Yahoo Finance ‘Yellowjackets,’ Ana Gasteyer and Late Filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée Among This Year’s Rockie Award Honorees
The Banff World Media Festival will honor late filmmaker Jean-Marc Vallée posthumously with its Canadian Award of Distinction next month, the event announced on Thursday. Vallée will be joined in being honored at Banff’s Rockie Award Gala by “American Auto” star Ana Gasteyer, who will receive the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award, and the “Yellowjackets” team of Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco, who have been named Showrunners of the Year (presented by Variety).
The Rockie Award Gala takes place on Tuesday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m. MT at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in Banff, Alberta, Canada, in the middle of the Banff World Media Festival. Canadian R&B star Jully Black will host the awards program.
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Other honorees will include Vivica A. Fox (“Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2,” “Empire”), who has been named this year’s winner of the Inclusion Award. Rose Matafeo (“Starstruck,” “Funny Girls”) will recieve the Creative Voice Award. And Eagle Vision is the recepient of this year’s Innovative Producer Award.
“We are delighted to shine a spotlight on these incredibly deserving Rockies Gala honorees who have made such a strong impact and meaningful contributions to the entertainment industry,” said Jenn Kuzmyk, executive director of the Banff World Media Festival. “We can’t wait to welcome these great talents to the Festival in-person to celebrate together.”
Other honors to be handed out at the Gala include the Impact Award, Program of the Year and the Grand Jury Prize.
Gasteyer’s Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award “recognizes a creative talent who has made an outstanding comedic contribution to the media industry.” Past honorees include Kenan Thompson, Sean Hayes, John Cleese, Tracey Ullman, Bob Newhart, Tantoo Cardinal, John Candy and Bill Hader.
The inclusion award “recognizes an individual whose efforts and vision in media champion and reflect the diversity of the world in which we live.” Before Fox, past honorees included Danielle Brooks, LeVar Burton, Jonathan Murray and Elizabeth Vargas.
Vallée, who died in December 2021 at the age of 58, is the latest to receive the Canadian Award of Distinction, “given to a Canadian whose body of work exemplifies outstanding achievement in the entertainment industry.” Simu Liu, Eric McCormack, Kim Cattrall and Sheila Hockin are past honorees.
Matafeo’s Creative Voice Award “is bestowed on an executive or creative talent that has created outstanding work that breaks through, inspiring and connecting global audiences.” And the “Yellowjackets” showrunners follow in the footsteps of past Showrunner of the Year winners Jed Mercurio, Moira Walley-Beckett, John Ridley, Damon Lindelof, Joey Soloway and Clyde Phillips.
Eagle Vision’s Innovative Producer Award “recognizes the entrepreneurial excellence and achievements of an independent producer in TV/digital media,” with past winners such as Sinking Ship Entertainment, Wattpad Studios, Scott Brothers Entertainment, New Metric Media, Wolf + Rabbit, Don Carmody and Marblemedia.
Black, dubbed “Canada’s Queen of R&B/Soul,” has been named as one of ‘The 25 Greatest Canadian Singers Ever’ (CBC Music) and she is a platinum selling artist and performer; a Juno, Gemini, Toronto Theatre Critics Association and Dora Mavor Moore Award recipient, as well as a morning television host and a TV and musical stage actor.
[Photo: Jean-Marc Vallée.]
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