For the second time in his career, Cambridge film producer Stephen Paniccia is up for an International Emmy Award.
His company, White Pine Pictures where he serves as the director of finance and production, was instrumental in producing the documentary Buffy Sainte-Marie: Carry It On that has garnered a nomination in the Arts Programming category.
The documentary dives into the life, music and activism of the performer who in 1983 became the first Indigenous woman to win an Oscar.
The International Emmy is a U.S. Award presented by The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to recognize excellence in television and programming produced outside the United States.
"We're all really excited about it," Paniccia said.
"We knew it was a great film but we didn’t know how great it was."
Paniccia's first taste of the International Emmy's came in 2021 when White Pine Picture's feature film Toxic Beauty was nominated for Best Documentary.
The process of getting to this point was a long one, beginning before the pandemic when Paniccia attended and filmed parts of a Sainte-Marie concert in Hamilton.
Then, during the pandemic, he flew out to Hawaii to spend a week with the musician at her home doing the master interviews.
"It was a big team effort," Paniccia said about the work his company did alongside director Madison Thomas and production company Eagle Vision.
"I was much more hands on with this film. It's one of the highest honours I’ve had."
But the documentary comes amid controversy surrounding the cultural icon.
A recent CBC Fifth Estate piece on Sainte-Marie called into question her Indigenous heritage, citing a birth certificate from Stoneham, Mass. and several family accounts contradicting her claim she was born on the Piapot Reserve near Craven, Sask. to Cree parents.
Being synonymous with the community and having won a 2018 Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year, the reaction to the allegations has been mixed.
However, White Pine Pictures, Thomas and Eagle Vision have all come out in support of Sainte-Marie.
"We stand behind Buffy and believe it to be true that her mother told her she was adopted and of Canadian Indigenous descent," White Pine Pictures said in a statement.
Paniccia doubled down on his support when discussing the nomination and the opportunity to work with Sainte-Marie.
"Buffy is one of the best people I've ever met, especially in this business," he said.
"She's humble, down to earth, very giving and knows who she is. Our statement still stands and we're behind Buffy 100 per cent."
Right now, Paniccia is looking forward to soaking up the awards show experience for a second time and the opportunity to potentially bring home such a prestigious honour.
"It's an honour just to be nominated," he said.
"We're up against three other really great films but it would be tremendously exciting to win an Emmy Award."
The International Emmy Awards take place at the New York Hilton Midtown in New York City on Nov. 20.
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