Two Canadian projects were among the winners at the 46th annual Documentary Emmy Awards, revealed during a ceremony at Palladium Times Square in New York City on June 26.

Hunt for the Oldest DNA, a feature from Victoria, B.C.-based Handful of Films and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios out of Chevy Chase, Maryland – in association with ZDF and the Danish Broadcasting Corporation – won the Emmy for Outstanding Science & Technology Documentary. It first aired as the fourth episode in the 51st season of the PBS science series NOVA.

Written and directed by Handful of Films founder Niobe Thompson (pictured), the film follows Danish biologist Eske Willerslev, who was the first to obtain ancient DNA samples from ice cores.

The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Copenhagen International Documentary Festival, and is set to air on Knowledge Network later this year. PBS International handles global distribution.

Secret World of Sound with David Attenborough, a three-part series from CBC’s The Nature of Things, Sky TV and Netflix, won in the Outstanding Cinematography – Documentary category. Produced by Toronto’s Infield Fly Productions and the U.K.’s Humble Bee Films, the series examines how animals use sound to hunt, mate and survive.

National Geographic’s feature Blink, won Outstanding Editing. The film, directed by Edmund Stenson and Toronto-based Daniel Roher, follows a Montreal family who travels the world after three of four children are diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, an incurable disease which leads to visual impairment.

Blink is produced by U.S.-based MRC, Fishbowl Films, Motive and National Geographic Films with service production from Montreal-based EyeSteelFilm.

Image courtesy of Handful of Films