American and British programs dominated the 21st Banff Rockie Awards ceremony, held during a gala presentation capping a day of awards launching the Banff Television Festival, June 12-16. But Canada stood tall among nominees for Best Animation Program with the Rockie going to the nfb’s When the Day Breaks – the only Canadian winner (among the nine Canadian nominees).

A tri-nation coproduction chronicling the horror of the massacre of 7,000 Muslim refugees in Srebrenica won the Air Canada Grand Prize and A Cry from the Grave, produced by Antelope/ BBC/Thirteen-WNET and Ryninks Films as a British/American/Dutch coproduction, triumphed in a field of 84 nominees for the festival’s top prize. The documentary also captured honors in the category for Best History and Biography Program.

Also at the awards, Telefilm Canada presented two prizes, each worth $20,000 in development funding for the winning producer. Telefilm gave the Best Independent Canadian Production in French to Albertine, en cinq temps from Les Productions Sogestalt and Espeace Go/Radio-Canada. For Best Independent Canadian Production in English, Telefilm recognized The Sheldon Kennedy Story from Sarrazin Couture Productions/Bradshaw, MacLeod & Associates.

On the final day of the Banff festival, Vancouver’s Insight Film & Video Productions won the us$15,000 HDTV Development prize for The True Mystery of Easter Island. Patrick Corbett and Leigh Badgley pitched the project the day before to judges representing nhk, Electronic Pictures and Discovery.