The 47th International Emmy Awards was held on Monday Night (Tuesday early morning IST) at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in NY City, where several actors, actresses and series from around the globe were recognized for their creations.
The British crime drama series McMafia, which follows the story of British-raised son of a Russian mafia boss in London, won the award in the Drama series. Based on the book McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld, the eight part series has been well received by the critics.
International Emmy Winner for Drama Series, "McMafia" produced by Cuba Pictures / @BBC / AMC with presenters @LouDPhillips & @BellamyYoung! #UnitedKingdom #iemmyWIN #iemmys pic.twitter.com/24sX4Pg3t2
— International Emmy Awards (@iemmys) November 26, 2019
In the Arts Programming category, the Dutch documentary which follows the journey of Syrian dancer Ahmad Joudeh, titled Dance or Die, took home the award.
Turkish actor Haluk Bilginer was honored with the Best Performance by an Actor for his role in the crime drama series Şahsiyet. In the series, he plays the role of a lonely retired court clerk suffering from alzheimer.
The Best Performance by an Actress was awarded to Hungarian actress Marina Gera for her role in the film Örök Tél (Eternal Winter), which follows an unlikely love story at a Soviet labor camp.
International Emmy Winner for Best Performance by an Actress, Marina Gera for her role in "Örök Tél (Eternal Winter)" produced by Szupermodern Studio Ltd with presenters Rike Schmid & @DKlattenhoff! #Hungary #iemmyWIN #iemmys pic.twitter.com/csYfiBmWai
— International Emmy Awards (@iemmys) November 26, 2019
In the TV Movie/Mini-Series category, the Australian thriller series Safe Harbour took home the award. It follows a group of friends on a sailing holiday, which crosses paths with a fishing boat loaded with asylum seekers.
The Academy also presented HBO Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, with special awards at the ceremony.
2019 International Emmy Founders Award recipients, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, Creators, @GameOfThrones, with presenter #ConlethHill. #iemmys pic.twitter.com/mNVbaoI7TN
— International Emmy Awards (@iemmys) November 26, 2019
It was a no win scenario for Indian content despite multiple nominations in different categories, i.e Radhika Apte in Best Performance by an Actress for Lust Stories, Sacred Games for Drama Series and The Remix in the Non-Scripted Entertainment.
However, Nawazuddin Siddiqui had a reason to celebrate as the British series McMafia won in the Drama series category, where he played the supporting role of an Indian business partner, Dilly Mahmood.
The Indian cinema has been slowly and successfully shifting towards more real and local stories with less song and dance. This year, the presence of Indian content at the Emmy Awards is a sign of improved content quality.
But in the past decade, after the advent of several independent voices like Anurag Kashyap, Dibakar Banerjee and Vikramaditya Motwane, the industry has seen a gradual change both in terms of content and the audiences taste.
Online streaming platforms in India like Netflix and Amazon Prime, has given a boost to the makers to tell longer format stories without worrying about censorship. Films like Article 15, Tumbbad, The Lunchbox, Kahaani, Haider, Piku, Pink and more are being made and generating numbers at the box-office, is a sign that the audience is seeking varied content.
Since the dawn of the streaming services, we have seen shows like Leila, Ghoul and Made In Heaven coming out of India, that tell local stories with high production quality and fine writing.
So for India it’s just a start and seems like a good one!
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