Canada has put forward a strong showing in this year’s Rockie nominations: of the 84 Rockie nominees drawn from around the world, nine are Canadian.

Competition officials sifted through more than 1,000 international entries to arrive at the final 84. This representation is just slightly down from last year’s count of 10 out of 81.

The u.s. received the most nominations with 34 for productions or coprods, followed by the u.k. with 27 and Germany as a distant third with 14.

Entries are drawn from countries as diverse as Iran, Iceland and Israel.

In three categories, two Canadian productions compete against each other: in the mow section, The Sheldon Kennedy Story (from Sarrazin-Couture Productions and Bradshaw MacLeod and Associates) and Albertine, En Cinq Temps (from Les Productions Sogestalt in collaboration with Espace Go/Radio-Canada) go head to head; in the section for children’s programs Independent Moving Pictures’ The Dinosaur Hunter and Telefiction Productions’ Cornmuse II compete; and in the animation programs category, short When the Day Breaks from the National Film Board competes with an episode of children’s series Crashbox (Planet Grande Pictures/Cuppa Coffee Animation/hbo Family), also nominated last year, for honors.

Other Canadian entries on the slate are Zone Libre: L’Insoutenable condition des Kurdes in the information programs category, ‘Sanctuary,’ an episode from anthology series The Hunger II in the short dramas slot and Through a Blue Lens in the social and political documentaries area.

Winners are to be announced on June 12 as part of the Banff Television Festival.

Beginning below and continuing to p. B15 we take a closer look at some of the Canadian entries.

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