Canadian doc about trans soul singer Jackie Shane wins Peabody award

A Canadian documentary about trailblazing transgender soul singer Jackie Shane has won a Peabody Award.

“Any Other Way: The Jackie Shane Story,” directed by Edmonton’s Michael Mabbott and Toronto’s Lucah Rosenberg-Lee, was named a winner in the documentary category.

The film tells the story of Shane, who disappeared from the spotlight in 1971 after dominating Toronto’s music scene throughout the 1960s. Shane died in Nashville in 2019 at age 78, a year after getting a Grammy nod for an album that put her back on the map.

“Any Other Way” was also named best Canadian documentary by the Toronto Film Critics Association in February.

Co-produced by Banger Films and the National Film Board of Canada, the doc is currently streaming on Crave.

Peabody winners will be celebrated at a ceremony in Los Angeles on June 1.

Mabbott told The Canadian Press earlier this year that the reception to the film has been “overwhelming.”

“I’ve never seen anything like it, where young teenagers are moved by Jackie, and people in their 70s and 80s who remember seeing Jackie are moved by the story,” he said.

“It’s really incredible, the response and support.”

Another Canadian winner was the Vancouver-based video game studio Sunset Visitor, which took home a Peabody in the interactive and immersive category for “1000xResist,” described as a “narrative adventure game set a thousand years in the future.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2025.