MIPCOM’s Diversify TV Awards Put Spotlight on Aboriginal, Same-Sex Adoption Stories

MIPCOM Cannes‘ Diversify TV Awards kicked off Tuesday afternoon at the Grand Palais, with A Different Man actor and activist Adam Pearson, drag star Nicky Doll and host Femi Oke.

The Behind the Scenes Impact Award went to Banijay Launch, a program that works to spotlight emerging women in the industry and pair them with the best of Banijay’s global network of creatives. Endemol Shine CEO Shannon Kearney said: “Thank you so much. It was super important for us to try to really open up opportunities for women. We really wanted to help women come up with some new ideas and have a seat at the table that maybe they don’t normally get.”

The Representation of Disability in the scripted category was awarded to French series One of Us which airs on TF1. “Authentic representation of disability enhances storytelling,” Pearson said before announcing the winner. “It crosses empathy and tries to support a more inclusive society. It’s these stories, when told well that give audiences and insight into the authentic lived experience of disability, the challenges and triumphs. We very deliberated long and hard and they came to a decision.”

The same award in the non-scripted category was awarded to Norway’s The Giants, following the story of Norway’s first national football team for little people and their debut at the World Dwarf Games. “This award belongs to a great group of people, the players on the team, the Giants and their coach. Thanks to them, our series tackles ignorance in a way of warmth and hum and a lot of courage,” said TKTK.

The Representation of LGBTQIA+ award in the scripted category went to the BBC‘s Lost Boys & Fairies from All3Media and Duck Soup Films, a musical drama about fictional couple Gabriel and Andy as they try to adopt a seven-year-old, Jake. The judges said: “This isn’t just about the queer experience, but we also appreciate the ways they tell the adoption story of its ugly parts, and that make us like it even more.”

Canadian show Y A Une Etoile (There’s a Star) from Bellefeuille Productions won the Representation of LGBTQIA+, non-scripted award. The series follows a young transgender musician who sets his friends off on a musical journey through his native rural lands and comes upon a queer community.

The Representation of Race & Ethnicity award in the scripted category was presented by Royal Housewives of Beverly Hills star Garcelle Beauvais. “It is an honor to be here in stunning Cannes,” Beauvais said. “I am so proud to be a voice for my culture as a Black Haitian American. “Now in my Black Girl Missing movie franchise at Lifetime, we share the stories of young black girls who fall through the cracks… [bringing] crucial awareness to the disparity between when someone black and brown goes missing versus someone who is white, how some voices are viewed as being more valuable or worth hearing more than others.

“Now today, all these projects nominated are beautiful, unique stories told by diverse storytellers. They are all doing their part to make sure that voices from underrepresented communities are heard.” ITV and Britbox’s Three Little Birds, distributed by Banijay Rights and produced by Tiger Aspect, took home the prize. It was written by Sir Lenny Henry who was inspired by his mother’s stories about leaving Jamaica in the 1950s for Britain.

In the non-scripted category, the Representation of Race & Ethnicity award went to Channel 5’s White Nanny Black Child from Together Films, Doc Hearts Limited & Tigerlily Productions. The show is about Nigerian children who are fostered by white nannies. Oke said: “This program spoke to me… When I was six weeks old, my Nigerian parents dropped me off with a British white family in Kent and they were my foster family for seven years. You can imagine my shock, but I met a whole community of people in this documentary that had a similar experience to mine. This story is so close to home.”

The penultimate award of the presentation was for Kids Programming in the pre-school category, which TVOkids & PBS Thirteen’s Wordsville won. Distributed and produced by Sinking Ship Entertainment, Wordsville follows nine-year-olds solving word mysteries in the kid-run town of Wordsville.

For older children, a show about a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy and his friends trying to defeat bullies at a school carnival, Windcatcher, won the final prize. Airing on Stan and distributed by Australian Children’s Television Foundation, Windcatcher is produced by Unless Pictures & Every Cloud Productions.