Washington, Apr 16th, 2011 (WAM) — The United Arab Emirates has harvested four top awards at the New York Festivals’ Television & Film Awards, celebrated at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show in Las Vegas.
The three Gold World Medals were collected on stage at a gala ceremony on Tuesday by Omar Alshamsi, Deputy Chief of Mission at the Embassy of the UAE in Washington DC. In addition to the three golds, he also collected a Bronze World Medal and a Special Finalist Certificate. All the awards, which were given in front of a major gathering of the world’s top TV and film producers, were connected with media produced for the UAE Pavilion at World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
The fourth gold medal was won by the Abu Dhabi Company for Onshore Oil Operations (ADCO) for its entry.
The prestigious international recognition awarded to the films: In the Blink of an Eye and Dream Journey, comes on top of a series of other accolades achieved by the UAE Pavilion in Shanghai, including a ‘Number-One’ ranking in a visitor survey of impressions of participating pavilions.
Commenting on the impressive triple score, the UAE’s Chairman of the National Media Council, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan stated that “The core feature of the UAE’s exhibition at EXPO 2010 was the three very strong media presentations. We are delighted that this experienced international jury at the NY Festivals’ competition has chosen to recognize these films in this way”.
In the Blink of an Eye tells the story of the UAE’s dramatic development over the past three generations, whilst Dream Journey is a short film combining actual settings with animation, depicting a young Emirati boy and a Chinese girl exploring the UAE. Both films were shot in the UAE in 2009 and 2010 and were especially produced for the EXPO event, captivating two million viewers at the pavilion itself and many more who have watched the films on the internet. Dream Journey was also screened after the closing of EXPO at over 50 cinemas in Hong Kong.
The New York Festivals World’s Best Television & Films Awards recognize the “World’s Best Work” in news, sports, documentary, information and entertainment programming as well as in music videos, infomercials, promotion spots, openings and ID’s. Now entering its 54th year, the total number of entries continues to grow, representing over 35 different countries, making the NYF Television & Film Awards one of the most well known and widely respected competitions on the globe. In 2010, NYF combined both the Television Program Awards and the Film & Video Awards, thus creating one of the world’s largest international competitions dedicated to both the TV and film industries.
Dream Journey won Gold World Medals in both the Business Theatre and Public Relations categories of the Film and Video Industrial Productions Group, whilst In the Blink of an Eye won a Gold World Medal for Cinematography in the Craft/Technique Education/Information section and a Group Bronze Medal in the Business Theatre Group, together with a Finalist Certificate for Original Music in the same group. With entries from over 30 countries, this year’s Television & Film Awards presented particularly strong competition and the films were competing against all the world’s major production companies, including BBC, CNN, Walt Disney, Turner Broadcasting, CTV, Canadian Broadcasting and others.
The UAE Pavilion at EXPO 2010 was supported by the UAE Government and organized by the National Media Council.