Channel Four’s Help, starring Jodie Comer and Stephen Graham, has won the Grand Jury Prize at the Banff Rockie Awards after the British pandemic drama won the best feature length film prize at the Banff World Media Festival’s international TV competition on Monday night.

The film from The Forge, Channel 4 and All3Media International is set in a Liverpool care home and stars Comer as a carer who bonds with a patient, played by Graham, and is put to the test as the COVID-19 pandemic hits in March 2020. Past recipients of the Grand Jury Prize include I May Destroy You, Fleabag, Big Little Lies, Planet Earth II and Sharp Objects.

In other prize giving on Tuesday night, the dramedy series Sort Of, from the CBC and HBO Max and starring and co-created by Bilal Baig, won the program of the year prize. And the gala Rockie Awards in Banff, hosted by Jully Black, also saw Netflix head of global TV Bela Bajaria win the Impact Award presented by The Hollywood Reporter.

“If in the last few years, you got steamy watching Bridgerton, or suddenly just remembered you like chess because of The Queen’s Gambit, then you’ll agree that Bela Bajaria is the perfect person for this year’s honors,” The Hollywood Reporter editorial director Nekesa Mumbi Moody said when introducing Bajaria, whose recent TV credits include Squid Game and Never Have I Ever acquired as part of Netflix’s global expansion.

In accepting the Impact Award, Bajaria gave credit to her worldwide network of Netflix program execs for identifying and embracing local storytellers who create content with universal and international appeal. “The success of all these (Netflix) shows really comes down to empowering local creators to tell deeply local stories, whether they’re in Madrid, Mumbai or Montreal,” she said.

“Now more than ever, great storytelling can transcend borders, languages and cultures… And I’d say as a young Indian woman growing up in America that makes me very proud to actually have people be seen in that way,” Bajaria added when accepting her trophy.

Also Tuesday night, Ana Gasteyer (American Auto) received the Sir Peter Ustinov Comedy Award. “To be honest, I didn’t write a speech because I was counting on getting COVID and not being able to come,” Saturday Night Live alum Gasteyer told the awards show audience.

And Empire and Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2 actress Vivica A. Fox was handed the Inclusion Award for her efforts to champion and reflect greater diversity. “I believe our industry is made better when all women, but especially women of color, are fully seen and heard, whether it’s in the boardroom, behind the camera, or in front,” Fox said when receiving her honor.

Another emotional high-point for the industry kudosfest in Banff was Dallas Buyers Club director Jean-Marc Vallée being posthumously awarded the Canadian Award of Distinction after his sudden death in Dec. 2021 at the age of 58. “As we all do, I wish he could be here,” Marc Cote, a visual effects supervisor on a host of Vallée movies, including Wild, Demolition and Dallas Buyers Club, told the festival gala when paying tribute to the Quebec director.

And Indigenous-owned indie banner Eagle Vision — which produced Danis Goulet’s indigenous horror pic Night Raiders with executive producer Taika Waititi and earlier co-produced the Oscar winner Capote — picked up the Innovative Producer Award. “We want to thank you for this recognition. It inspires us to keep pushing,” Eagle Vision co-founder Lisa Meeches told the Banff awards show when accepting the award.

Also Tuesday night, the Creative Voice Award went to HBO Max’s Starstruck creator and star Rose Matafeo. “I have to say that when I first heard the name of the award, the phrase makes me think of something that a teacher would write a school report when they have nothing positive to say about the child,” Matafeo, who co-writes Starstruck alongside fellow director Alice Snedden and Nic Sampson, said jokingly when accepting her trophy.

And the Showrunner of the Year prize went to Ashley Lyle, Bart Nickerson and Jonathan Lisco for their work on Showtime’s Yellowjackets.