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| (Image Source: Manila Bulletin/New York Festivals) |
From drama to documentaries, broadcast media giant GMA Network is set to represent the Philippines in the global scene anew as it takes seven out of nine short-listed entries at the 2024 New York Festivals TV & Film (NYF) Awards, making it the only local broadcast company to make it this year.
Action-packed Filipino drama series “Black Rider” earns its first-ever international award nomination after being short-listed in the Entertainment Program: Drama category. Produced by GMA Public Affairs, the series is headlined by Primetime Action Hero Ruru Madrid and weaves together elements of heroism, revenge, justice, and family drama in a compelling narrative on a cinematic scale. GMA Integrated News’ “Sundo: A GMA Integrated News Documentary” represents the Philippines in the News Program: News Documentary/Special category. The special, which is the first news documentary and production under GMA Integrated News 360, chronicled the war between Hamas and Israel as told through the lenses of GMA Integrated News veteran journalists Raffy Tima and JP Soriano. GMA Integrated News was the first Philippine news organization to deliver live and exclusive reports straight from the Middle East in the Israel-Hamas conflict at that time.
GMA Public Affairs’ flagship documentary program “I-Witness", which is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, gets three entries shortlisted in various categories. The first is Howie Severino’s story “Boat to School" which is the Philippines’ entry in the Documentary: Heroes category. The episode showed the plight of the students in Liaonan, Siargao who had to traverse the sea using a boat just to go to school and how one resident took it upon herself to gather children in her small home to teach them what she could with the little knowledge she had. “Sisid sa Putik (Rise from the Mud)", on the other hand, is competing in the Documentary: Community Portraits category. The story by Mav Gonzales featured the old tradition of Agusan Del Norte residents diving into the waters to get mud that will be used to plant frog grass. Capping off the list of I-Witness entries is “Bawat Barya (The Price of Dreams)", which is short-listed in the Documentary: Social Issues category. This documentary by Atom Araullo told the story of two young boys who search for coins in a dirty water channel for a living.
The bi-monthly public affairs program “The Atom Araullo Specials” earns back-to-back shortlisted entries. The episodes “Child’s Game (Batas Bata)” and “One Deep Breath (Hingang Malalim)” are competing in the Documentary: Social Justice and Documentary: Human Concerns categories, respectively. Held annually, the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards recognizes content in all lengths and forms from over 50 countries. At the 2023 New York Festivals TV & Film Awards, GMA Network brought home two Gold and two Bronze medals as well as five Finalist Certificates.
