The following is a brief compendium of newsy bits to come Playback’s way in the last week.

Awards

The Emmy nominations were announced Thursday, and with the announcement came a slew of nods for Canadian talent. See the full, updated story here.

Elsewhere, B.C. director Kyle Rideout won the Short Film Face Off last week, for short film Hop the Twig. //www.cbc.ca/shortfilmfaceoff/

Rideout’s film, shot with a $1,000 budget, was chosen from nine finalists across the country as part of the Short Film Face Off series on CBC.

Shortlisted

Canadian Director-producer Megan Smith-Harris has landed a spot in the Oscar-qualifying DocuWeeks 2012 U.S. theatrical showcase for her film, Trial By Fire: Lives Re-Forged, which focuses on burn survivors who have transformed their perspectives and embraced new world views. Also getting DocuWeeks exposure is the USA-France-Spain-Canada international coproduction Ricky on Leacock.

Sales

eOne announced the inking of a slew of factual programming sales with broadcasters in the U.K., Latin America, Spain, Germany and Italy this week.

Channel 5 Broadcasting in the U.K., Spain’s La Sexta and Hungary’s MTVA secured the free-TV rights to documentary The Woman Who Wasn’t There, while National Geographic Channels International acquired the multi-territory rights.

Discovery Latin America acquired pay-TV rights to crime series Very Bad Men and 13-part The Devil You Know.

National Geographic Channels International also acquired multi-territory rights to The Great Escape: Secrets Revealed, a doc that follows a team of archaeologists and historians as they piece together how a group of WWII allied airmen escaped from the Stalag Luft III Nazi POW camp.

And Authentic in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Alto Adige (a part of Italy) and Liechtenstein acquired pay-TV rights for Korean War doc The Real Mash, and Storming Juno, produced by Toronto’s eOne Entertainment, Windup Filmworks Inc., with VFX from Block-4.

Elsewhere, Discovery  in Italy acquired free-TV rights for doc series Mega-Builders, and Emirates Airline inked a deal for the William Shatner-starring doc The Captains.

Specialty fall schedules

Corus Entertainment’s W Network this week announced highlights from its fall programming lineup, including premiere dates for returning series Undercover Boss Canada and Property Brothers.

Undercover Boss Canada will return with 10 new episodes starting Sept. 6 at 9 p.m. The series, from Alliance Films, is based on the format created by Studio Lambert, part of the ALL3MEDIA group.

Cineflix’s Property Brothers premieres Sept. 4 at 8 p.m., bringing real estate-contractor twin tag team Drew and Jonathan Scott back to send buyers on expeditions to find their dream homes among extreme fixer-uppers.

Proper Television’s Come Dine With Me Canada returns Sept. 10 at 7:30 p.m., Cineflix-produced My House, Your Money returns for a second season Sept. 4 at 7:30 pm., and a fifth season of Love it or List It, produced by Big Coat Productions, begins Sept. 10 at 10 p.m.

Shaw Media’s History also this week unveiled a slew of fall premiere dates.

Great Lake Warriors, from B.C.’s Compass Point Productions and U.S.-based Tower Productions, premieres Aug. 27 at 10 p.m.

The series follows a tug boat company transporting industrial raw materials on the Great Lakes, including one featured team, the Thunder Bay Tugs, a family-run business based out of Thunder Bay, ON.

Canadian original series Bomb Hunters follows on Aug. 27 at 10 p.m. The 10-ep series follows an all-Canadian cast of expert bomb clearance and disposal teams in real life operations across Canada.

And Canadian Pickers returns with 13 new episodes Aug. 27 at 8 p.m., and Ice Pilots NWT premieres Oct. 25 at 10 p.m. with a 13-ep season.

Recently Announced

D Film’s Roller Town, the feature film debut of Halifax-based sketch comedy troupe Picnicface, will open theatrically on Sept. 21.

Debut director Andrew Bush co-wrote the script with fellow Picnicface members Mark Little and Scott Vrooman. The three star in the film, along with other Picnicface cast Bill Wood, Cheryl Hann, Evany Rosen, Kyle Dooley and Brian MacQuarrie.

D Films is distributing the film in Canada. Roller Town was made with support of Telefilm Canada, Film Nova Scotia, The Harold Greenberg Fund, provincial and federal tax credits, and online donations from Picnicface fans.

Astral’s The Movie Network will premiere JFL XXX – The Ultimate Nasty Show live-to-air on Friday, July 27 at 11 p.m., the network’s first-ever broadcast of a live event.

The “rude, crude and hilarious” Just For Laughs Festival gala is hosted by Bob Saget and will feature live performances by Jimmy Carr, Mike Ward, Amy Schumer, Jim Norton and Mike Wilmot.

And viewers can dive in to Shark Week on Discovery Channel Canada starting Sunday, Aug. 12. The programming will include online extensions including full eps online and infographics, in addition to daily shark facts and news on the Shark Week Facebook page and live chat via Twitter.

Homegrown series Nerve Center also returns with its second season premiere on Discovery Channel Canada Aug. 19 at 8 p.m., and a sixth season of Mighty Planes will premiere on the channel July 22 at 8 p.m.

And elsewhere, the Discovery Channel Canada app for iOs devices is now available at the App Store, announced Thursday, and includes companion viewing functions, social media integrations, and streaming video of select Discovery programming.