Matchbox Pictures’ Nowhere Boys and Beyond West’s Prison songs were among the winners of the 2015 Rockie Awards handed out at the Banff World Media Festival in Canada.
Created by Tony Ayres, teenage drama Nowhere Boys took the youth fiction prize. David Caesar is directing Nowhere Boys: The Rise of Bear, a telemovie spin-off of the series, which follows the Nowhere Boys (Dougie Baldwin, Joel Lok, Rahart Adams, Matt Testro) as they confront a devastating magical being that threatens to destroy the multiverse. A third series is in development, awaiting the ABC’s green light.
Commissioned by SBS, Prison Songs, which looks at the inmates of Darwin’s Berrimah Prison who share their feelings and experiences through hip hop, blues, country, reggae and gospel tunes, won the humanitarian and investigation award.
Beyond West co-produced the documentary musical with Spearpoint Productions, developed with the assistance of ScreenWest, Lotterywest and Screen Australia.
Prizes were handed out in 27 categories from 156 nominees, chosen by a panel of more than 350 industry professionals.
The jury grand prize went to Munya In Me, a 20-minute Dutch stop-motion film about a girl who faces up to her bullies, which also picked up the gong for best animation.
Best procedural drama was ABC Studios’ How To Get Away With Murder, which stars Viola Davis as a law professor who with her students gets embroiled in a murder plot. The series screened here on the Seven Network.
Outlander won the science fiction and action prize. The sitcom award went to Welcome to Sweden, a fish-out-of-water series about a New York accountant who falls in love with a Swedish girl and follows her to her home country.