The Banff World Media Festival (formerly known as the Banff World Television Festival) is an international media event held in the

Canadian Rockies The Canadian Rockies (french: Rocheuses canadiennes) or Canadian Rocky Mountains, comprising both the Alberta Rockies and the British Columbian Rockies, is the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains. It is the easternmost part ...

at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel in

Banff, Alberta Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise. At above Banff is the community with the second highe ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The festival is dedicated to world television and digital content and its creation and development, and is owned and operated by

Brunico Communications Brunico Communications is a Canadian magazine publishing company."Desktop tabloid publishing firm sports 2 publications and a profit". ''The Globe and Mail'', October 9, 1989. The company specializes primarily in online trade magazines serving medi ...

. As well as honouring excellence in international television, professionals from around the world participate in seminars, master classes, and pitching opportunities. Film directors, screenwriters, and producers from PBS, BBC,

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

Arte Arte (; (), sometimes stylized in lowercase or uppercase in its logo) is a European public service channel dedicated to culture. It is made up of three separate companies: the Strasbourg-based European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE, plu ...

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

, ABC,

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Sony Pictures or SPE, and formerly known as Columbia Pictures Entertainment, Inc.) is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acq ...

, HBO, CBC, NFB, ICP (Israel Cable Programming), SBS, and many other broadcasters and production companies attend the annual event. The festival provides a global platform for industry members to discuss and debate, and explore current issues, challenges and trends.''ARTE Magazine'', Issue 39, 23 November 2006, p. 30.

Awards

The festival features an international program competition, the

Banff Rockie Awards Banff may refer to: Canada * Banff, Alberta, a town in Alberta, Canada ** Banff Airport ** Banff station ** Banff National Park ** Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity ** Banff (provincial electoral district) ** Banff-Cochrane, another provincial e ...

. Past winners include PBS for '' The Hobart Shakespeareans'' and '' No Direction Home: Bob Dylan'', ICP for ''

Aaron Cohen's Debt Aaron Cohen's Debt ( he, חובו של אהרון כהן) is a non-linear, fact based 1999 Israeli film starring Moshe Ivgy as Aaron Cohen, a father abruptly taken into custody at his birthday party by police for one child-support payment which he ...

'', BBC and HBO for ''The Children of Beslan'', NHK for ''Children Full of Life'', BBC and

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

for ''

Bleak House ''Bleak House'' is a novel by Charles Dickens, first published as a 20-episode serial between March 1852 and September 1853. The novel has many characters and several sub-plots, and is told partly by the novel's heroine, Esther Summerson, and ...

'', and

for '' Fellini: I'm a Born Liar''. The awards ceremony also bestows the Sir

Peter Ustinov Sir Peter Alexander Ustinov (born Peter Alexander Freiherr von Ustinov ; 16 April 192128 March 2004) was a British actor, filmmaker and writer. An internationally known raconteur, he was a fixture on television talk shows and lecture circuits ...

Comedy Award. Past recipients of the award include

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. Emerging from the Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and as a scriptwriter and ...

, Dame Edna,

Bob Newhart George Robert Newhart (born September 5, 1929) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for his deadpan and slightly stammering delivery style. Newhart came to prominence in 1960 when his album of comedic monologues, ''The Button-Down Mi ...

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. He ...

, Tracey Ullman,

Kelsey Grammer Allen Kelsey Grammer (born February 21, 1955) is an American actor and producer. He gained notoriety and acclaim for his role as psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane on the NBC sitcom ''Cheers'' (1984-1993) and its spin-off ''Frasier'' (1993-2004), ...

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and ''An Idiot Abroad'' ...

Craig Ferguson Craig Ferguson (born 17 May 1962) is a Scottish-born American comedian, actor, writer, and television host. He is best known for hosting the CBS late-night talk show '' The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson'' (2005–2014), for which he won ...

, Shane Smith,

Brent Butt Brent Leroy Butt (born August 3, 1966) is a Canadian actor, comedian, and screenwriter. He is best known for his role as Brent Leroy on the CTV sitcom ''Corner Gas'', which he created. He also created the television series ''Hiccups'' and wrote ...

, and Suroosh Alvi. Jan Randall was music director and Composer for the awards from 1995 to 2007.

Awards

See also