Today the recipients for this year’s Canwest-Hot Docs funding were announced and what makes this especially exciting is that the Documentary Blog’s own head honcho Jay Cheel’s first feature documentary Beauty Day was among those chosen.

For those that don’t know about the film yet the synopsis is below:

Before there was Tom Green…before there was Jackass…there was Ralph Zavadil.

His cable access television show, The Cap’n Video Show, ran from 1990 to 1995, spawning a small but loyal cult following. Each week, Ralph performed a series of idiotic and occasionally dangerous stunts, challenging the sensibilities of Southern Ontario audiences for five seasons. With the advent of the Internet and reality television only years away, his unique brand of gross-out stunt comedy was truly ahead of its time.

All it took was a broken neck for him to get noticed.

Huge congratulations to Jay from our tiny team at the Documentary Blog and you can follow the progress of the film at its official website and at facebook and twitter.

Full list of recipients after the jump.

2010 Recipients

Round Five: Canwest-Hot Docs Completion Fund

Eligible projects were considered by the Canwest-Hot Docs Completion Fund Selection Committee, which included Lynne Carter, Production Executive-Factual Content, Canwest Media Inc.; Sean Farnel, Director of Programming, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival; and Aynsley Vogel, Head of Creative – Factual, Paperny Films. Six completion grants totalling $182,000 were awarded to the following projects:

AT NIGHT, THEY DANCE
Producer: Lucie Lambert
Directors: Stéphane Thibault, Isabelle Lavigne
Production Company: Les films du tricycle
An observational portrait of a family of belly dancers in a working-class district of Cairo by award-winning filmmakers Stéphane Thibault and Isabelle Lavigne.

BEAUTY DAY
Producers: Michael McMahon, Kevin McMahon, Kristina McLaughlin
Director: Jay Cheel
Production Company: Primitive Entertainment
A very funny and moving personal history of one-time cable television star Ralph Zavadil, St. Catherine’s own Cap’n Video.

CUDA
Producer and Director: Jeremy Torrie
Production Company: High Definition Pictures Inc.
A Canadian soldier faces trials and tribulations when attempting to restore the classic muscle car of his deceased platoon buddy.

FAMILY PORTRAIT IN BLACK AND WHITE
Producer: Boris Ivanov
Director: Julia Ivanova
Production Company: Family Portrait Productions Inc.
Olga Nenya is raising 16 black children in Ukraine, where 99.9% of the population is white.

RECESSIONIZE! FOR FUN AND PROFIT!
Producer and Director: Jamie Kastner
Production Company: Cave 7 Productions Inc.
Jamie Kastner is our host for an international survey of inspirational and instructional tales from people finding creative ways to weather the economic storm.

RON HYNES – MAN OF A THOUSAND SONGS
Producers: Terry Greenlaw, Jordan Canning
Director: William D. MacGillivray
Production Company: Primitive Thunder Productions Ltd. (Picture Plant Ltd.)
A visceral profile of iconic singer-songwriter Ron Hynes, said to have provided the soundtrack for a generation of Newfoundlanders.

Round Five: Canwest-Hot Docs Development Fund

Eligible projects were considered by the Canwest-Hot Docs Development Fund Selection Committee, which included Ric Bienstock, Producer/Director/Writer, Associated Producers Ltd.; Sean Farnel, Director of Programming, Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival, and Samantha Linton, Director, Factual Content, Canwest Media Inc. Six no-interest loans totalling $69,000 were awarded to the following projects:

THE ART OF AFFLICTION
Producer: Mary Barroll
Production Company: Mbmedia Productions Inc.
An exploration of the historical connections between art and illness.

A HISTORY OF BATTLE FATIGUE
Producers: Michael McMahon, Kristina McLaughlin, Alan Zweig
Director: Alan Zweig
Production Company: Primitive Entertainment
A point-of-view essay on post traumatic stress disorder as something we do to our own soldiers.

LOST HIGHWAY
Producers and Directors: Derreck Roemer and Neil Graham
Production Company: Insurgent Projects Inc.
The stories of people living and working along a once prosperous but now desolate stretch of Ontario’s Highway 7.

PAINTING BY NUMBER$
Producer: Jeannette Loakman
Director: Brenda Kovrig
Production Company: Chaser Films
An exploration of the world of corporate art.

RISE UP
Producer: Deborah Parks
Director: Shelley Saywell
Production Company: Bishari Films
Follows Lorraine Segato’s efforts to organize a concert featuring homeless performers.

SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRES
Producer: Ed Barreveld
Director: Rama Rau
Production Company: Storyline Entertainment
A look inside the lives of actual millionaires living in Mumbai’s Dharavi slum.

Details of the Canwest-Hot Docs fund can be found here.