USA: The 2005 International Emmy Awards presented in New York City

A host of international actors and production teams converged in New York City on Monday (November 21) to take part in the 33rd International Emmy Awards Gala and to raise a toast to superlative television programming from across the world. The show was organized by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (IATAS) and hosted by comedian and talk-show host Graham Norton along with an array of presenters such as Jamie-Lynn Sigler, Danny Glover and Roger Bart. Graham Norton's long list of wisecracks while hosting the ceremony included poking fun at actor Tom Cruise while speaking about Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey won the 2005 International Emmy Founders Award for her international broadcast career and philanthropic initiatives, with Senator Hillary Clinton appearing very happy to do the honours. On the red carpet before the award ceremony kicked off, Norton paid his own tribute to the International Emmy Awards. "It's a huge prize. As far as television prizes go, it's the biggest in the world. It's the Emmys and they're honouring television from around the world. They are the biggest prizes you can win," said Norton. British television series "Spooks" was nominated in the Drama Series category. While nominations in this category included a Russian and Danish series, what the team of "Spooks" was most concerned about was the nomination of another British series, "New Tricks". On the red carpet, Executive Producer of "Spooks", Simon Crawford Collins said: "As long as we don't lose to the British, it's fine." For actress Vivica A. Fox, one of the presenters at the award ceremony, this was an occasion to add dollops of internationalism to her networking. "Tonight will be a nice networking experience for me, meet some new faces, my movies have done internationally well as well. So, I'm going to network, meet some new friends and I might be going across the water soon," she said. Amidst the chief awards, China's He Lin won an award in the Best Actress category for her role in "A'Xiu" (Slave Mother) and France's Thierry Fremont won in the Best Actor category for his role in "Dans la Tete du Tueur (Murder in Mind). Fremont believes the award will have a huge impact not only in France, but hopefully internationally as well. "I think in France my award is going to have an impact because this was the first time that a French actor was nominated and first throughout the world. I think it should have a good result for me and maybe it will impact my chances overseas too, such as in America, but I can't say," he said. The Best Drama Series award went to "The Eagle" from Denmark. In an interview backstage, after having won the award, Executive Producer of "The Eagle", Sven Clausen, said he was thrilled to have won for the third time. "It's incredible, isn't it? I mean we're such a small production company. We've been nominated for four successive years. We've won three times. Isn't it fantastic?" "The Drama of Dresden" from Germany won in the documentary category while the best comedy award went to "The Newsroom", a Canadian series. Founded in 1969 the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is the largest organization of global broadcasters, with over 500 members from nearly 70 countries and over 350 companies.

ITN Source | November 23, 2005

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