49th Rose d'Or Award Winners announced

Lucerne, Switzerland (ots) - The 49th Rose d'Or closed this
evening at a glittering awards ceremony in Lucerne with a major
triumph for Canada, which is taking home five Golden Roses including
the prestigious Honorary Rose d'Or presented to Sheena Macdonald,
Director of Special Projects at The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) and
writer/producer George Anthony.

The coveted Best of 2009 Golden Rose, chosen from the winners of
the ten categories, went to I Survived a Japanese Game Show from the
US.

International stars including Anatole Taubman (Quantum Of Solace),
Sofia Milos (CSI: Miami) and Jennifer Gareis (The Bold And The
Beautiful) presented the awards at the event, hosted by American
actor and comedian Maz Jobrani.

Presenting the Honorary Roses, Festival Director Urban Frye said:
"Sheena and George have made outstanding contributions during their
careers. Their extraordinary achievements demonstrate the value of
embracing quality, originality and creativity."

The Festival has seen a major return this year from important
international broadcasters and institutions. The closing day also saw
major conference sessions such as Stand and Deliver: Creating Public
Value in a New Media Economy, organized in collaboration with the
Adolf Grimme Academy, The European Journalism Centre Maastricht and
the Cologne Conference, featuring industry luminaries such as the
Academy's Director Günter Clobes and the BBC's Alan Yentob, as well
as FRAPA (the Format Recognition and Protection Association)
previewing its important new report on the global format industry.

There has been a strong focus on performing arts at this year's
Festival with highlights including a Performing Arts on Prime Time
panel and public screenings of Don Giovanni Unmasked and El Sistema.

The newly formed Rose d'Or Advisory Board met for the first time
and discussed how the Festival's 50th anniversary next year would be
celebrated, and, according to its president John Gough, "how we can
move forward to embrace ther next 50 years."

This year's festival also saw the launch of the Rose d'Or Academy
at which 10 students had the chance to direct, shoot and edit a live
recording of Swiss band Pegasus. The finished product was judged by
course instructors - marketing and production expert Jon Diamond,
Managing Director LipSync and award-winning director David G.Croft -
who selected Daniel Farrèr's video to be screened at the Awards
Ceremony, and win the cash prize of 2000 CHF.

"This was an incredibly difficult decision as the enthusiasm and
quality of work of the students would put many professionals to
shame," said Diamond and Croft. "They are all winners and we are
proud to be part of the inaugural Rose d'Or Academy."

The competition set a new record with 424 programmes entered by
170 companies from 33 countries. From these, a pre-selection jury
nominated 79 programmes from 53 companies and 18 countries to compete
in their respective categories.

A high-profile group of 25 jury members from 22 countries narrowed
this field to the winners in each of the following ten categories:
Arts Documentary, Comedy, Drama, Sitcom, Entertainment, Game Show,
Performing Arts, Reality and the newly introduced Multi Platform and
Pitch Pilot.

"The Rose's true strength is its incredible breadth, with the
largest international jury to meet in one place," said Urban Frye,
"Programmes are judged on Originality, Creativity and Quality, and
this year's winner clearly demonstrates the broad international
perspective of the Rose d'Or jury"

The winners are as follows:

BEST OF 2009

I Survived A Japanese Gameshow (US)

Production Company: A. Smith & Co. Productions
Broadcaster/Distributor: Small World IFT

Nine unsuspecting westerners travel to Tokyo to compete in
hilarious Japanese game shows, while immersing themselves in cultural
excursions and living together in a Japanese apartment. Their entire
upside-down-world experience is captured on television. It's an
outrageous combination of Real World meets Lost in Translation, and
there is no predicting who will end up with the honor of being Big in
Japan, winning piles of Japanese yen!

ARTS DOCUMENTARY

The Curse of Mona Lisa (UK)

Production Company: Oxford Film & Television Broadcaster/Distributor:
Channel 4

The Mona Lisa Curse, the first film in Channel 4's three-part Art
and Money season, is a timely polemic by internationally renowned art
critic Robert Hughes which examines how the world's most famous
painting came to influence the art world. With his trademark style,
Hughes explores how museums, the production of art and the way we
experience it, have radically changed in the last 50 years.

COMEDY

Rick Mercer Report (Canada)

Production Company: Island Edge
Broadcaster/Distributor: Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The Rick Mercer Report is a half hour comedy that takes a satiric
look at the week's events, lampoons annoying, over-played
commercials, and travels across the country to talk with celebrities
and ordinary Canadians alike. In this episode, Rick experiences zero
gravity at the Canadian Space Agency. Also, Rick visits Canada's
leading recycling program in Edmonton.

