Karl Malakunas’ Delikado, which follows the tribulations of environmental crusaders on the island of Palawan in the Philippines, has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Investigative Documentary.
The nominees for the News & Documentary Emmys were announced today, spanning 62 categories.
Delikado is eligible for an Emmy as it has screened in the US on PBS’s POV; it is a co-production between POV and ITVS.
The film follows three leaders of an environmental network, Bobby, Tata and Nieves, who risk their lives in David versus Goliath-style struggles trying to stop politicians and businessmen from destroying the Philippines’ “last ecological frontier”. Malakunas is the director and producer of the film, alongside producers Marty Syjuco, editor Michael Collins and Kara Magsanoc-Alikpala. Laura Nix is writer and executive producer, Ali Marsh executive producer and impact producer, Daniel J. Chalfen executive producer and Shaleece Haas supervising producer. The film was supported by the Shark Island Institute and Documentary Australia’s Clara Williams Roldan is an impact consultant.
The film’s cinematographer is Tom Bannigan, editor Eric Daniel Metzgar, co-editor Paul Alexander Juutilainen, composer Nainita Desai and sound designer Michael ‘Gonzo’ Gandsey.
Delikado screened at the Sydney Film Festival in 2022, where it won the $10,000 Sustainable Futures Award, and was also nominated for an Asia Pacific Screen Award, receiving a special mention from the jury.
Malakunas is a Walkley Award-winning journalist and the Asia-Pacific deputy-editor-in-chief for Agence France-Presse in Hong Kong. He lived in the Philippines for eight years as Manila bureau chief for AFP, which informed his work on Delikado.
The documentary categories of the the News & Documentary Emmy Awards will be presented live at the Palladium Times Square in New York City September 28 (US time).