Spike Lee’s Hurricane Katrina Doc Bags Grand Prize at Banff

BANFF, June 12: Spike Lee’s documentary on Hurricane Katrina
for HBO, When The Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, captured the grand prize last night at the Banff
World Television Awards Show.

Directed by Lee, the program explores how Hurricane Katrina
exposed the race and class divides in New Orleans and the U.S. It was produced
by HBO Documentary Films in association with 40 Acres
& A Mule. “This genuinely seminal work will leave a creative and
political legacy for years to come,” said Slawko Klymkiw, this year’s Banff
International jury chair.

This year, 800 entries were submitted from 38 countries for
the Banff World Television Awards Show. The $20,000 NHK HD International
Co-Production Prize, which recognizes excellence in the HDTV industry, was
awarded to Broken Trail, while the
Playback Best Canadian Program was awarded to Jonestown Paradise Lost. For the first time, the international jury awarded
three special jury prizes: You Are My Destiny, 37 Uses For Dead Sheep and Hercules Ventures Into the World.

The Banff International Jury met for several days prior the
Festival to select the three Special Jury Prizes, the Grand Prize, and the NHK
HD International Co-production Prize. Slawko Klymkiw from the Canadian Film
Centre was joined by international television professionals such as Junichi
Katayama from NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation), Keithiwe Ngcobo of the
South African Broadcasting Corporation, Sveriges Television Sweden’s Gudrun
Kjellberg, and UKTV’s Andy Whitman on this panel.

Awards were handed out in 20 categories. In the Animation
Programs category, presented in partnership with FatKat,
the BBC’s The Wrong Trainer took the top
award. In the category Arts Documentaries, presented in partnership with The Banff Centre, Knowledge
is the Beginning, produced by EuroArts
Music International in association with ZDF in Germany, won out. In the
Children’s Programs category, presented in partnership with Shaw Rocket Fund, the BBC picked up another award for Jackanory:
The Magician of Samarkand, produced in
association with BBC Worldwide. In the Comedy category, presented in
partnership with Just for Laughs, The Vicar of Dibley: The Handsome
Stranger, from Tiger Aspect Productions, garnered the top prize. The pilot of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, produced by Shoe Money Productions in association with
Warner Bros. Television in the U.S., won in the Continuing Series category,
which was presented in partnership with the Independent Production Fund. The
South-African based Curious Pictures picked up an award in the Family &
Youth Programs category, presented in partnership with Astral Media, for Heartlines:
The Good Provider.

In the Feature Length
Documentaries category, presented in partnership with Deluxe Toronto, Welcome
Europa came out on top. The documentary
was produced by Son et Lumière in association with ARTE France. For History
& Biography Programs, presented in partnership with Rogers Communications, Battle
of Chernobyl won. It was produced by
Discovery Networks International in association with France 3 and Play Film. In
the Information & Current Affair Programs category, presented in
partnership with Hewlett-Packard (Canada), Convoi-Film’s die story: It's
time … to die in Huntsville, produced
for Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Germany, picked up an award.

In the category of Interactive
Program Enhancement, presented in partnership with Yahoo! Canada, Fallen
Alternate Reality Game won. It was
produced by ABC Family in the U.S. in association with Xenophile Media and
Double Twenty Productions. Darfur is Dying claimed the top prize in Internet Only Production Program,
presented in partnership with Xerox Canada. It was produced by mtvU in
association with interFUEL in the U.S. For the category Mobile Program Enhancement,
presented in partnership with ContentRevolution, Shorts in Motion: The Art
of Seduction won. It was produced by
marblemedia/The National Film Board of Canada in association with Bravo!FACT.

In the category of Lifestyle
Programs, presented in partnership with Shure Incorporated, Gourmet's Diary
of a Foodie: China picked up a prize. It
was produced by WGBH Educational Foundation in the U.S. in association with
Discovery International and Gourmet Magazine. Death of a President, produced by Borough Films for Channel 4 in the U.K., got
the top nod in the Made for TV Movies category, presented in partnership with
Shaftesbury Films. For the Mini-Series category, presented in partnership with
SAIT Polytechnic, ITV Productions’ See No Evil: The Moors Murders came out on top. In the category of Performance Programs,
presented in partnership with Citytv and CHUM Television, False Waltz won. It was produced by Orkater in association with Avro TV
for NPB (Netherland Public Broadcasting). For Popular Science & Natural
History Programs, presented in partnership with Barna-Alper Productions, Animals
in the Womb picked up a win. It was
produced by Pioneer Productions, the Incubator and Fox Television Studios for
Channel 4 in association with National Geographic.

In the category of Reality Format
Programs, presented in partnership with Sony of Canada, The Prison Choir won. It was produced by TVE in association with 3Koma in
Spain. For the category of Social & Political Documentaries, presented in
partnership with the National Film Board of Canada, When The Levees Broke: A
Requiem in Four Acts picked up another
award. In the category Telenovela & Drama Serial Programs, presented in
partnership with Searchlight—Partners in Executive Search, Eastenders,
produced by BBC Drama Productions,
garnered the top prize.