At the Rockie Awards gala at the Banff World Media Festival on Tuesday night, HBO’s “The Last of Us,” from creators Craig Mazin and Neil Druckmann, was voted programme of the year.
At the 44th Banff World Media Festival, HBO‘s ‘The Last of Us’ won programme of the year. The series received a prize at the 2024 Rockie Award Gala on Tuesday night, along with honours for other people, things, media, etc. The occasion takes place every year in the Canadian Rockies’ Banff, Alberta.
The Rockie Award ceremony
The widely touted programme of the year prize went to “The Last of Us.” The post-apocalyptic hit’s first season was filmed in Alberta. The highest-scoring piece in the Rockies programme, Eternal Spring, a Canadian documentary by Jason Loftus, won the Grand Jury Prize.
As he won a prize for the animated documentary about Falun Gong practitioners who are being persecuted in China for their activism, Loftus remarked that the video is the culmination of a lot of work they have done in relation to human rights in China.
The Star Trek franchise won the Buffalo Rock Award for its enduring appeal to fans throughout the world.
The Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award was given to Craig Robinson, an actor and producer with credits on shows like “The Office,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “Killing It.” Robinson also presided over the festival’s main awards ceremony.
Rockie Awards acknowledge social change
The Hollywood Reporter’s Impact Award ceremony, which Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato earned, served as an emotional high point for the Rockies. Giving nearly 600 of the top drag queens in the world a global platform, as THR editorial director Nekesa Mumbi Moody stated when presenting Bailey and Barbato, is only part of their television triumph.
Barbato highlighted recent anti-drag performance legislation in numerous states when he said at the Rockie Awards that some people still harbour a fear of drag and continue to attempt to portray drag as a threat. He also mentioned that MTV and RuPaul’s Drag Race backed the Drag Defence Fund alongside the American Civil Liberties Union to aid in the fight for LGBTQ rights.
After receiving more cheers, Barbato said that they had nearly reached their goal of $1.5 million and asked those present at Banff to contribute. Party Monster, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, Pam: Girl on the Loose, Being Chaz, Tori & Dean: Inn Love, #CandidlyNicole, I Am Britney Jean, and Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes are just a few of the films Bailey and Barbato have worked on over the past three decades.
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills actress Garcelle Beauvais, a veteran of film and television, received the Inclusion Award at the Rockies. Before reliving her early years in Haiti, Beauvais noted that she wanted to say that the trip to get here had been amazing.
Rockie career achievement award
Alanis Obomsawin, a Canadian Indigenous director whose works include “Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance,” “Rocks at Whisky Trench,” and “The People of the Kattawapiskak River,” received a career achievement award.
Regarding the Canadian government’s ongoing reconciliation efforts with its First Nation peoples, the 90-year-old filmmaker remarked that they must let them know they are grateful for what is happening and that they must continue. After earning a standing ovation from the festival attendees, he continued by stating that he loves his nation.
Sphere Media, the producer of Sort of, won the Innovative Producer prize, while Irish actress-showrunner Sharon Horgan was given the prize for excellence.
In addition, Elza Kephart of Midnight Kingdom Films was designated the inaugural winner of the Jean-Marc Vallée bursary in honour of the late Canadian filmmaker of Dallas Buyers Club and Big Little Lies by the festival, the Directors Guild of Canada, and Warner Bros. Discovery Access Canada.
