Filmmaker Richard Leacock to be Honored at Hot Docs

January 15, 2008 World Screen

TORONTO, January 15: Hot Docs’ board of directors has selected
filmmaker Richard Leacock as the recipient of this year’s Outstanding
Achievement Award, which will be presented at the Hot Docs Awards Presentation
on Friday, April 25, at the Isabel Bader Theater.

As part of the honor, a retrospective celebrating Leacock’s
career will be screened during the 15th annual Hot Docs Canadian
International Documentary Festival, taking place April 17-27.

Leacock made his first film at the age of 14, and now joins
the ranks of past Hot Docs Outstanding Achievement Award recipients Heddy
Honigmann (2007), Werner Herzog (2006), Errol Morris (2005), Michael Maclear
(2004), Nick Broomfield (2003), Frederick Wiseman (2002), D. A. Pennebaker and
Chris Hegedus (2000) and Albert Maysles (1999).

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“As a pioneering filmmaker, Richard Leacock has made an
essential contribution to the documentary form,” said Hot Docs’ director of
programming, Sean Farnel. “And, as an inspiring teacher, that contribution has
been extended to new generations of filmmakers, including those to whom we look
forward to introducing this remarkable man at Hot Docs 2008.”

The festival will also pay tribute to documentary-filmmaker
Jennifer Baichwal, with this year’s Focus On retrospective, an annual program
showcasing the work of a mid-career Canadian filmmaker. Baichwal won an
International Emmy in 1999 for Best Arts Documentary for her first feature doc,
Let it Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles,
and has gone on to garner numerous other awards and accolades.

Furthermore, the Doc Mogul Award—which is given to an
individual who has made an essential contribution to the creative livelihood of
the industry, both in their country and abroad—will be presented to the
BBC’s Nick Fraser. Fraser has been the commissioning editor of the BBC’s Storyville since it started in 1997, and, aside from his work
as an editor, has also served as a reporter and television producer, in
addition to having several books published.

—By Kristin Brzoznowski