Plans for 61st Monte-Carlo Television Festival Revealed

The schedule for the 61st edition of the Monte-Carlo Television Festival has been unveiled, with an opening ceremony set for June 17 that will see the world premiere of Last Light and the presentation of the first International Golden Nymph for Most Promising Talent.

Hosted by Genie Godula, the opening ceremony will be held at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco, the festival’s honorary president, will bestow the International Golden Nymph for Most Promising Talent to French actor Théo Christine (War of the Worlds, SKAM, Suprêmes).

The world premiere of the first two episodes of the new thriller Last Light, produced by MGM International TV Productions in association with Peacock, Viaplay, MBC Group and Stan, will follow. It is based on Alex Scarrow’s novel and stars Matthew Fox (Lost), Joanne Froggatt (Downton Abbey, Liar, Angela Black) and Tom Wlaschiha (Game of Thrones). Dennie Gordon (Jack Ryan) directs.

The Golden Nymph Awards will take place at the Grimaldi Forum on June 21, hosted by Miss France 2021 Amandine Petit and magician, comedian, actor and author Eric Antoine. The selection includes 21 programs from 12 countries in the fiction category, the news and documentaries category and the Prince Rainier III Special Prize category.

The nominees in the fiction category are A Private Affair (Un asunto privado) from Spain’s Bambú Producciones; Ida’s Novel (Ida Regénye) from Hungary’s Film Positive Productions; Made in Oslo from Norway’s Tordenfilm and Nordic Entertainment Group’s Viaplay; Martha Liebermann from Germany’s Ziegler Film & Co. KG; The Offer from the U.S.’s Paramount Television Studios; The Terminal List from the U.S.’s Amazon Studios, Civic Center Media and MRC Television; The Tourist from the U.K.’s Two Brothers Pictures; Trom from the Faroe Islands’ REinvent Studios and co-produced by KYK, Pictures, Truenorth and ZDF/Arte; and Vincenzo Malinconico, Avvocato d’Insuccesso from Italy’s Viola Film and Rai Fiction.

The official selection for the news and documentaries category includes China: The Uighur Tragedy from France’s Découpages and Yuzu Productions; CNA Correspondent: Wildlife Trafficking in North Sulawesi from Singapore’s Mediacorp; Erasmus in Gaza from Spain’s Arpa Films; Lucy and Desi from the U.S.’s Amazon Studios, Imagine Documentaries and White Horse Pictures in association with Paper Kite Productions and Diamond Docs; Navalny—The Man Putin Couldn’t Kill from the U.K.’s True Vision; Syrie, des femmes dans la guerre a French-Syrian co-production by Capa Presse; The Adventures of Saul Bellow from Israel’s Ingenue Productions; Undercover Asia—China’s Pet Economy from Singapore’s Mediacorp; and Zelensky: Le clown devenu chef de guerre from France’s France Télévisions.

The nominees for the Prince Rainier III Special Prize are the French titles Les éclaireurs de l’eau from J2F Production and LSD Films; Méditerranée: L’odyssée pour la vie from Boréales, Federation Entertainment, Terra Mater Factual Studios, Fabula Pictures and Anemon Productions; and Sur le Front: Quand le désert avance from Winter Productions and France Télévisions.

This year will see the inaugural Prix du Public award as well, in partnership with BetaSeries, which gives fans the opportunity to participate and reward a program.

The presidents of the juries are American actor and producer Neal McDonough for the fiction category and Jill Tiefenthaler, CEO of National Geographic, for the news and documentaries section.

From June 18 to 20, the festival will host a lineup of business-focused panels as part of its Business Content strand.

Laurent Puons concluded, “After two years affected by the global health crisis, the festival has returned to the highest international level with a very strong competition which includes many world premieres. The digital platforms have reconfirmed their commitment, and we are looking forward to an extremely exciting edition in June. Yet again, the Monte-Carlo TV Festival is set to be the best in Europe.”