DRAMA

Windfall & Misfortunes (Canada)

Production Company: Locomotion Television
Broadcaster/Distributor: Distraction Formats

This is a true story about the rise and fall of a dysfunctional
family that strike gold when they win the lottery. On April 1st,
1986, Jean-Guy Lavigueur and his family won 7.6 million dollars. It
was the largest amount ever won at Loto-Quebec's weekly drawing. What
could have been the start of a fairytale rapidly turned into a
nightmare. A modern Cinderella story. The castle has been replaced by
a huge lottery draw. Still, 'at midnight' the fairytale switches back
to reality.

ENTERTAINMENT

The Anthill (Spain)

Production Company: 7 y acción
Broadcaster/Distributor: 7 y acción

The anthill its a atypical live TV show daily programme which
contains a lot of sections in the program and that makes the program
very dynamic and as said before very atypical. The programme contains
every day sections like: humor monolog, today's news, science section
and a lot of humor

GAME SHOW

Relentless (UK)

Production Company: Zig Zag Productions
Broadcaster/Distributor: ITV Global Entertainment

Relentless is a chaotic 48-hours reality game show where questions
will be asked at any time, any place, anywhere. Contestants will sign
up for the show but they'll have no idea when it will start. They do
know, however, that when it does start, it'll be relentless! In each
show one contestant's life will be totally hi-jacked when they'll be
asked 10 questions in 48 hours - these questions will come when
they're least expecting them!

PERFORMING ARTS

The Eternity Man (Australia)

Production Company: Goalpost Pictures & Illumination
Broadcaster/Distributor: Australian Broadcasting Corporation

The Eternity Man is a film opera like no other; in a universal
tale of hope and redemption, a lonely man consumed with self-loathing
and religious zeal, wanders the streets of Sydney writing the word
'Eternity' on the pavements in an immaculate, copperplate hand. Based
on the 2003 Opera, The Eternity Man is a unique film where words,
music and moving images combine to create something both startling
and new - 'The Eternity Man' excites the senses.

PERFORMING ARTS - SPECIAL MENTION

La Traviata At Zurich Main Station (Switzerland)

Produced by: SF Schweizer Fernsehen
Broadcaster/Distributor: SF Schweizer Fernsehen

In September 2008 commuters at Switzerland's busiest railway
terminal have been surprised with a live performance of Verdi's La
Traviata. Zurich's station remained open for business, while the
soloists, the choir and the orchestra of Zurich opera house,
conducted by Paolo Carignani, Performed around the passengers. La
Traviata in Zurich main station" brought Verdi's tragic love story to
a daily stage and became the most successful culture programme ever
produced by National Swiss Television.

MULTI PLATFORM

MI High, Whack The Mole, The MI High Alternate Reality Game (Canada)

Production Company: Xenophile Media
Broadcaster/Distributor: BBC

Whack the Mole, The MI High Alternate Reality Game, was created to
enhance the viewer's connection to the second season of MI High.
Thirteen online episodes linked to thirteen episodes on TV broadcast
from January to April 2008. The interactive experience brings the
world of MI High to life; offering viewers the chance to become an MI
High Field Agent, literally joining the MI High Team, foiling
villains and solving cases of vital importance to the British secret
service.

PITCH PILOT

The Telephone (Canada)

Production Company: Productions Pixcom Inc
Broadcaster/Distributor: Productions Pixcom Inc

Le Téléphone is the meeting of two publicly-known personalities
who talk on the phone from two different locations. Each show
features three phone calls on different topics. Whether hilarious,
light, serious or unconventional, the conversations between these
twosomes (sometimes threesomes) are lively, with people cutting in
and talking at the same time. Captivated, the viewer listens in,
curious, amused, hanging on to every word in anticipation of what
they will say next.

REALITY

I Survived A Japanese Gameshow (US)

Production Company: A. Smith & Co. Productions
Broadcaster/Distributor: Small World IFT

Nine unsuspecting westerners travel to Tokyo to compete in
hilarious Japanese game shows, while immersing themselves in cultural
excursions and living together in a Japanese apartment. Their entire
upside-down-world experience is captured on television. It's an
outrageous combination of Real World meets Lost in Translation, and
there is no predicting who will end up with the honor of being Big in
Japan, winning piles of Japanese yen!

SITCOM

My Family (UK)

Production Company: DLT Entertainment/ Rude Boy
Broadcaster/Distributor: DLT Entertainment

Michael finds Abi's note saying she's become a nun and asking
Ben/Susan to break the news to husband, Roger. Susan meets Roger in
a restaurant to tell him. Ben's convinced he'll go ballistic; Susan
thinks he'll cry. Janey thinks her new boyfriend Ron is married, so
sends Michael on a dirt digging mission. However, it's not a wife he
lives with, it's his mum! Roger decides he has to visit Abi and wants
Ben to go with him to the convent. Ben comes up with a plan to gain
entrance to the convent.

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Contact:
Bianca Newby
Phone: +41/41/242'09'05
E-Mail: bianca.newby@rosedor.ch