NRW at the 2014 International Emmys

• NRW delegation at the 2014 International Emmy World Television Festival
• NRW faces: Carolin Kebekus, Jan Josef Liefers, Anna Loos, Serdar Somuncu
• Producers: Leopold Hoesch, Michael Souvignier, Sam Davis, Friedhelm Bixschlag a.o..
• Organiser: Land of NRW, Landesanstalt für Medien and Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
• Nominated: "Generation War" („Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter“) in the TV Movie/Mini-Series category and "The Wagner Files" („Wagnerwahn“) in the Arts Programming category

The forthcoming week will see the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences awarding the 42nd International Emmys to the world’s best TV programmes. Over 700 TV experts from 60 different nations are expected to come to New York again this year for the festival (22.-23.11.) and awards ceremony (24.11.). The International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences with President and CEO Bruce Paisner is the host.

As the leading German TV hub, NRW has had a presence at the television festival since 2009 and annually sends a delegation of TV professionals. This year’s delegation includes: the NRW producers Leopold Hoesch (Broadview TV, „Nowitzki – The Perfect Shot"), Michael Souvignier (Zeitsprung, „Landauer – Der Präsident"), Sam Davis (Rowboat, „Das Wunder von Kärnten") and Friedhelm Bixschlag (MMC Studios Cologne) as well as  Jörg Graf (RTL Television) and Michael Loeb (WDR Mediagroup). Jan Josef Liefers („Tatort Münster") and Anna Loos („Helen Dorn") will be in New York as actors representing strong NRW TV productions, and the Cologne-based comedian Carolin Kebekus and stand-up comic  Serdar Somuncu will be flying the flag for entertainment.

The nominations selected from around the globe include "Generation War" („Unsere Mütter, unsere Väter"), a production also backed by the  Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, which was also partly shot in North Rhine-Westphalia. Philipp Kadelbach’s three-parter was nominated in the  TV Movie/Mini-Series category.

"Generation War" is the story of a group of young friends whose paths separate in Berlin in 1941 and undergo many fateful twists through to the end of the war in 1945. The historical three-parter is a production by Ufa Fiction and ZDF in association with  Betafilm and ZDF Enterprises and shot for 20 of its  86 shooting days in NRW. Stefan Kolditz wrote the screenplay. Heike Hempel, Alexander Bickel and Thorsten Ritsch were the commissioning editors at ZDF, with Benjamin Benedict, Nico Hofmann and Jürgen Schuster serving as producers, and Sebastian Werninger and Katrin Goetter as executive producers.

The Film- und Medienstiftung NRW supported the production with 900,000 Euro, additional funding came from FilmFernsehFonds Bayern, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung, Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Filmförderung Hamburg Schleswig-Holstein and the nordmedia fund. Following the nomination, the lead actors  Volker Bruch, Tom Schilling, Katharina Schüttler, Ludwig Trepte and Miriam Stein, the screenwriter, producers and commissioning editors  will travel to the awards ceremony.

Another German production was nominated in the  Arts Programming category: "The Wagner Files" („Wagnerwahn") was submitted by Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion to represent the cross media format CULTURE FILES (DIE KULTURAKTE) which had been developed by Christian Beetz and was co-produced by RBB, WDR, ZDF und SWR in association with ARTE and backed by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg, Mitteldeutsche Medienförderung and Media Development. The Filmstiftung NRW had also supported a part of the series by awarding 77,000 Euro to "The Beethoven Files" ("Die Akte Beethoven¨) by Hedwig Schmutte and Ralf Pleger. .

The NRW presentation is organised by the Land of NRW in collaboration with the Landesanstalt für Medien (LfM) and the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW, with CEO Petra Müller in attendance in New York.

The media region of NRW and the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences have been cooperating with each other since 2009. Apart from the annual visit by a NRW delegation to the Emmy Festival, the Emmy Ambassador Leopold Hoesch also holds the Emmy Judgings in Cologne each summer.