‘Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds’ (Photo: Nigel Wright).
Endemol Shine Australia’s Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds took home two prizes from the New York Festivals TV and Film Awards, with other Aussie winners including Northern Pictures/Oxford Scientific Films’ Magical Land of Oz and episodes of SBS’s Dateline.
Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds, commissioned by the ABC, scored Gold in the Social Issues documentary category at the awards, in addition to a Silver Award from the United Nations Department of Global Communications, for exemplifying the aims and ideas of the UN.
The series, which won the 2019 AACTA Award for Best Documentary or Factual Program, demonstrates the physical and mental benefits of bringing together the very young and very old in a retirement home.
Magical Land of Oz, produced by Northern Pictures and narrated by Barry Humphries, another ABC commission, won the Gold Award in the nature and wildlife documentary category, for exploring the challenges faced by Australian wildlife in a land of extremes.
SBS’s Dateline‘s ‘Hong Kong: Behind the Frontline’ was awarded gold in the International Affairs Category, and ‘Losing Greg: A Dementia Journey’ bronze in the Health/Medical Information category.
ABC head of entertainment and factual Josie Mason-Campbell said high-quality Australian content was rightly making its mark on the international stage. “The ABC’s Old People’s Home For 4 Year Olds and Magical Land of Oz exemplify the outstanding standard of documentary making in Australia. Their gold awards at the New York Festivals show that compelling and creative stories about the sights, sounds and people of Australia are among the best in the world.”
Other Australian finalists in the awards included ABCTV’s Catalyst’s ‘Face Surgeons: Inside the Craniofacial Unit’ in the Health/medical Information category, ABCTV’s Foreign Correspondent, ‘Mother Courage in the international affairs category and Seven Studios’ My Kitchen Rules Australia in the culinary category.