HBO’s hit post-apocalyptic show The Last of Us, which stars Pedro Pascal (The Mandalorian) and Bella Ramsey (Game of Thrones), took home the title of program of the year on Tuesday night during the Rockie Awards gala that took place at the Banff World Media Festival according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Last of Us premiered earlier this year in January and was created by Craig Mazin and Neil Drunkman. Its successful first season was shot in Alberta, Canada.
Other honorable mentions from the awards included Eternal Spring which was an animated documentary about Falun Gong practitioners who are persecuted for their activist works in China. The documentary was directed by Jason Loftus (Ask No Questions) and got the Grand Jury Prize because it was the highest-scoring production in the Rockies program. “This is a culmination of a lot of work we’ve done related to human rights in China,” Loftus said during his acceptance speech. Craig Robinson from The Office was also given the Peter Ustinov Comedy Award as his role of executive producer and actor on Killing It on Peacock. He was also the host of the event.
Another notable part of the night was when World of Wonder’s Fenton Bailey (Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures) and Randy Barbato (Party Monster) were awarded The Hollywood Reporter’s Impact Award for their work, as Nekesa Mumbi Moody from The Hollywood Reporter put it, “Giving a global space to over 600 of the world’s best drag queens is only part of their television success.” Randy Barbato stated that, “Some people are still fearful of drag and some people are still trying to present drag as a threat” during the Rockie Awards and also added that RuPaul’s Drag Race along with MTV have come together with the American Civil Liberties Union to support The Drag Defense Fund to uphold the work of LGBTQ rights. Barbato also went on to share that “We’ve raised close to $1.5 million,” in donations toward the fund.