Kissinger Lined Up for International Emmys, Nominees Announced

October 5, 2009 World Screen

CANNES: Announcing the nominees for the International Emmys in Cannes today—with nods going to Latin America, the U.K., Germany, the Philippines and other markets—the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences revealed that Henry Kissinger will be on hand at this year’s ceremony to present an award to ZDF’s Markus Schächter.

There are a total of 41 nominees in ten categories for the 37th International Emmy Awards, set for November 23 at the Hilton New York Hotel, hosted by Graham Norton. The nominees hail from 17 countries, with the first-ever nod for Thailand. The U.K. took the lead with nine nominations, followed by five for Brazil and three each for Germany, Mexico and the Philippines. The entries were selected over three rounds of judging involving 600 judges in 50 countries. “As interest in our competition builds every year, The Academy is proud to serve as a cultural showcase of television from all continents,” said Bruce L. Paisner, the president and CEO of the International Academy. “We congratulate the 2009 nominees for their outstanding achievements and hope the first-time nomination from Thailand will inspire more producers from many more countries to follow in their footsteps and enter the competition.”

In arts programming, the nominees are TV Globo’s Mamonas Assassinas: All My Life, Oxford Film & Television’s The Mona Lisa Curse for Channel 4, Mainichi Broadcasting System’s Ode to Joy: 10,000 Voice Resound!, TVP and Platige Image’s Seven Gates of Jerusalem. Robert de Hoog secured a nod for best performance by an actor for Humanist Broadcasting Foundation’s Skin. He is up against Chen Li for China Movie Channel’s Ultimate Rescue, Óscar Olivares from HBO Latin American Group’s Capadocia and Ben Whishaw for the BBC’s Criminal Justice. In the actress category, HBO LAG’s Capadocia picked up a nomination for Cecilia Suárez. The other contenders are Emma De Caunes from Chez Wam’s Night Birds, Angel Locsin from ABS-CBN’s The Wolf and Julie Walters for the BBC’s A Short Stay in Switzerland.

In the children and young people category, the nominees are Dustbin Baby (Kindle Entertainment), Lharn Poo Koo E-Joo (Thailand’s Workpoint Entertainment), The Little Emperor’s Christmas (TV Globo) and Mille (Danish Broadcasting Corporation). 

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In comedy, NHK’s Hoshi Shinichi’s Short Shorts is up for an International Emmy, as are Peter Kay’s Britain’s Got the Pop Factor (Channel 4), The Slum (TV Globo) and Turkish for Beginners from Germany

Up for the documentary award are The Ascent of Money (Channel 4), Cityboy: The Life of Investment Banker Geraint Anderson (WDR), Pancho Villa: Aqui y Alli (The History Channel Latin America/Anima Films) and Shooting the Messenger (Al Jazeera English).

HBO Latin America’s Capodicia is being considered in the drama category, togther with The Land of the Wind (Korean Broadcasting System), The Protectors (Danish Broadcasting Corporation), Sokhulu & Partners (South Africa) and Kudos Film and TV’s Spooks.

In the non-scripted category, there is The Amazing Race Asia, Historia Extrema, I’m a Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! and Park Lane’s The Phone.

For telenovelas, Globo’s India: A Love Story is a contender, as well as Magdusa Ka (GMA), Second Chance (TF1) and A Time for Us (ABS-CBN/Double Vision).

The final category, TV movies/mini-series, also features a Globo production, Maysa: When the Heart Sings, together with The Shooting of Thomas Hurndall (Talkback Thames for Channel 4), Ultimate Rescue (China Movie Channel) and The Wolves of Berlin (Ziegler Film GmbH & Co. KG / ZDR).

The Academy is also presenting two special awards. Sir David Frost is set to receive the 2009 International Emmy Founders Award. Markus Schächter, the director general of ZDF, will receive the 2009 International Emmy Directorate Award. Henry Kissinger, the former U.S. Secretary of State and Nobel Peace Prize winner, will attend the International Emmys gala to present the award to Schächter. “We are delighted to have Dr. Kissinger join The International Academy in recognizing Markus Schächter’s leadership and achievements as Germany commemorates the 60th anniversary of the establishment of its Federal Republic," said Paisner. “The International Academy is delighted that a German-born American who participated in and shaped so much of the world’s recent history will present this momentous award.”