Canadian documentaries fared well at the news and documentary Emmy Awards, which on Monday night presented statues to films including Shake Hands with the Devil: The Journey of Roméo Dallaire and Sex Slaves at the annual fete in New York.

Filmmaker Peter Raymont of Toronto’s White Pine Pictures shares his best documentary win for Dallaire with another Rwanda-themed film, the U.S. doc God Sleeps in Rwanda.

Raymont tells Playback Daily he knew ’embarrassingly little’ about the genocide that would become central to his documentary on retired Lt.-Gen. Dallaire.

‘When it was occurring, like most people, I was watching the O.J. Simpson trial. It’s horrific to think that during those 100 days when 800,000 humans were being murdered, the world’s attention was focused [on Simpson],’ says Raymont on the phone from New York.

He coproduced the film with his wife and filmmaking partner Lindalee Tracey, who lost her battle with breast cancer last year.

‘She would be proud,’ he said.

Dallaire, which aired on CBC, has been broadcast in 32 countries and has won numerous other awards, including the audience prize at Sundance.

Meanwhile, Toronto prodco Associated Partners scored an Emmy in the investigative journalism category for its doc Sex Slaves, about the multibillion-dollar industry of sex trafficking of women from the former Soviet Union. Producers Ric Esther Bienstock — who also wrote and directed the film — Felix Golubev and Simcha Jacobovici were on hand to receive the award.

‘I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ve been able to bring the tragedy of human trafficking to a prime time audience…and now to be recognized by my peers in the industry is truly an honor,’ said Bienstock in a release.

Sex Slaves premiered on U.S. network PBS’ current affairs series Frontline, and has since aired in over 30 countries, including Channel 4 in the U.K.