“The Prison Choir” by 3 Koma shortlisted for the final of the International Emmy Awards
“El Coro de la carcel” (The Prison Choir), created and produced for Spain’s TVE by 3 Koma (member of Eiken), is one of the 8 programmes initially shortlisted for the final of the International Emmy Awards in the category of “Non-Scripted Entertainment”. The actual list of finalists will be officially announced on October 6th at the Cannes International Fair. The programme by 3 Koma is competing against two English language programmes, two from South America, one from Asia and one from Africa.
The International Emmy Awards are handed out each year by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences to honour excellence in television, targeting companies and individuals that create, produce and perform in television programmes outside the United States.
In June past, the programme by the Basque producer, part of the Audiovisual Cluster of Euskadi – The Basque Country, already won one of the main awards at the Banff World Television Festival in Canada (FWTVF), as the best international reality show. This Canadian event is one of the most prestigious international competitions in the field of TV documentaries and reality series. Following a prior selection from amongst 80 productions from all over the world, “The Prison Choir” beat off the challenge from two programmes by the BBC and two North American programmes.
“The Prison Choir” was also selected as one of the 10 best productions that the European Broadcasting Union presented at the INPUT (International Public Television) conference held in Lugano (Switzerland) last May. It also received a special mention at the Premios Ondas 2006 awarded by Radio Barcelona.
This international success has not gone unnoticed in the world television market. Since April, 12 inmates at Oslo prison in Norway are busy forming a choir conducted by Charlotte Fongen, a teacher of song. This is the Norwegian version of the programme by 3 Koma that has just been premiered. Furthermore, according to sources within 3 Koma itself, in the coming months “we will be announcing its imminent production in another European country”.