Monday, October 5, 2015

BREAKING. South Africa shines as M-Net's MasterChef South Africa, StarSat's Puppet Nation ZA and Miners Shot Down doc are nominated for International Emmy Awards.


South Africa is shining with a massive 3 nominations for the 2015 International Emmy Awards with M-Net's (DStv 101) MasterChef South Africa, StarSat's Puppet Nation ZA and the local documentary Miners Shot Down that's all been nominated for this year's awards.

South Africa with 3 nominations forms part of only 19 countries that cracked the nod this year in the 10 categories and the various nominees announced today by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Besides South Africa, Angola is the only other country in Africa to get a nomination for its Jikulumessu in the telenovela category.

The winners will be announced in New York on 23 November at the Hilton New York hotel.

M-Net's MasterChef South Africa cracked a nomination in the reality, or so called "non-scripted" category and is produced by Quizzical Pictures and Lucky Bean Media. It's the second time that MasterChef SA gets an international Emmy nomination after it also snagged a nomination in 2013.

There's been no immediate statement from M-Net.

Puppet Nation ZA (previously called ZA News), produced by Both Worlds and shown on On Digital Media (ODM) and StarTimes Media South Africa's StarSat on the StarTimes One (StarSat 120) channel, was nominated in the comedy category.

After getting 11 nominations, Puppet Nation ZA earlier this year won 7 Golden Horn trophies at the South African Film and Television Awards (Saftas) in May.

There's been no immediate statement from StarSat.

The harrowing documentary Miners Shot Down - the Uhuru Productions documentary about the Marikana Massacre produced by filmmaker Rehad Desai - scored a nomination in the documentary category.

The SABC and e.tv have so far refused to broadcast Miners Shot Down but it has been shown on the community TV station Cape Town TV in July and Al Jazeera ((DStv 406 / StarSat 257) both channels of which are carried on MultiChoice's DStv platform.

In August Rehad Desai urged for Miners Shot Down to be broadcast on e.tv and the SABC saying that the film "has become an ever-present symbol of the average South African's struggle to survive in this country".

"Every year, the international television community competes to be recognized for excellence on the International Emmy's global stage," says Bruce L. Paisner, the president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

Another Africa related nomination includes Africa’s Wild West: Stallions of the Namib Desert from Austria.

Earlier this year Debora Patta was nominated for a news Emmy for her work as the Africa correspondent for the American TV network CBS on their show, CBS Evening News.