Blackfella Films’ The Australian Wars and Aussie start-up Lumi.Media won MIPCOM Content Innovation Awards overnight in France.
The prizes follow the MIPCOM Diversify TV Award for Representation of Race and Ethnicity (Non-Scripted) that went to Southern Pictures’ The Swap on Tuesday evening.
The Content Innovation Awards celebrate significant contributions to the transformation of the global television industry, with the The Australian Wars honoured for Representation and Inclusion – Unscripted.
Originally commissioned by SBS and directed and presented by Rachel Perkins, the three-part series explores and confronts the story of the bloody battles fought on Australian soil as the colonial frontier pushed forward and First Nations people resisted.
The MIPCOM prize adds to of a number of awards for The Australian Wars, including the 2023 TV Week Logie Award for Most Outstanding Factual or Documentary Program, the Digital History Prize at the New South Wales Premier’s History Awards and Gold (History & Society) at the 2023 New York Festival Awards. It is also a finalist in the upcoming 2023 Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism to be announced in November.
MIPCOM Lumi.Media, a cloud-based program designed to centralise the production, casting, and crewing of television projects, awarded the company the Sustainability and Innovation Award.
Created by siblings Karen and Neil Dewey, it has been deployed on productions across Australia, the US, Canada, the United Kingdom and Europe, including Love Island UK and Love Island Australia, 24 Hours in A&E, Luxe Listings Toronto and Luxe Listings Sydney, Stars on Mars, Grand Designs, Restoration Australia, Grand Designs Transformations, Lingo, Great Auction Showdown, and Real Housewives. ITV Studios signed an enterprise-wide contract with Lumi.Media in 2022.
Karen Dewey, CEO, said she was thrilled to receive the award and to spotlight the sustainability benefits of the technology.
“This is about reducing waste, reducing duplication, and empowering everyone to do their jobs in a way that maximises collaboration. These are creative teams, and we’re so proud to be able to help them maximise not only efficiency, but also the power of all their best minds,” she said.
“Lumi is deployed on MS Azure’s 100 per cent carbon neutral cloud infrastructure and removes the need for many other ‘point solution’ software applications, reduces production hours and the overall carbon footprint per show.”
Following the win at Cannes, Lumi.Media plans to continue its global expansion and has recently hired employees in the United Kingdom and European Union as well as appointing business development consultants in North America.
The Swap was the only Australian production honoured at the MIPCOM CANNES Diversify TV Awards earlier this week, which are dedicated to championing and promoting diversity and inclusion.
Also commissioned by SBS, the three-part series documents Islamic College of Brisbane CEO Ali Kadhri’s experiment, which sees 12 students and families from very different cultures, religions and backgrounds – and with very strong opinions on each other – thrown into each other’s worlds. Set over one school term, it follows the students as they then spend time at each other’s schools and with each other’s families and communities.
SBS director of television Kathryn Fink said the broadcaster was proud to see The Australian Wars and The Swap “being recognised for their compelling and impactful storytelling, continuing our legacy in documentaries that challenge perceptions and ignite important discussion – and that also make for inspiring and entertaining television for local and global audiences.”