GMA WINS BIG IN US FILM, VIDEO FEST

GMA Network wins big in the 2015 US International Film & Video Festival, bringing home seven medals and 13 certificates for its News and Public Affairs and Entertainment programs.

GMA’s late-night documentary program Front Row, led the winners after bagging the Gold Camera Award in the Documentary category. Front Row’s winning entry was entitled “ALS”, a feature on the neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

The documentary took viewers beyond the viral Ice Bucket Challenge and showed the real story behind the disease through the eyes of ALS patients and their families. The same documentary also won a Gold World Medal just last April in the 2015 New York Festivals.

Primetime newscast 24 Oras won a Silver Screen Award for its special coverage of the onslaught of Typhoon Mario in September 2014. “Pagbangon”, the special documentary about the rehabilitation efforts and rebuilding of lives of those affected by Super Typhoon Yolanda one year on also won a Silver Screen Award in the Current Affairs category.

GMA News TV’s Brigada and I Juander each received a Silver Screen Award for the categories of Environment/Ecology and Social Issues, respectively. Brigada’s award was for its “Balon ng Ginto” episode which featured a quiet community in Bicol that has become a hotbed for illegal small-scale gold mining. I Juander’s “Hanggang Saan ang Kayang Gawin ni Juan Para Mag-aral” tackled the state of education in the country and attempted to an- swer the question just how far a Pinoy would go to get an education.

Two entertainment shows also received Silver Screen Awards: musical variety show Sunday All Stars under the Entertainment Variety Programs and Ang Dalawang Misis Real for the Telenovela category.