CANNES, France - Canadian film producer Rock Demers, and Bernard Pivot, an icon of French TV and journalism, will be presented special lifetime achievement awards at this year's Banff Television Festival. The announcement was made Tuesday at a TV conference in Cannes, France.

The special awards are the highest honours bestowed by the Banff Television Festival executive committee and board of directors. Only two others have been given out in the festival's 22-year history.

These two exceptional television and film personalities are admired around the world for their body of works which have been hailed for their creative excellence, said festival president Pat Ferns.

Demers, founder and president of Quebec's Productions La Fete, produces and distributes non-violent family films. In 1980 he launched the popular Tales for All collection which includes The Dog Who Stopped the War, Bach and Broccoli, and Vincent and Me, a 1992 Emmy-award winner as best film for young people.

He has also produced feature films and documentaries including Pierre Elliott Trudeau: Memoirs which won a Prix Gemeaux in 1994.

Pivot is well known as the producer and host of the popular literary program Bouillon de culture, shown on France 2, in Quebec on TV5, and on TFO-TVOntario. He is also a columnist for the newspaper Journal du Dimanche and a pioneer in the development of popular literature for TV.

Demers and Pivot join past special award recipients John Mortimer (1998) and Jeremy Isaacs (1988). Both awards will be presented Tuesday, June 12, during Banff 2001.