Two acclaimed documentaries produced in association with VisionTV have earned top awards at the fourth annual Whistler Film Festival.

The National Film Board of Canada co-production ScaredSacred received the Best Documentary Award. The film follows writer/director Velcrow Ripper on a pilgrimage to the “Ground Zeros” of the world, from Bhopal to post-9/11 New York, and asks if it is possible to find hope in places visited by the worst horrors of the 20th century.

ScaredSacred was produced by Vancouver-based Producers on Davie Pictures Inc., in co-production with the NFB and in association with VisionTV. The producers are Cari Green and Harry Sutherland for Producers on Davie and Tracy Friesen for the NFB. The documentary is slated to make its world television premiere on VisionTV next season.

Director Geoff Browne’s Call It Karma won the Best Adventure Film Award. The documentary tells the story of the Vancouver filmmaker’s friendship with a young Tibetan monk, and of the latter’s journey home to the remote village he left behind six years earlier.

Call It Karma was produced by Geoff Browne, Michael Parker and Shan Tam in association with VisionTV.

VisionTV will broadcast the hour-long film’s national television premiere on Tuesday, April 5 at 10 p.m. ET.

Said Alberta Nokes, VisionTV’s Director of Independent Production: “These are superbly made documentaries that speak to the human capacity to draw strength and sustenance from spiritual belief in an uncertain and often violent world. We are proud to have helped such gifted filmmakers to realize their visions.”

The Whistler Film Festival is operated by the Whistler Film Festival Society, a non-profit organization with a mandate to encourage the development of arts and culture in Whistler, to support the art of cinema and the film industry, and to provide an educational and entertaining environment for film enthusiasts and industry professionals.

VisionTV is a multi-faith and multicultural broadcaster dedicated to programming that celebrates diversity and promotes understanding and tolerance among people of different faiths and cultures.