Come See Me in the Good Light Holds Strong in Hot Docs Race

Ryan, we’re going to need more film stills. Come See Me in the Good Light, directed by Ryan White, holds the lead for the fifth consecutive day in the Hot Docs Audience Award race. An infectious tribute to life and love, the warmly funny doc offers a portrait of spoken word artist Andrea Gibson as they try various treatments in the wake of a terminal cancer diagnosis and cherish every moment with partner Megan Falley. The film’s showing of stable numbers proves humorously ironic given the amount of screentime that Gibson and Falley spend examining fluctuating test results. The doc screens again at Hot Docs this weekend.

Moving up in the race is Amber Fares’ Coexistence, My Ass!, which jumped into the top five following its encore screening. The doc similarly tackles complex subject matter with a sense of humour as comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi confronts the Israel-Palestine conflict through a stand-up routine. It has its third screening on Sunday, May 4

On the Canadian front, Hot Docs clarified that the redaction of titles competing for the Rogers Audience Award applies only to Canadian features that have completed their Hot Docs screenings. This clarification means that POV  was incorrect in prior speculation about The Gardener and the Dictator being one of the top contenders, as that doc screens again on Friday night. Canadian features that have completed their festival screenings include Endless Cookie, Siksikakowan: The Blackfoot Man, Casas Muertas, Shifting Baselines, Paul, Ghosts of the Sea, and The Track. The winner of the Rogers Audience Award gets a $50,000 cash prize announced at an encore screening on Sunday at 7:00pm at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema.

 

The Hot Docs Audience Award rankings as of May 1 are:

 

1. Come See Me in the Good Light
2. 9-Month Contract
3. [Canadian feature in competition for Rogers Audience Award]
4. Antidote
5. Coexistence, My Ass!
6. [Canadian feature in competition for Rogers Audience Award]
7. 2000 Meters to Andriivka
8. Mr. Nobody Against Putin
9. [Canadian feature in competition for Rogers Audience Award]
10. [Canadian feature in competition for Rogers Audience Award]
11. Holloway
12. The Last Ambassador
13. [Canadian feature in competition for Rogers Audience Award]
14. Aisha’s Story
15. Widow Champion
16. Writing Hawa
17. [Canadian feature in competition for Rogers Audience Award]
18. Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore
19. Apocalypse in the Tropics
20. Spreadsheet Champions