Globo’s telenovela "Orphans of a Nation" had its quality recognized by the prestigious Rose d’Or Awards. The story was the winner in the category Soaps or Telenovelas. The Rose d’Or is one of the most important entertainment awards and it has happened for 58 years, having honored icons of worldwide television throughout its history. This year, the awarding ceremony happened on Sunday (December 1st) at the Kings Place, in London, in a gala that gathered important names from the global entertainment industry.
Written by Thelma Guedes and Duca Rachid, – winners of the International Emmy Awards for Best Telenovela in 2014 for "Precious Pearl" – and directed by Gustavo Fernandéz, "Orphans of a Nation" touched the Brazilian audience with the forbidden love story of Jamil (Renato Góes, ‘Dark Days’) and Laila (Julia Dalavia, ‘The Other Side of Paradise’ and ‘Old River’), two Syrian refugees who need to leave their homeland and flee to Brazil to restart their lives.
The telenovela approached the issue of refugees as a background to create a captivating and touching story, having as main ingredients: empathy, cultural diversity and separation in the name of love. On the plot, Laila is part of an arranged engagement to the powerful sheik Aziz (Herson Capri, ‘Irrational Heart’ and ‘Rock Story’), and escapes with her parents to São Paulo. So, the sheik sends his godson, Jamil, to Brazil to take Laila back and force her to fulfill the marriage contract. But Jamil ends up falling in love with Laila and they decide to get married, awakening Aziz’s wrath. After the sheik is murdered, his daughter Dalila (Alice Wegmann, 'Land of the Strong' and ‘Dangerous Liaisons’) resumes her father’s plan for revenge, doing everything she can to break up the couple.
Besides TV screens and digital platforms, the telenovela had a technical partnership with the UNHCR (the UN Refugee Agency), with the collaboration of an architect from the agency for the assembly of a scenic refugee camp, with real uniforms and tents from humanitarian operations –later replaced by Globo with new housing units– and information on the content of forced relocation and socio-cultural integration of the refugees. Our cast also counted on the performance of a Syrian refugee, Kaysar Dadour, who brought a real outlook to his character.
“We are delighted to receive this recognition for our story. We wish all of us here can put light in stories for a world with less war, walls, restricted border, with more empathy, compassion, and love. A world where everyone can be a son and daughter of our ‘real’ great nation: Planet Earth”, said Thelma Guedes and Duca Rachid during their thank-you speech.