Abu Dhabi-produced documentary 'Free Solo' wins another international award​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

The Oscar-winning film about free solo climber Alex Honnold has bagged an award from Banff World Media Festival

Image Nation project 'Free Solo' was named Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards last year. Courtesy Image Nation Abu Dhabi

The Image Nation Abu Dhabi and National Geographic co-production Free Solo already won the Oscar for Best Feature Documentary, but the 2018 film about climber Alex Honnold is still winning awards globally.

This time it bagged the Best History and Biography Programme award at the Banff World Media Festival's Rockie Awards, which was held virtually this year.

The winners of the international programme competition were revealed on Monday, June 15.

Here's the full live stream:

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's Fleabag scooped the Grand Jury Prize and best comedy series, as HBO's Gentleman Jack received the best English-language drama series going, and HBO and Sky TV's Chernobyl took home the best limited series award.

Hulu's Ramy was also nominated for the comedy series in the English language category, but lost to Fleabag.

What are the Banff Rockie Awards?

The Banff World Media Festival is an international media event, usually held in the Canadian Rockies in Banff, Alberta. The Banff Rockie Awards are held during the four-day event.

This year, however, the prize-giving ceremony was streamed live after the festival, which was supposed to run between Sunday and Wednesday, June 14 and 17, was postponed by a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.

What is Free Solo?

Free Solo is a stunning, intimate and unflinching portrait of the free soloist climber Alex Honnold, from award-winning documentary filmmaker Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and world-renowned photographer and mountaineer Jimmy Chin.

It follows Honnold as he prepares to achieve his lifelong dream: climbing the world’s most famous rock, the 975-metre – about 152 metres higher than Burj Khalifa – El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, without a rope.

Prior to the Banff win, the documentary had bagged a total of 29 awards, including an Emmy and a Bafta, plus received 54 nominations.

Here's the full list of winners from this year's Banff Rockie Awards:

Arts and Music: Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening

Comedy and Variety: Baroness von Sketch Show

Interactive Content: East of the Rockies

Lifestyle: Employable Me

Reality – Competition Series and Game Shows: RuPaul's Drag Race

Reality – Docusoap and Docuseries: Who Are You Calling Fat?

Animation – Children's: The Snail and The Whale

Children and Youth Fiction: Hardball

Children and Youth Interactive Content: Own It

Children and Youth Non-Fiction – My Life: I Will Survive

Pre-School: Peppa Pig

Crime and Investigation: Sea of Shadows

Environmental and Wildlife: Seven Worlds, One Planet

History and Biography: Free Solo

Science and Technology: Science Fair

Social and Current Affairs: Surviving R Kelly

Web Non-Fiction: Stonewall OutLoud

Podcast of the Year: This Sounds Serious

Comedy Series – English Language: Fleabag

Comedy Series – Non-English Language: Mytho

Drama Series – English Language: Gentleman Jack

Drama Series – Non-English Language: Giri/Haji (Duty/Shame)

Limited Series: Chernobyl

Sci-Fi and Genre-Based: His Dark Materials

Television Movie: Elizabeth is Missing

Web Fiction: Lost in Traplanta