Jordan celebrates Emmy

2008-11-25 17:20

Amman - Jordanian television producers were on Tuesday celebrating the kingdom's first ever International Emmy Award for a 2007 series on a love story during Israel's 2002 incursion into a West Bank city.

Al-Igtiyah (The Invasion) won Emmy's new telenovela category, with producer Talal Awamleh accepting the award in New York on Monday night.

"It's a very well-done and successful work," Yasser Qbeilat of Jordan's Arab Telemedia Productions, which is owned by Awamleh, told AFP. "As a private production company, it was a big challenge to produce such a work."

US productions excluded

The winners of what are known as the Oscars of the television industry were selected from among 40 nominees of 16 countries competing for 10 International Emmy categories, excluding US productions.

The series on the Israeli incursion into the Palestinian city of Jenin was shot on location in Syria, with Jordanian, Syrian and Palestinian actors, Qbeilat said.

Lebanon's LBC satellite TV was the only station to broadcast Al-Igtiyah in 2007 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, a popular time for television viewing in the region.

"All other networks decided to ignore the series because of sensitivities related to Israel," said a production industry source, who estimated the cost of the series at more than $3m.

- AFP