"Chavez – Inside The Coup" wins the EBU Golden
Link Award 2003 for best coproduction from EBU Members.
The winning entry was announced by Jean Stock, EBU Secretary
General and chairperson of the jury, at the Sunny Side of the Doc
market held in Marseille on 26 June.
The film was produced by Power Pictures, in association with
RTE, the Irish Film Board,
the BBC, ZDF/ARTE, NPS - COBO and YLE. The Golden Link Award,
created by the EBU Documentary Group, is presented for the best
European coproduction from EBU Members.
Chavez – Inside The Coup is an unprecedented,
powerful and intimate documentary of Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez, showing the last seven months running up to the April 2002
coup attempt against him and his dramatic return to power, while
observing the influence of the media and the role of the US
government in another country's affairs.
The project was brought to the EBU Documentary Group by Kevin
Dawson, RTE commissioning editor. "The 64-minute documentary
depicts the political crisis in Venezuela during which President
Hugo Chavez was briefly toppled from power. The production had a
unique access to the Presidential Palace, Chavez, his cabinet, and
leaders," explained Dawson.
The documentaries short-listed for the award were: Storm over
Europe, The Secret of the Flying Dutchman, Queens of the Nile,
Species Odyssey, The Order and Seen but not Heard.
The international jury, chaired by the EBU Secretary General,
was made up of independent film producers including Sonja
Vesterholt (Vesterholt Film and TV), Serge Lalou (Les Films d'Ici),
Kees Ryninks (Dutch Film Fund), Norma Percy (Brook Lapping), Don
Edkins (last year's winner). The jury members selected the winning
film by taking into account the originality, expressiveness,
composition and international impact of the concept.
The prize consists of a sculpture in bronze by M. C. Escher: The
Escher Knot.
The EBU Documentary Group brings together the heads of
documentaries and commissioning editors of more than 50 EBU
Members. At two meetings of the group during the course of the
year, broadcasters are offered the opportunity to pitch
coproduction projects to other European broadcasters.
During the last coproduction pitching session held during the
Sunny Side of the Doc Market, 39 projects were presented to the
group. In total, 86 commissioning editors and heads of
documentaries attended the two day meeting in Marseilles, the
highest number of participants ever recorded.
Aline Bussat Ingwersen
Media Officer
European Broadcasting Union
Tel: +41 (0)22 717 2038
Fax: +41 (0)22 747 4204
ingwersen@ebu.ch
