About the International Academy

WELL DONE, DEAR THOMAS BELLUT!

Heartfelt congratulations on this well-deserved award from all the companies in the ZDF Enterprises group

Bavaria Fiction | doc.station | Doclights | Enterprises Sonor Musik Fiction Magnet | Gruppe 5 Filmproduktion | Intaglio Films | Mainstream Networks NADCON Film | Network Movie | Off the Fence | Riverside Entertainment Streamwerke | Studio.TV.Film | World Media Rights | ZDF Digital Medienproduktion ZDF Enterprises | ZDF Service

and their affiliated companies

WELCOME FROM THE PRESIDENT

If you are reading this message, it means that the International Academy has overcome innumerable obstacles and found a way to stage an in person gala for the awarding of Emmys to the best international programs of 2021. We have, of course, taken every precaution possible. Everyone in this room has been vaccinated and has achieved a negative result on a covid test. We are delighted to welcome so many of you to New York City. Of course, not everyone who wanted to, could be here tonight. The United States still bars many people from entering the country. Some of our members understandably worry about quarantine requirements when they return home. So this year, for the first time, and hopefully the last time, we are presenting a hybrid Gala. Everyone around the world who was nominated for an International Emmy is with us today, either here in person or via virtual link from their home country and, in many cases, their home itself. All of our nominees will be recognized, and the winners will be able to give acceptance speeches. Of course, if you are reading this in the Casa Cipriani ballroom, and you win, you will have a chance to mount our iconic stage and give your acceptance speech there.

Throughout this year, despite all the obstacles, we ran International Emmy judgings around the world, and when the results were tabulated we had nominees from 24 different countries, a new record, and the end result of a multi-year effort to get more entries from more places around the globe. Over the next few years, as the pandemic recedes and we are all able to resume full and less complicated travel, it is my hope that the number of entries and the number of represented countries will increase dramatically. We now live in a world of streaming and many other forms of program distribution, and those opportunities, and the money to finance them, will mean more and better programs and more opportunities to win an International Emmy.

So thank you for being here tonight and betting with us on a return to a more normal and more exciting world.

Bruce Paisner President & CEO International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences