Production News South Africa

Inaugural Green World Award for French photographer

PARIS: French photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand will receive the first-ever Green World Award at MIPTV featuring MILIA 2007 on Tuesday, 17 April 2007. This new award has been created to recognise audiovisual industry figures who have contributed to the growing global awareness of environmental issues.
Yann Arthus-Bertrand
Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Yann Arthus-Bertrand will receive the award during a gala dinner for leading industry executives. The same day, he will give a keynote speech in which he will discuss television’s role in the fight against global warming. Both events will take place at the 44th annual MIPTV featuring MILIA event, 16 - 20 April, Palais des Festivals, Cannes.

“We want to contribute to the awareness of environmental concerns through our tradeshows,” says Paul Zilk, CEO of event organisers Reed MIDEM.

“Television has a huge impact on public opinion and education, and the creation and broadcasting of environment-focused programming is extremely important. The series of documentaries inspired by Yann Arthus-Bertrand, ‘From Above’, which depict the world’s most pressing environmental challenges, is an excellent example of this.”

“I’m delighted to receive the MIPTV featuring MILIA Green World Award,” says Arthus-Bertrand. “My commitment to sustainable development grew from studying the Earth on a daily basis, from encounters and from readings. I became aware that my photos were useful and that my own convictions gave them additional value. The more interest one takes in our planet and the more one realises the issues at stake, the greater the desire to actively engage in change for the better.”

MIPTV featuring MILIA’s 2007 conference programme opens on 16 April with a conference entitled “Is Green TV prime-time TV?”. The conference presents a panel of leading professionals specialising in the Green TV sector who will discuss the global development of environmental programmes.

More information on Yann Arthus-Bertrand can be found at www.yannarthusbertrand.com.

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