Monte-Carlo TV Festival Opens

MONTE
CARLO, June 9: The 48th Monte-Carlo Television Festival opened last night with the European premiere of the
full-length television film Father, based on Andrei Platonov’s short story The
Return.

During
the opening ceremony at Monte Carlo’s Grimaldi Forum, the festival’s Honorary
president, H.S.H. Prince Albert II, introduced the jury members who will screen
nominated entries and determine the recipients of the 2008 Golden Nymph Awards.
This year’s jury presidents are the award-winning French director Caroline
Huppert, Danish creator/producer Peter Henrik Hansen and Italian producer
Pietro Valsecchi. Other jury members include Spanish director, producer and
screenwriter Jose Antonio Escriva, Japanese producer Takahisa Goto, German
director Reiner Moritz, U.S. creator, writer and director David Leaf and
Italian actress Pamela Villoresi.

Ivan
Solovov the co-producer of Father, attended last night’s event, along with starring
actress Ivanova Svetlana (Masha). Attendees of the
screening included actors Armand Assante (American Gangster), Greg Rikaart (The Young
and the Restless) and Drake Hogestyn (Days of our Lives), along with actresses Lisa
Edelstein (House), Christel Khalil (The Young and the Restless) and Deidre Hall (Days of
Our Lives).

Other
stars in Monte Carlo for the five-day festival include cast members from
international TV series such as Ashes to Ashes, Cashmere Mafia, CSI, Damages, Desperate Housewives, House, Jekyll, Keeping up with the
Kardashians,
Law & Order, Lost, October Road, The Boarder and Ugly Betty, along with a plethora of
French and international stars.

Other
highlights of the Monte Carlo Television Festival this week include the
international television program competition and Golden Nymph Awards ceremony
and premiere screenings organized by a variety of European networks and
studios.

David
Tomatis, the CEO of the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, said: “We are delighted to
welcome some of the world’s most admired television industry representatives to
Monaco for the 48th Monte-Carlo TV Festival. We have received more submissions
to the competition than ever before, more than 700, the quality of which has
really raised the standard. We are greatly looking forward to the results of
the judges’ deliberations on Thursday. The Golden Nymph award has become one of
the most coveted and respected recognitions in the television industry.”

—By Irene Lew