Local TV documentaries awarded in NY

A scene from MBC's award-winning TV documentary "Tears of the Amazon"

By Kwon Mee-yoo

Korean broadcasters scooped five awards at the 54th New York Festivals International Television and Film Awards, last Friday.

MBC's "Tears of the Amazon - Tristes Tropiques" earned a silver world medal in the Cultural Issues section, while SBS' "Story of Seung-il - What It Means to Live" won silver in the Family Programs section.

"Tears of the Amazon" received rave reviews in Korea when it aired last year, portraying the basic energy and dynamic life of the region.

"I am glad that the documentary was recognized not only in Korea but overseas", Jung Sung-hoo, chief producer of the program, said after attending the award ceremony.

Another documentary from MBC, "Lion Queen", was given a finalist certificate in the Nature & Wildlife section.

"Story of Seung-il" documented the life of former professional basketball coach Park Seung-il, who has been fighting against Lou Gehrig's disease for eight years. It filmed Park for a year, showing how patients of the rare, incurable disease live.

The program also won Best Documentary Program at the 2010 Asian Television Awards.

Two KBS programs, "Musical Documentary: Moonlit Night in Seoul" and the drama "The Slave Hunters", were finalists in the Docudrama and Mini Series sections respectively.

New York Festivals is an international awards group. It presents awards in five areas including Advertising in All Media, Innovative Advertising, Television & Film and Radio Programming.

UAE films honored at festival

The United Arab Emirates have harvested four top awards at the New York Festivals Television & Film Awards, WAM, the United Arab Emirates News Agency, reported.

The three Gold World Medals, a Bronze Medal and a Special Finalist Certificate were collected by Omar Alshamsi, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the UAE in Washington, DC. All the awards, which were given in front of a major gathering of the world's top TV and film producers, were connected with media produced for the UAE Pavilion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.

The fourth gold medal was won by the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) for its entry.

"In the Blink of an Eye and Dream Journey", comes on top of a series of other accolades achieved by the UAE Pavilion in Shanghai, including a no. 1 ranking in a visitor survey of impressions of participating pavilions.

"The core feature of the UAE's exhibition at EXPO 2010 was the three very strong media presentations. We are delighted that this experienced international jury at the NY Festivals' competition has chosen to recognize these films in this way", the UAE's Chairman of the National Media Council, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan said.