Not All Men Receives Three 2026 Rosie Award Nominations
I’m incredibly proud to share that three members of the Not All Men team were recognized with nominations at the 2026 Rosie Awards (Alberta Film and Television Awards).
Meghan Lees — Best Supporting Performance – Female or Nonbinary
Rick Koy — Best Supporting Performance – Male or Nonbinary
Jesse Luce — Best Overall Sound – Scripted Over 30 Minutes
What makes these nominations especially meaningful is the category Not All Men found itself competing in. At 36 minutes, the film sits in that notoriously difficult space between a traditional short and a feature. For the Rosie Awards, that meant Not All Men was judged in the Scripted Over 30 Minutes categories, putting our independent short film alongside feature-length productions and TV shows (like Heartland) with substantially larger budgets and resources.
We knew going in that making a 36-minute film would come with challenges. It’s difficult to program at festivals, difficult to categorize, and in this case meant competing outside the traditional short-film field. That’s why seeing three members of our team recognized at this level means so much. This little independent film went up against productions operating on an entirely different scale and still had its performances and sound singled out for recognition. That’s a pretty incredible accomplishment for everyone who helped make it!
Meghan brought tremendous empathy and nuance to Sara, grounding some of the film’s most difficult material with warmth and humanity. Rick embraced an incredibly uncomfortable role without ever reducing his character to a caricature, giving the film much of its tension. And Jesse built a soundscape that elevated everything we captured on set and became an essential part of the film’s atmosphere.
A Note About Meghan’s Nomination:
Unfortunately, since the nominations were announced, Meghan’s nomination has been rescinded following a complaint regarding her Alberta residency. I want to be transparent about that because we publicly celebrated Meghan’s nomination and I have no intention of quietly removing her name from our celebration as though the recognition never happened.
Our production submitted Meghan with the understanding that she met the eligibility requirements. Like many working Canadian actors, Meghan travels extensively for work, and the questions surrounding her eligibility are now a matter for the appropriate parties to resolve. What I will speak about is how disappointing the circumstances surrounding this situation have been. There is an appropriate way to raise a question about someone’s eligibility for an award. What should never accompany that process is another artist feeling personally targeted, intimidated, or repeatedly told, in effect, that they don’t belong in the community they consider home – especially by a fellow artist:
Jealousy and competition have never made an artistic community stronger. Our industry works best when we choose instead to celebrate the accomplishments of the people around us. Creating meaningful work is difficult enough without artists becoming obstacles for one another. Every success should be an opportunity to remind ourselves that another person's recognition takes absolutely nothing away from our own. Lifting people up will always accomplish more than finding reasons to tear them down. You learn a great deal about people by watching how they respond when someone else succeeds. Nothing reveals character quite like a moment when there is no personal benefit to simply being kind. Creative communities are strongest when artists genuinely celebrate the success of those around them. Having someone else's work recognized doesn't take an opportunity or accomplishment away from anyone else. Ultimately, recognition should be something that brings a community together rather than becoming another source of competition. Great work deserves to be championed regardless of who created it. Generosity toward another artist's success costs absolutely nothing.
Sometimes the way someone responds to another person’s success reveals far more about them than it ever could about the person they’re attempting to diminish. We should be building one another up. We should be advocating for talented people to remain part of our film community, welcoming artists whose careers take them across provincial and international borders, and celebrating when someone from our community succeeds.
Success isn’t a finite resource. Someone else’s recognition doesn’t diminish your own. Awards ultimately come and go. They’re pieces of glass on a shelf. The work remains. And nothing that happened afterward changes the work Meghan did in Not All Men. She gave an extraordinary performance. Her work was recognized with a Rosie Award nomination and I was immensely proud of her when that nomination was announced. I’m every bit as proud of her today.
I’m equally thrilled for Rick Koy and Jesse Luce, whose nominations are incredibly well deserved. Independent films like Not All Men exist because talented people choose to give everything they have to stories they believe in. That’s something worth celebrating. Congratulations to Rick, Jesse, and Meghan. I’m incredibly proud of all three of you and of this entire team.