NRK’s Mammon wins Int’l Emmy

The second season of Mammon picked up the drama award

Norwegian detective series Mammon won the best drama award at the 45th International Emmys in New York last night.

The second season of the show beat off competition from Brazil’s Justiça, Japan’s Moribito: Guardian of the Sprit and Australia’s Wanted to take home the award.

Mammon is produced by Norwegian public broadcaster NRK alongside SVT in Sweden, DR in Denmark, YLE FEM in Finland and the Nordvision Fund.

The show was recently picked up in the US by Northern Virginia-based broadcaster MHZ Networks and by Sony Entertainment in Germany from distributor Beta Film.

The UK was the most well-represented country amongst the winning programming and performances, taking away four prizes.

Anna Friel won best performance by an actress for her role in Buccaneer Media and Netflix’s Marcella, while Kenneth Branagh won best performance by an actor for his role in the BBC, Yellow Bird and Left Bank Pictures’ Wallander.

Alan Partridge’s Scissored Isle, from London-based Baby Cow Productions, won in the comedy category and Keo Films and BBC2’s Exodus: Our Journey to Europe was named best documentary.

Elsewhere, programming from Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Norway, Turkey and the US was also celebrated.

The TV movie/miniseries award was won by Scarlett Production and France Télévisions’ Don’t Leave Me, while Ay Yapım’s Turkish series Kara Sevda (Endless Love) was named best telenovela.

Canada’s Hip-Hop Evolution, from Toronto-based Banger Films, won the award for best arts programme; best non-English-language US primetime show went to HBO Latin America and Lemon Films’ Sr Ávila; and German project The Braun Family, from Polyphon in Berlin, won in the shortform category.

The International Emmy Directorate Award was presented by Discovery Communications CEO David Zaslav to Emilio Azcárraga Jean, chairman of the board, president and CEO of Mexico’s Grupo Televisa.

“Television is a universal art form that transcends cultures, languages and borders – as demonstrated by tonight’s winners,” said International Academy president and CEO Bruce L Paisner. “In these contentious times, when television programming is constantly under attack, the Academy is proud to recognise excellence from around the world.”