For North Shore residents, it was mandatory viewing every week. Now Search and Rescue: North Shore is up for one of the most prestigious film awards in Canada.
Peg Leg Films’ Jenny Rustemeyer, Murray Battle and Patrice Ramsay, who produced the series for the Knowledge Network, are nominated for the Best Factual Series award from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television.
“It's a pretty big deal,” said Rustemeyer. “I mean, this is the Academy Awards of Canada, so it's the highest honour within television and filmmaking in the country.”
For more than a year, Peg Leg’s crew were embedded with North Shore Rescue, dashing out into the backcountry at all hours to capture hundreds of hours of footage, which was distilled into five one-hour episodes.
Rustemeyer said the nomination is a validation for the hard work of the crew, and for North Shore Rescue volunteers themselves.
“It was definitely a team effort and this is what we were hoping for,” she said.
Other nominees in the same category include Employable Me, For Heaven’s Sake, Highway Thru Hell and Yukon Harvest, all of which are worthy competitors, Rustemeyer said.
Winners of the Canadian Screen Awards will be announced on April 4.
In 2021, Search and Rescue: North Shore won three Leo awards. Leos are B.C.'s film and television industry awards, presented by the Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Foundation of British Columbia.
