What Happened at the International Emmy Awards 2019

Image source - Getty Images

Emmy is an American award that acknowledges the excellence in the television industry. It was first awarded in 1949. ‘McMafia’ and ‘Especial de Natal Porta dos Fundos’ ('The Last Hangover') topped the awards with the best drama and best comedy, respectively at Monday night's award ceremony in New York.

The ceremony was held at the Hilton New York Hotel. ‘Safe Harbour’ was awarded the best movie/miniseries prize and ‘The Real Full Monty: Ladies Night’ with the best non-scripted entertainment. Haluk Bilginer and Marina Gera won the best acting prizes for their work in Şahsiyet (Persona) and Orok Tel, respectively.

Additionally, The International Academy gave CNN's chief international anchor and PBS's Amanpour host Christiane Amanpour and HBO's Game of Thrones creators David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, whose show aired in over 207 nations and territories at its height, with special awards through the course of the night.

There were in all 44 nominees this year from 29 countries, with the majority awards going to shows in Brazil and in the U.K. 

Indian Artists Who Shined at the Emmys 

Image Instagrammed by radhikaofficial 

Team India is anyway the winners

So what if India did not win any of the awards? For director Anurag Kashyap and actors Radhika Apte, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, it was a great victory. 

We did stand in the best of nominees. Lust Stories – a Netflix anthology, a chapter of which Karan Johar directed, was nominated for two International Emmys - Best TV Movie/Mini-Series and Radhika Apte was nominated for the Best Actress award. Sacred Games, another Netflix originals, was nominated for Best Drama Series. Reality shows The Remix was up for Best Non-Scripted Entertainment and Witness: India's Forbidden Love for Best Documentary.

For the nominators i.e. director Anurag Kashyap and actors Radhika Apte and Nawazuddin Siddiqui, it was a double triumph - Anurag directs both ‘Sacred Games’ and a chapter of ‘Lust Stories’; Radhika also stars in Sacred Games; Nawazuddin stars in both ‘Sacred Games’ and winning show ‘McMafia’.

To quote Nawazuddin, "It's a pure delight to be receiving the beautiful winner trophy at the International Emmy Awards Gala in New York with one of my favourite directors James Watkins for our work McMafia. Congratulations, James Norton, David Strathairn, Merab Ninidze, Oshri Cohen and Team McMafia."

Also, in an interview with news agency IANS earlier, Nawazuddin Siddiqui shared that director James Watkins cast him in McMafia after seeing his performance in Gangs of Wasseypur: "James Watkins has been following me since Gangs of Wasseypur and it is my performance in this movie, along with Miss Lovely and The Lunchbox, that eventually helped me bag my role in McMafia. Watkins is an experienced and passionate director and has also directed a few episodes of Black Mirror. He is somebody who keeps a keen eye for detail and beautifully brings out the smallest element in each shot. On McMafia, the overall experience was great, not just working with the director but all the other actors who were a part of the show."

The red carpet at the International Emmys that was represented by India included - Radhika Apte, Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Anurag Kashyap, Sacred Games star Kubbra Sait., Lust Stories directors Zoya Akhtar, Karan Johar and Dibakar Banerjee, Sacred Games director Vikramaditya Motwane, producer Ronnie Screwvala, the team of The Remix and many others.

The 47th Emmy awards were crucial for Indian cinema as Lust Stories and Sacred Games were nominated in different categories. Though India did not win any award, Nawazuddin Siddique received an Emmy for playing role in British series. After receiving the award he also uploaded an Instagram post. 

Image Instagrammed by nawazuddin._siddiqui

See this list to know if your favourite shows and artists made the cut

Best Drama Series: McMafia (UK)

Best Comedy Series: Especial De Natal Porta Dos Fundos (The Last Hangover) (Brazil)

Best Actress: Marina Gera Orok Tel (Eternal Winter) (Hungary)

Best Actor: Haluk Bilginer, Sahsiyet (Persona) (Turkey)

Best TV Movie/Mini-Series: Safe Harbour (Australia)

Best Short-Form Series: Hack The City (Brazil)

Best Non-English Language US Primetime Program: Falco

Best Telenovela: La Reina Del Flow (The Queen Of Flow)

Best Documentary: Bellingcat - Truth In A Post-Truth World (Netherlands)

Best Arts Programming: Dance Or Die (Netherlands)

Best Non-Scripted Entertainment: The Real Full Monty: Ladies' Night (UK)

Written by Dhrumi Salva and Amrita Mansharamani  


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