Awards

The DOXA award winners are selected on the basis of three major criteria: success and innovation in the realization of the project’s concept; originality and relevance of subject matter and approach; and overall artistic and technical proficiency.
DOXA is very happy to welcome an outstanding group of filmmakers, film critics and industry professionals to the Award Juries this year. Jury members meet during the course of the festival to choose the winning films, as well as award honourable mentions to selected films.
Feature Documentary Award
$1500 Award
Films In Competition
- Anhell69 (dir. Theo Montoya)
- Cheenee (dir. Andreas Antonopoulos)
- Fragments from Heaven (dir. Adnane Baraka)
- The Golden Thread (dir. Nishtha Jain)
- Silent House (dir. Farnaz Jurabchian and Mohammadreza Jurabchian)
- La Singla (dir. Paloma Zapata)
- North Circular (dir. Luke McManus)
- We Will Not Fade Away (dir. Alisa Kovalenko)
- Notes on Displacement (dir. Khaled Jarrar)
- You Were My First Boyfriend (dir. Cecilia Aldarondo and Sarah Enid Hagey)
Colin Low Award for Best Canadian Director
$5000 Award presented by the Directors Guild of Canada (DGC)
In Competition
- Big Fight in Little Chinatown) Karen Cho (
- Khoa Lê (Má Sài Gòn)
- Kaveh Nabatian (Kite Zo A)
- Rodrigue Jean and Arnaud Valade (2012/Through The Heart)
- Sean Horlor and Steve J. Adams (Satan Wants You)
- Terra Long (Feet in Water, Head on Fire)
- Dominique Chaumont (Veranada)
- Geneviève Dulude-DeCelles (Days)
DOXA Short Documentary Award
$500 Award
Films In Competition
- Tiny (dir. Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché)
- Le Roi n'est pas mon cousin (dir. Annabelle Aventurin)
- What They Left Behind 他們所留下的記憶 (dir. Vicky Xingyu Gu)
- Madeleine (dir. Raquel Sancinetti)
- lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw (dir. Dianne Ouellette)
- Chinatown 2050 (dir. Linda Zhang and Maxim Gertler-Jaffe)
- Zug Island (dir. Nicolas Lachapelle)
- Sister Mother Lover Child (dir. Nadia Shihab)
- My Body Is A Poem/The World Makes With Me (dir. Brandon Wint)
- Mulika (dir. Maisha Maene)
- When We Fight (dir. Yael Bridge and Yoni Golijov)
- BLUSH - An Extraordinary Voyage (dir. Iiti Yli-Harja)
Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming
$1500 Award
DOXA is extremely proud to present the Nigel Moore Award for Youth Programming, first launched in 2013. Named in memory of Nigel Moore, a young man whose passion for knowledge, exploration and advocacy found a home in his love for documentary film.
For younger audiences, documentary has particular relevance. The world in which they’re growing up is an increasingly complex place. Documentary not only captures this complexity, but also has the capacity to act as a catalyst for social change, and fundamentally alter people’s behaviour.
Films in Competition
- King Coal (dir. Elaine McMillion Sheldon)
- Kaatohkitopii: The Horse He Never Rode (dir. Trevor Solway)
- When We Fight (dir. Yael Bridge and Yoni Golijov)
- Muanapoto (dir. Chriss Itoua)
- Coming Around (dir. Sandra Itäinen)
- We Will Not Fade Away (dir. Alisa Kovalenko)
The award will be adjudicated by a youth jury, who will choose the film that best exemplifies the qualities of compassion, social engagement and spirit in which Nigel lived.
Elevate Award
$2,500 award presented by Elevate Inclusion Strategies
The Elevate Award celebrates outstanding work by a filmmaker from an equity-deserving community. Filmmakers with lived experience outside the white, cis-hetero, neurotypical and able-bodied “norm” face barriers to success in the documentary industry—the Elevate Award amplifies their excellence.
In competition:
- Vicky Xingyu Gu (What They Left Behind)
- Ali Grant (Not Quite That)
- Maisha Maene (Mulika)
- Chriss Itoua (Muanapoto)
- Ivey-Camille Manybeads Tso (Powerlands)
- Dianne Ouellette (lii bufloo aen loo kishkishiw)
- Damien Ferland (Cubicle Island)
- Ritchie Hemphill and Ryan Haché (Tiny)
- Brandon Wint (My Body Is A Poem/The World Makes With Me)
- Trevor Solway (Kaatohkitopii: The Horse He Never Rode)
- Linda Zhang and Maxim Gertler-Jaffe (Chinatown 2050)
- Khalid Jarrar (Notes on Displacement)