Happy 60th Birthday, ITF Golden Prague!

ITF Golden Prague celebrated its 60th birthday, and the IMZ is proud to have been an integral part of the festival and its celebrations!

Enthusiasts for the very best dance, drama, stage productions, directors, producers, and many well-loved artists of diverse backgrounds meet in Prague again. This year for the 60 time. The contribution of the IMZ also dates many years back, and so, it comes as no surprise, that the IMZ was again active in this year the festival’s creation. Contributing one of the prizes and holding a thought inspiring panel with the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The IMZ also invited FEDORA to present past winners of the FEDORA Digital Prize, as part of the festival.

But now in a more orderly way:

EBU and IMZ Panel: "Turning Classical Music (back) into Entertainment"

The IMZ is happy to have teamed up with the EBU in the high interest Panel, featuring multiple speakers from diverse broadcasting and media backgrounds. The discussion opened up the important topic of entertainment in classical music and went into the depth of how to integrate various ways and formats in which classical music can be integrated into broader broadcasting offers.

The panel was moderated by Matthew Trustam Head of Television, EBU + Katharina Jeschke Secretary General of the IMZ, and included the following experts:

Arild Erikstad Head of Music Radio/TV, NRK + IMZ President
Jason Charters Writer, Director, Executive Producer, Riddle Films
Laetitia Huberti Head of Cultural Channel, RTBF
Tanja van der Goes International Format Specialist and CEO, All Right Media

Read more about the panel, speakers and bios here.

Celebrating 60 years Golden Prague

On 21 September the highly deserved 60th birthday of ITF Golden Prague was celebrated. Attendees had the chance to congratulate and reminisce in the rich history of the festival. The IMZ is proud to have contributed to this marvellous run.

The Golden Prague International Television Festival Jury

The 60th Golden Prague Festival featured a distinguished jury of experts hailing from diverse backgrounds in the world of television and the arts, to find and elevate the finest artists and productions of the past year.

Chairman: Reiner Moritz, a renowned co-producer and distributor, who is attending the festival for the 60th time, led the jury. Reiner Moritz has received the Outstanding Achievement Award at Banff and at FIPA as well as The Prix Camera by the CNRS and is a Commandeur des Arts et Lettres.
Barbara Seiler, a seasoned director and producer, from Swiss Television. She has won Best Portrait at FIFA Montreal and Best Documentary at Women’s Worldwide Film Festival.
Agnė Biliūnaitė, Culture Editor in Chief of the Lithuanian National Broadcaster (LRT) with a wealth of experience, gained working in the National Opera House as a producer, in Asia as a Lithuanian Culture Attaché and as an art critique.
Francois Duplat producer and general manager of Bel Air Media. A self founded independent production company, specialized in the capturing events for television in the fields of opera, ballet, theatres and concerts.
Ivo Mathé, producer, screenwriter, university professor, and manager. Mathé is the President of the Czech Film and Television Academy and a member of the European Film Academy.

Fedora presenting its award winners

The FEDORA Digital Prize celebrates innovation in opera and dance through digital experimentation: A panel of experts supported by Kearney offers a price of 5,000€ to interdisciplinary digital collaboration. This year’s laureate for the Fedora Digital Prize is the Project known as “The Sound Voice Project”, by Britten Pears Arts and Sound Voice (United Kingdom). The unique and immersive digital-opera installations for flexible and interactive spaces exploring voice and identity, impressed jurors and enthusiasts alike.

The Award Ceremony

The festival's pinnacle moment arrived at the Awards Ceremony in the National Theatre, where we celebrated the winning films and honoured the incredible talents behind them. The IMZ, in collaboration with the EBU, proudly presented the EBU-IMZ Outstanding Achievement Award 2023 to both Mikael Karlsson and Alexander Ekman. We are very happy and proud that many IMZ Members were among this year’s awardees!

Here is a list of the winners of Golden Prague International Television Festival 2023:

GRAND PRIX
Movie: ORPHEA IN LOVE
Producers: EuroArts Music International GmbH
CZECH CRYSTAL – DOCUMENTARY PROGRAMMES DEDICATED TO MUSIC, DANCE AND THEATRE
Movie: MUSIC UNDER THE SWASTIKA – THE MAESTRO AND THE CELLIST OF AUSCHWITZ
Producers: 3B-Produktion GmbH
CZECH CRYSTAL – RECORDINGS OF STAGE WORK
Movie: INNOCENCE
Producers: Camera Lucida Productions
CZECH CRYSTAL – RECORDINGS OF CONCERT PERFORMANCE
Movie: MUSICAL JOURNEY THROUGH TIME. VILNIUS 700
Producers: Lithuanian National Broadcaster (LRT)
CZECH TELEVISION PRIZE
Movie: THE DARK SECRET OF MR. PAGANINI
Producers: A co-production by ORF, ARTE and Felix Breisach Medienwerkstatt funded by Austrian Television Fund and VAM, distributed by ORF-Enterprise
SPECIAL MENTION FOR EXTRAORDINARY ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT
Movie: THE STRANGEST OF ANGELS
Producers: Minerva Productions
EBU – IMZ OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Artists: Alexander Ekman and Mikael Karlsson
Read more about the award here.
DAGMAR AND VÁCLAV HAVEL FOUNDATION VIZE 97
Movie: NIKOLA MÁROVÁ: PORTRAIT OF A PRIMA BALLERINA
Director: Martin Kubala
Producer: Czech Television

Congratulations to all the winners from this year’s Golden Prague International Television Festival 2023.

Read more about the companies and their productions here

And with this closes another chapter of the rich and ongoing creation, we call Golden Prague. We would like to thank all the people involved, especially Tomáš Motl and his team for the festival direction. We are looking forward to joining again for the 61st edition.