Haana Edenshaw tosses feathers during the blessing of the Gwaii Haanas legacy totem pole before being raised in Windy Bay, B.C., in Haida Gwaii, on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck)
TORONTO — A film about the aboriginal rights activists, ecologists and locals who have worked together to rejuvenate British Columbia’s Haida Gwaii has won the best Canadian feature documentary award from the Hot Docs Festival.
Director Charles Wilkinson’s “Haida Gwaii: On the Edge of the World” claimed the $10,000 prize as the jury praised its “stunning cinematography.”
A $5,000 special jury prize went to Sophie Deraspe’s “The Amina Profile.”
And the emerging Canadian filmmaker award went to director Ryan Mullins, whose “Chameleon” concerns a Ghanaian journalist famous for his unique methods.
Meanwhile, the first-ever Hot Docs short film pitch contest awarded a first place prize of $30,000 to “Cree Code Talker,” pitched by Alexandra Lazarowich and Cowboy Smithx of Edmonton. It’s about Second World War code talker Charles (Checker) Tomkins, who used the Cree language to help Allied forces.
