By John Corrado

The 2022 edition of Hot Docs has officially come to a close, with the Top 20 finalists for the festival’s Audience Award being announced this morning. Director Jason Loftus’ documentary about Chinese censorship, Eternal Spring, has taken the first place spot for the general Audience Award, in addition to winning the Rogers Audience Award for Best Canadian Documentary.

The top three finalists for the Rogers Audience Award, which were announced at a free encore screening last night, were Eternal Spring in first place, Okay! (The ASD Band Film) in second place, and Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children in third. The three films received a $50,000 cash prize split between them ($25,000 for first place, $15,000 for second, and $10,000 for third). The full list of finalists is below.

1. Eternal Spring (D: Jason Loftus | P: Jason Loftus, Masha Loftus, Yvan Pinard, Kevin Koo | Canada)

2. Okay! (The ASD Band Film) (D: Mark Bone | P: Gregory Rosati, Amalie Bruun | Canada)

3. Unloved: Huronia’s Forgotten Children (D: Barri Cohen | P: Craig Baines | Canada)

4. Beautiful Scars (D: Shane Belcourt | P: Corey Russell | Canada)

5. The Smell of Money (D: Shawn Bannon | P: Shawn Bannon, Jamie Berger | USA)

6. Navalny (D: Daniel Roher | P: Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, Shane Boris | USA)

7. Handle with Care: The Legend of the Notic Streetball Crew (D: Jeremy Schaulin-Rioux, Kirk Thomas | P: Ryan Sidhoo | Canada)

8. Hunting in Packs (D: Chloe Sosa-Sims | P: Hannah Donegan, Ann Shin | Canada)

9. The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks (D: Reg Harkema | P: Nick McKinney, Kim Creelman | Canada, USA)

10. Batata (D: Noura Kevorkian | P: Paul Scherzer, Noura Kevorkian | Canada, Lebanon, Qatar)

11. Returning Home (D: Sean Stiller | P: Andrew Lovesey, Gilles Gagnier | Canada)

12. The Quiet Epidemic (D: Lindsay Keys, Winslow Crane-Murdoch | P: Daria Lombroso, Lindsay Keys, Chris Hegedus | USA)

13. Category: Woman (D: Phyllis Ellis | P: Phyllis Ellis, Howard Fraiberg | Canada)

14. In the Eye of the Storm: The Political Odyssey of Yanis Varoufakis (D: Raoul Martinez | P: Sol Tryon, Amir Amirani | UK)

15. How Saba Kept Singing (D: Sara Taksler | P: Sara Taksler | USA)

16. The Unsolved Murder of Beverly Lynn Smith (D: Nathalie Bibeau | P: Tara Jan | Canada | 2022)

17. Dad Can Dance (D: Jamie Ross | P: Jamie Ross | Canada)

18. Who We Will Have Been (D: Erec Brehmer, Angelina Zeidler | P: Erec Brehmer | Germany)

19. Alis (D: Nicolas van Hemelryck, Clare Weiskopf | P: Alexandra Galvis, Radu Stancu, Nicolas van Hemelryck, Clare Weiskopf | Colombia, Romania, Chile)

20. Relative (D: Tracey Arcabasso Smith | P: Tracey Arcabasso Smith, Laura Poitras, Jenya James Hamidi | USA)