Monte-Carlo Television Festival Winners Unveiled

MONTE-CARLO, June 13: The
recipients of the Golden Nymph Awards were announced at the 48th annual
Monte-Carlo Television Festival, with Desperate Housewives, CSI and
The Bold & the Beautiful taking
home the International TV Audience Awards.

In the comedy performance
category, Richard Ayoade scored the win for his role in The IT Crowd, while Isabelle Gelinas won for Desperate
Parents. Also for Desperate
Parents, France’s Guillaume
Renouil was recognized as the outstanding European producer, with Spain’s
Miguel Ángel Bernardeau scoring a nod for international producer for Remember
When.

Over in drama, The
Tudors’ Jonathan Rhys Meyers took
home the male performance win, and Esther Ortega won in the female category for
her role on Missing. Bernardeau
scored another win as the European producer for Missing, while Mexico’s
Luis Peraza won out on the international side for Capadocia.

John Adams was recognized as the best mini-series, with its male
lead, Paul Giamatti, scoring a win on the performance front. Katharina Wackernagel also nabbed a performance win
for her role in Germany’s Side Effects.

Awards were handed out in recognition of TV films as well, with The
Mark of Cain, from the U.K.’s Red Production Company, leading off with a win for
best television film. China’s Hua Zheng was awarded for his direction on Wait
for the Birth of the Husband, and Germany’s Beate Langmaack was recognized
for his script for Good Morning, Mr Grothe. On the performance side,
the wins went to Anna Madeley for Affinity and Jean-Pierre Darroussin
for Jury Duty.

Meanwhile, in the news category, ZDF’s Taxi to the Dark Side and SIC’s The
Bath House both won out as outstanding news documentaries, with ZDF also scoring
the Urti Prize—the International Grand Prix for Author’s
Documentary—for Memory Books. CBC News’ “The National:
Gaza Rockets” was recognized as the best news item, and Al Jazeera English
News Hour won as the best 24-hour news program.

The Signis Prize went to Manhunt, from France’s Elzevir
Films, which also won the Prize of the Monaco Red Cross. Portugal’s TVI won the
Amade Prize—the World Association of Friends of Children Awarded under
the Patronage of UNESCO—for Trafficked Childhood. Italy’s RAI
won the International Committee of the Red Cross Prize for Aftermath: The Balkans of Predrag Matvejevic.

Dick Wolf was awarded the
Honorary Golden Nymph, while the Prince Rainier III Special Prize went to TVE
in Spain for Climate Change II.

Recipients of the
International TV Audience Awards were Desperate Housewives, as the best comedy series; CSI, in the drama category; and The Bold & the
Beautiful, with a win in the
telenovela/soap genre.

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski