Nathalie Bibeau's The Walrus and the Whistleblower, about a former trainer at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario-turned-whistleblower, on Sunday picked up the top Audience Award at the Hot Docs Canadian International Film Festival, which was forced online this year by the coronavirus pandemic.
The first runner-up was Elizabeth St. Philip's 9/11 Kids, which follows 16 students now in their 20s and who were in the room with President George W.
Bush when he was told about the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. And the second runner-up is David France's Welcome to Chechnya documentary for HBO about activists confronting Russian leader Ramzan Kadyrov's anti-gay purges.