi the Rooster (D: Lotte Salomons | P: Kes Raven, Raphael Hogers, Nova Nagel)

13. təm kʷaθ nan Namesake (D: Evan Adams, Eileen Francis | P: Peg Campbell)

14. Code of Misconduct (D: Sébastien Trahan | P: Annie Bourdeau)

15. Aanikoobijigan [ancestor/great-grandparent/great-grandchild] (D: Zachary Khalil, Adam Khalil | P: Steve Holmgren)

16. Ceremony (D/P: Banchi Hanuse)

17. Birds of War (D: Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak | P: Sonja Henrici, Janay Boulos, Abd Alkader Habak)

18. Baby Jackfruit Baby Guava (D: Nhật Quang Nông | P: Trang Đào Thị Minh, Sarah Kang, Heejung Oh)

19. To Hold a Mountain (D: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazic | P: Biljana Tutorov, Petar Glomazic, Quentin Laurent, Rok Bicek)

20. Stories for Sandro (D: Giacomo Boeri | P: Giacomo Boeri, Domenico Procacci)