ABU DHABI // A UAE-based film production company, The Frame, will host one of the semi-final judging sessions for the International Emmy Awards. The session will be held at the Abu Dhabi Cultural Foundation from July 21 to 23 on behalf of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. Semi-final judging sessions are being hosted around the world by other companies in the 400-member academy.
Entries from about 70 countries will be judged during the final leg of the competition in September, with winners to be announced at a New York gala event in November. Tarif Sayed, owner and managing director of The Frame, based in Dubai, said the company brought the awards to Abu Dhabi to help promote the emirate's growing film and television industry. The company also wanted "to promote further content creation in the region and the UAE, which in turn will result in more regional content reaching the international market", he said.
The International Emmy Awards - which are divided into 15 categories - recognise programmes that are produced outside the US or are produced by a partnership between US entities and interests in other countries. Abdulla Butti al Qubaisi, the director of communication at Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage (Adach), said: "In recent years this country's burgeoning film, TV and media industry has produced many programmes that are contemporary yet uniquely 'UAE'.
"This original approach to TV and film-making influenced greatly the decision to host the International Emmy Awards' semi-final judging session in Abu Dhabi. "As artistic and production standards here continue to rise, I can foresee many tough decisions facing the jurors throughout the course of the day's judging." The July round will be the second of three rounds of judging. The preliminary round took place earlier this year.
A press conference is being held at Adach tomorrow to announce the judging sessions and provide details on how they will be conducted. Nathaniel Brendel, director of judging for the Emmys, said that the judging sessions afforded international professionals greater access to those working in the local industry. Placing judging sessions in the UAE would raise the international profile of the country and of regional programmes, Mr Brendel said.
Entries in the International Emmys must have been originally created for television and mainly produced by companies based outside of the US. An entry in the International Emmys cannot have been nominated in the US Emmy competition. mswan@thenational.ae
