On the heels of its three Canadian Screen Award wins, the CBC and HBO Max dramedy Sort Of is now up for a trophy at the Rockie Awards International Program Competition, which is set to take place during the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) in Banff, Alta., in June.

The Toronto-shot Sort Of (Sienna Films; pictured above) is nominated in the category Comedy Series: English Language under the Rockies’ Scripted stream, alongside the BBC Two’s Alma’s Not Normal (Expectation); BBC’s Motherland (Merman Television, Twofour, Lionsgate); BBC, HBO’s Starstruck (Avalon Television Limited); Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts (Working Title Television, Universal International Studios, Universal Studio Group); and FX’s Toronto-shot What We Do in the Shadows (FX Productions).

Actor-comedian Rakhee Morzaria (Run the Burbs; pictured right) will host the Rockies Program Competition ceremony, honouring TV and digital media, in-person and on a YouTube livestream during the BANFF festival on June 13. Thirty Canadian productions and coproductions are named amongst the 148 nominees from 45 countries for the awards program, which covers all major genres and is one of the largest of its kind.

Canada was the third most-nominated country overall, falling behind the U.K. with 59 nominations and the U.S. with 54. The BBC was the most-nominated company with 23 nods, followed by National Geographic and Disney with nine each.

Tanya Talaga and Michelle Derosier’s documentary Spirit to Soar (Makwa Creative, Antica Productions), inspired by Talaga’s award-winning non-fiction book, is among the other Canadian nominees. It’s named in the Documentary and Factual stream under the Social Issues & Current Affairs category, which also includes another Canadian doc — Mellissa Fung’s Captive (Antica Productions), about young women who have escaped imprisonment by Boko Haram in northeastern Nigeria.

The Documentary and Factual stream also includes the History special Black Liberators WWII (Yap Films Inc., Corus Entertainment) in the History & Biography category; After The Wildfires (Love Nature, Northern Pictures, Australia Broadcasting Corporation, CBC) in the Environmental & Wildlife category; and The Nature of Things (Yap Films Inc., CBC, Arte France) in the Science & Technology category.

Other Canadian nominees include two in the Lifestyle category under the Arts and Entertainment stream: HGTV and HGTV Canada’s Celebrity IOU (Scott Brothers Entertainment) and TVO’s Employable Me (Thomas Howe Associations).

Club Illico’s Audrey’s Back (Pixcom, Quebecor Content), the first Canadian series selected in competition in Long Form at Canneseries, is up for a trophy in the Comedy Series: Non-English Language category. In the running for Drama Series: Non-English Language is Trio Orange’s Can You Hear Me?, which airs on Tele-Quebec.

Canada dominated the Short Non-Fiction Program category with four out of five nominations, including: A Nation and Her Mother (Animiki See Digital Production Inc, Media RendezVous, Wookey Films Inc, APTN); Decolonizing History (Picbois Productions); Fatima In Kabul (ChitChat Productions Inc.); and The Komagata Maru Incident (Bonfire Originals, Historica Canada).

There’s also a healthy dose of homegrown fare in the Children and Youth stream. Dino Ranch (Boat Rocker Studios, Industrial Brothers, Jam Filled Entertainment, Disney Jr., CBC) is named in the Animation: Preschool (0-4) category alongside Lucas the Spider (Fresh TV Inc., Elliott Animation Inc., Wexworks, Wildbrain, Cartoon Network, CAKE).

The Animation: Children (5-10) category has Karma’s World (Netflix, 9 Story Media Group, Brown Bag Films, Karma’s World Entertainment) and LEGO Star Wars Terrifying Tales (Lucasfilm LTD, LEGO, Atomic Cartoons).

Interactive: Children (0-10) nominees include the CBC Kids Tokyo 2020 Olympic Website (CBC Kids, Hypersurge); Hello, Jack! The Kindness Show (Apple TV+, 9 Story Media Group, Jax Media, Brown Bag Films); The Last Kids on Earth (Atomic Cartoons); and Brainstream (National Film Board of Canada, AATOAA).

The Live-Action: Youth (11-17) category includes: Entitled (Zone3, CBC-SRC Distribution); Jenny (Productions Avenida); Lou and Sophie (Les Productions Passez Go Inc.); and Six Degrees (Encore Télévision).

Meanwhile, Double Life: When The Truth Catches Up With Us (Trio Orange) is named the Docuseries category, and Limited Series nominees in the Scripted stream include Dark Soul (Encore Télévision).

Canada is also represented in the podcast nominations, with Telling Our Twisted Histories (Terre Innue, CBC Listen) among the non-fiction contenders, and Dark Air with Terry Carnation (Imperial Mammoth, Audioboom, Kelly & Kelly) among the fiction nominees.

The 43rd BANFF runs June 12 to 15. The full list of nominees, voted on by a jury of 150 international industry professionals, can be found on the website.

The Rockies will also hand out a Grand Jury Prize, selected from the top-scoring programs across the entire field of nominees. This year’s Grand Jury includes: Vanessa Brookman, head of Kids EMEA, WarnerMedia; Trish Williams, executive director, scripted content at CBC; James Blue, head of Smithsonian Channel and senior VP, MTV News and Docs, ViacomCBS Entertainment & Youth Brands; Young-kyu Kim, co-CEO, Studio Dragon; Caroline Hollick, head of Drama at Channel 4; Candice Wilson Cherry, head of Development and Production at LOL; and Monika Ille, director of APTN.

There will also be special awards as well as a $25,000 Rogers Prize for Excellence in Canadian Content, awarded to the top Canadian production, and The Francophone Prize for the top French language production.

“This year’s Rockie Awards are more international than ever before,” said Jenn Kuzmyk, executive director of BANFF and VP & publisher of Playback. “The creative spirit and exceptional work across the nominees truly exemplifies the very best of global content. We can’t wait to share this year’s show and celebrate in-person with nominees and winners once again in Canada’s beautiful Rocky Mountains.”

Photo Credit: Keri Anderson