Toronto's OYA Media Group swept the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards documentary categories, winning five awards for Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story. Directed by Alison Duke and produced by Ngardy Conteh George, the film reclaims the legacy of Jamaican dancehall pioneer Sister Nancy, whose 1982 track "Bam Bam" became the most sampled reggae song in history. This win is a landmark for Black Canadian storytelling.
There is a particular kind of justice in a story finally being told on its own terms and winning the room while doing it. At the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards (CSAs), held on May 30th in Toronto, OYA Media Group's Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story walked away with five awards across the documentary categories, leading all unscripted wins at the ceremony. Five awards across five craft categories, for a story that had been waiting more than four decades to be fully seen.
The film arrived at the CSAs with eight nominations, the most of any documentary in the television field, and it delivered. Director Alison Duke and producer Ngardy Conteh George, the Toronto-based duo behind OYA Media Group, have spent years building a production house committed to stories that matter. This win affirms that commitment at the highest level of Canadian broadcasting recognition.
The awards
The five wins spanned every dimension of documentary craft. Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story took home five Canadian Screen Awards, including Best Directing, Best Writing, Best Editing, Best Sound and Best Original Music for a documentary program. In full, the awards were:
- Best Direction, Documentary Program (Alison Duke)
- Best Writing, Documentary (Alison Duke)
- Best Picture Editing, Documentary (Eugene Weis, CCE)
- Best Sound, Documentary or Factual (Michelle Irving, Jordan Guy, Elma Bello, Derek Brin)
- Best Original Music, Documentary (Orin Isaacs)
The sweep across craft categories tells its own story. A film that wins in direction, writing, editing, sound and music has not merely told a good story; it has told it beautifully, with every element working in service of the subject. That subject is Sister Nancy, and she deserves nothing less.
The story behind the song
Sister Nancy, born Ophlin Russell in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1962, is a trailblazing artist known for her pioneering role in dancehall. She grew up in a musical family, with her father and five brothers all involved in music, and began her career as a deejay performing on local sound systems in Kingston.
"Bam Bam," recorded in 1982 at Channel One Studios and released under the Techniques Records label, has been sampled more than 100 times, making it the most sampled reggae song of all time. It has appeared in films, commercials, and the catalogues of some of the world's biggest artists. Kanye West, Beyoncé, Jay-Z, H.E.R. and Major Lazer are among the artists who have featured the track in their own music. And yet, for decades, the woman whose voice lay down on that record remained largely unknown to the wider world and was financially unrecognized for her contribution.
It was not until 2014, when Sister Nancy's daughter heard "Bam Bam" in a Reebok commercial, that the artist sought legal advice about obtaining rights to her own music. She had not received royalties for 32 years. The legal settlement she eventually received did not compensate for those lost decades, though it did provide compensation for the previous decade and 50 percent of the rights to the song.
That backstory is at the heart of what makes the documentary so essential. "Bam Bam" has been everywhere. Sister Nancy has not.
What the film brings to the screen
Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story threads together tour performances, archival footage, interviews and dramatic reenactments to reconstruct the full arc of an extraordinary life. The film features Sister Nancy alongside a cast of acclaimed voices, including Janelle Monáe, Pete Rock, Renee Neufville, Michie Mee and Kool DJ Red Alert. The press release also notes testimonials from Sir Scratch and Sister Carol, artists who speak to Nancy's influence across reggae, hip-hop and dancehall.
The effect, according to the director herself, is one of reclamation. "Sister Nancy's 'Bam Bam' has been part of our collective consciousness for over 40 years," said Alison Duke, "and we're grateful to have been able to share her story and for that story to be earning this acclaim." Producer Ngardy Conteh George was equally direct about what the awards mean: "To see our team's artistry recognized across so many categories is both humbling and inspiring. We share this celebration with every creative mind and dedicated heart behind the film."
The documentary streams on Crave and is also available on Apple TV and Prime Video.
OYA Media Group and the bigger picture
Founded in 2018 by Duke and Conteh George, OYA Media Group has built a track record that the CSA wins only reinforces. Their credits include Mr. Jane and Finch (winner of the Donald Briain Award at a previous Canadian Screen Awards), Black Community Mixtapes for Citytv, and the NFB co-production A Mother Apart, which screened at Hot Docs and won at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in June 2024 before its theatrical run and Crave debut, and the production house's latest release is season two of CBC's For the Culture with Amanda Parris.
OYA is also developing a scripted slate, with Undercover Truths currently in progress. The company's trajectory makes clear that this is a production house operating at the centre of the Black Canadian creative community, with the ambition and the talent to go further.
Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story was created with support from the Canadian Media Fund, Rogers Telefund, the Indigenous Screen Office, Ontario Creates and Telefilm Canada. More information is available at oyamediagroup.com.
A victory that lands where it matters
Five Canadian Screen Awards is an extraordinary result by any measure. For the Black Canadian creative community, it carries additional weight. The story of a Jamaican woman who changed popular music and spent decades unacknowledged for it, brought to screen by two Black Canadian women running their own production company, recognized by the country's most prominent film and television awards body: that arc matters.
Alison Duke and Ngardy Conteh George did not simply make a good documentary. They made an argument, in cinematic form, that Sister Nancy's story was worth the full treatment, worth the archival research and the global talent and the careful craft. The five awards are the industry's answer: yes, it was.
For Toronto's African-Caribbean community in particular, the wins resonate on multiple levels. Dancehall is part of this city's cultural DNA, woven into its music venues, barbershops and community spaces. Sister Nancy's voice has played at countless gatherings across this city without many attendees knowing her name or her story. Bam Bam: The Sister Nancy Story corrects that. The CSAs, in honouring OYA's work, have done the same.
