"Compassionate, Compelling" French Documentary Wins Global Television
Grand Prize at Banff
Fifteen Countries Represented among Award Winners
(Banff, Alberta, June 11, 2001) A French documentary, La terre
des âmes errantes (The Land of Wandering Souls),
was the big winner at Monday night's Banff Rockie Awards Gala sponsored
by Alliance Atlantis, picking up the $50,000 Global Television Grand
Prize, and the Banff Rockie for Best Social and Political Documentary.
La terre des âmes errantes, produced by La Sept ARTE
/ INA, documents the laying of the first fibre-optic cable across
Cambodia, juxtaposing the history and lives of the workers and the
Cambodian people, with the arrival of an "information superhighway"
among people who struggle for the bare necessities of life.
Jury President Micheline Lanctôt called it "a compassionate
and compelling story of Cambodian peasants digging trenches to lay
an optical fibre cable. This beautifully understated work chronicles
without pathos the wretched destitution of the workers who, as they
dig to feed their families, also dig through layers of Cambodia's
history."
The $25,000 NHK President's Prize went to the international coproduction
Wild Asia: Creatures of the Thaw, from Japan, New Zealand,
the USA and Germany. The program tells the story of the fascinating
creatures who live in northeast Asia, which is covered by ice and
snow for half the year. It was thought to be exemplary in its use
of the techniques of high-definition television to enhance the impact
of a natural history subject.
The Banff Rockie Awards were presented in 14 categories, including
the Social & Political Documentary category. The seven-member
international jury chose to recognize three additional programs
for Special Jury Prizes, which are the equivalent of the category
awards.
British programs won in four categories: Yoho Ahoy: Buzz with
Jones, from The Consortium of Gentlemen for the BBC, was named
Best Animation Program. My Parents Are Aliens: The Family Way,
from Granada Media, was Best Children's Program. The Best Comedy
Award went to Human Remains - An English Squeak (Baby Cow
for BBC). And Granada won the Best Short Drama prize for I Saw You.
American producers and broadcasters took home four awards, two
for documentaries and two for dramas. Greener Grass - Cuba, Baseball
and the United States, from Thirteen-WNET/Bright Pictures Inc.
and Mosaic Films, won the Banff Rockie for Best Sports Program,
and the US-France coproduction Napoléon was named
Best History and Biography Program. The Home Box Office phenomenon
The Sopranos won its second consecutive Banff Rockie Award for Best
Continuing Series, and the unusual television movie, Bash - Latterday
Plays, from Steven Pevner Inc., picked up a Special Jury Award.
Australian productions won two Banff Rockie Awards in two of the
Festival's most competitive categories. David Curl's Silhouettes
of the Desert was Best Popular Science and Natural History Program,
and Waiting at the Royal, from Apollo Films in association
with Artist Services, was Best Made-for-TV Movie.
Soldiers by Moonlight, a coproduction from Sweden and Finland,
won the Banff Rockie Award for Best Mini-Series; Sweden, Germany,
Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium and Finland were all involved
in The Gold Rush, a sports documentary that was honored with
a Special Jury Award. Another multinational coproduction, Kurt
Gerron's Karussell, from Germany, the Netherlands, the Czech
Republic and France, won the prize for Best Arts Documentary. The
Netherlands picked up another major award when Peter Greenaway's
Rosa - The Death of a Composer, a Dutch/British coproduction,
was named Best Performance Program.
Canada and Italy were also honoured with Banff Rockie Awards. Cinéma
Vérité - Defining the Moment, from the National
Film Board, was a strong contender in the Arts Documentary category
and was awarded a Special Jury Prize. Report: State Hypocrisy,
from RAI, was hailed as Best Information Program.
In addition to the Banff Rockie Awards and the NHK President's
Prize, two cash awards worth $20,000 each in development funding
were also presented. The Telefilm Canada Prize for best independent
Canadian production in English went to The Four Seasons,
a television ballet from Rhombus Media/Veronica Tennant Productions
in association with companies in the UK, the USA, Japan, and Switzerland.
The highly regarded Continuing Series 2 Frères, from
Cirrus Communications / Sphère Média-Plus, won the
Telefilm Canada Prize for best independent Canadian production in
French.
There were 86 nominees for the 22nd Banff Rockie Awards, selected
from a record 1,030 programs entered in the international competition.
Banff Rockie Award Winners 2001
GLOBAL TELEVISION GRAND PRIZE
La terre des âmes errantes
La Sept ARTE/INA
France
ANIMATION PROGRAMS / ÉMISSIONS D'ANIMATION
Sponsored by: TELETOON Canada Inc.
Yoho Ahoy: Buzz with Jones
The Consortium of Gentlemen for BBC
UK
ARTS DOCUMENTARIES / DOCUMENTAIRES SUR LES ARTS
Sponsored by: TV5
Kurt Gerron's Karussell
TV Ventures in association with Nederlands Filmmuseum/Studio No.
1 Praha/ARTE/SFB
Germany, Netherlands, Czech Republic, France
CHILDREN'S PROGRAMS / ÉMISSIONS POUR ENFANTS
Sponsored by: Shaw Children's Programming Initiative / Initiative
de programmation pour enfants
My Parents Are Aliens: The Family Way
Granada Media Children's
UK
COMEDIES / COMÉDIES
Sponsored by: Fuji Photo Film Canada Inc.
Human Remains - Series A: An English Squeak
Baby Cow for BBC
UK
CONTINUING SERIES / SÉRIES DRAMATIQUES
Sponsored by: Independent Production Fund / Fonds indépendant
de production
The Sopranos: Episode 28
Home Box Office
USA
HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY PROGRAMS / ÉMISSIONS HISTORIQUES
ET BIOGRAHIQUES
Sponsored by: History Television
Napoléon: Parts 3 & 4
David Grubin Productions in association with PBS/Docstar/Devillier
Donegan Enterprises
USA, France
INFORMATION PROGRAMS / ÉMISSIONS D'INFORMATIONS
Sponsored by: Sony of Canada Ltd.
Report: State Hypocrisy
Radiotelevisione Italiana
Italy
MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES / TÉLÉFILMS
Sponsored by: A-Channel
Waiting at the Royal
Apollo Films in association with Artist Services
Australia
MINI-SERIES / MINI-SÉRIES
Sponsored by: Information and Communications Technologies Department,
Southern Alberta Institute of Technology
Soldiers by Moonlight
SVT/YLE/FST(Finland)
Sweden, Finland
PERFORMANCE PROGRAMS / ÉMISSIONS SUR LES ARTS D'INTERPRÉTATION
Sponsored by: CHUM Television/BRAVO!
Rosa - The Death of a Composer
NPS/DNO/NVC Arts
Netherlands, UK
POPULAR SCIENCE & NATURAL HISTORY PROGRAMS /
ÉMISSIONS SUR LA NATURE ET LES SCIENCES
Sponsored by: Canal+
Silhouettes of the Desert
David Curl Pty. Ltd.
Australia
SHORT DRAMAS / COURTS MÉTRAGES
Sponsored by: Jet Stream Digital Media Inc.
I Saw You
Granada Television
UK
SOCIAL & POLITICAL DOCUMENTARIES / DOCUMENTAIRES SOCIAUX
OU POLITIQUES
Sponsored by: National Film Board of Canada
La terre des âmes errantes
La Sept ARTE/INA
France
SPORTS PROGRAMS / ÉMISSIONS DE SPORTS
Sponsored by: Columbia Mountain Shops Inc.
Greener Grass - Cuba, Baseball and the United States
Thirteen-WNET/Bright Pictures Inc./Mosaic Films
USA
NHK PRESIDENT'S PRIZE
Wild Asia: Creatures of the Thaw
NHK/Natural History New Zealand Limited/Discovery Channel in association
with NDR Naturfilm Studios Hamburg Fernseh Allianz
Japan, New Zealand, USA, Germany
SPECIAL JURY AWARDS
Bash - Latterday Plays
Steven Pevner Inc.
USA
The Gold Rush: Parts 1, 2 & 3
Genibild for Sveriges Television/EBU in association with ZDF/NRK/DR/RTE/VRT/YLE
Sweden, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Ireland, Belgium, Finland
Cinéma Vérité - Defining the Moment
National Film Board of Canada
Canada
THE TELEFILM CANADA PRIZES
BEST INDEPENDENT CANADIAN PRODUCTION IN ENGLISH
The Four Seasons
Rhombus Media/Veronica Tennant Productions in
Assoc. with CBC/BBC/Bravo!NHK/SF
DRS/RSR/TSI
Canada, UK, USA, Japan, Switzerland
BEST INDEPENDENT CANADIAN PRODUCTION IN FRENCH
2 Frères: Épisode 9
Cirrus Communications / Sphère Media Plus
(Productions deux frères inc)
Canada
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