Banff: Non-Fiction Rockies awarded to BBC, CBC, MTV

June 14, 2011 by Kelly Anderson

remote control war

The Banff World Media Festival’s Non-Fiction Rockies were given out last night at a ceremony hosted by home improvement guru Mike Holmes, with winners including the BBC, Channel 4, CBC and MTV Networks.

Best reality program went to CBC’s Dragon’s Den, while kudos for the best documentary-style reality program went to World of Jenks, accepted by MTV’s Brent Haynes, SVP of series development for the East Coast.

“I met this extraordinary man named Andrew Jenks… he was going to live with people and crazy shit was going to go down. It turned into a poignant series, thanks to Andrew,” Haynes said.

The lifestyle information program winner was Channel 4′s Heston’s Feast, while the Rockie for the best arts and performing arts program went to Vincent Van Gogh Painted with Words.

Accepting the award was Jana Bennett, BBC Worldwide’s president for worldwide networks and global iPlayer, who gave praise to Benedict Cumberbatch, who played Van Gogh in the docu-drama .

For unscripted programming for the younger set, the children’s non-fiction program award went to A Family is a Family Is a Family: A Rosie O’Donnell Celebration, while the youth programs award went to TeenNick HALO Awards 2010.

Canadian entry Architects of Change – To Innovate is to Imitate picked up the environmental programs prize, while Human Planet‘s episode ”Deserts: Life in the Furnace” was named the wildlife and natural history program winner. The award was accepted again by Bennett.

The former director of BBC Vision appeared again to accept Rockies for Wonders of the Solar System: Empire of the Sun, which won for popular science and technology programs; and also for the investigative and current affairs programs win for Zimbabwe’s Forgotten Children, giving credit to the producers for shining the spotlight on a difficult subject.

The political documentary award winner was Remote Control War from Zoot Pictures for the CBC (also a realscreen MIPTV 2011 Pick) while the social and humanitarian documentary award went to Australia’s Living the End.

As for the final awards for the evening, the acclaimed HBO doc Sergio took the prize for history and biography program, while the Francophone documentaires award went to Tchernobyl, une histoire naturelle?, which aired on ARTE France.

Tags: Banff World Media Festival, Dragons' Den, Human Planet, Remote Control War