Monte-Carlo Wraps with Golden Nymph Awards

The 59th edition of the Monte-Carlo TV Festival, which saw talent from around the world meeting with the public and the press, came to a close yesterday with the presentation of the Golden Nymph Awards.

At the Golden Nymph Awards, the best of the 28 fiction and news programs from 17 countries in competition were recognized. Actor Michael Douglas was awarded a Crystal Nymph to honor his body of work.

Best long fiction program went to Showtime’s Escape at Dannemora, with star Patricia Arquette honored with the outstanding actress award.  Grégory Montel from the French production Thirst For Life was named outstanding actor. Yes TV’s On the Spectrum swept the comedy category with the best series award and honors for actress Naomi Levov and actor Niv Majar. In drama, My Brilliant Friend was named best series, while the actress and actor awards went to Vicky Krieps for Das Boot and Richard Madden for Bodyguard, respectively. Dollar Heroes—North Korea’s Secret Slaves was named best documentary, while Crackdown: The “Rule Of Law” in China took the Jury Prize in the news category. The International TV Audience Awards went to The Good Doctor for drama series, Lethal Weapon for crime series and India’s Dil Se Dil Tak for telenovela/soap opera. The Prince Rainier III Special Prize was awarded to Raw TV’s Drowning in Plastic.

During his speech at the opening ceremony on Friday evening, the festival’s honorary president, H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, commented, “Boundless is probably an accurate way to describe today’s increase in exceptional programs being created worldwide. From remarkable series to thought-provoking documentaries and insightful news reports from remote territories, each one set to educate, enlighten and to entertain us.

“In these troubled and confusing times of uncertainty and negativity,” he continued, “with so much happening on a daily basis that is disturbing and disconcerting, it is reassuring to see the unprecedented level of creativity and originality that is available to all of us.”

Following the opening ceremony, there was a screening of the first episode of L.A.’s Finest, with stars Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union in attendance.

Numerous actors were also in Monte Carlo representing TV series, miniseries and TV movies from the Hollywood studios as well as international broadcasters and outlets. Among them, members of the show FBI, created by Dick Wolf. Missy Peregrym, Zeeko Zaki, Jeremy Sisto and Ebonée Noel, along with Wolf, participated in a panel discussion moderated by World Screen’s group editorial director, Anna Carugati, before a screening of the show’s first episode.

This year’s fiction jury included Ricky Whittle (Jury President), Pedro Alonso, Anne Kolbjornsen, Gisella Marengo, Gideon Raff and Ola Rapace, and the news jury was comprised of Rory Kennedy (Jury President), John Irvine, Ghislaine Ottenheimer, Paul Refsdal, Luca Rosini and Masaru Zenke.

“The Monte-Carlo TV Festival is the oldest festival in Europe; we will celebrate the 60th edition next year,” says Laurent Puons, the Festival’s CEO. “It is a very important platform for studios, digital services and TV channels, which come to the festival to promote and communicate their shows and talent to the public, press and media. We welcome more than 200 journalists and we organize some 25 public events.”

While the heart of the festival is the competition, Puons explains, there are a lot of producers and directors who attend the festival each year. Puons organized a special space for them, a business lounge, where they could discuss future projects.