Prix Italia
The 77th edition of the Prix Italia will be held in Naples from October 20 to 24, as part of the celebrations of the National Committee Neapolis 2500 and in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Under the slogan "Get Real", the international festival of creativity in Radio, Television, and Digital production will bring previews, live events, and meetings to the Campania Region’s capital, as part of the international competition that has seen 89 broadcasters from around the world competing this year, with 238 productions evaluated and voted by a jury of 90 experts.
After a careful selection process, the finalists in the nine categories of Radio/Podcast, TV, and Digital were chosen: powerful, innovative productions, deeply rooted in reality, capable of transforming complex themes into shared knowledge. "The Prix Italia is the place where innovation is not illusion, but an opportunity for truth and vision. Here, international private and public service broadcasters come together to transform the complexity of the present into a reliable compass for the future," commented Chiara Longo Bifano, Secretary General of the Prix.
This year, the Prix Italia addresses the most urgent challenges of our time:
1. Conflicts and Geopolitics: from the BBC's return to the finals with "Hell Jumper", a documentary about volunteers in Ukraine, to the recent story of Afghanistan, "Riverboom", SRG SSR - Switzerland), which is also the setting for the TV Drama "Kaboul", a co-production of the European Alliance (Rai / France Télévisions / ZDF) presented by France TV. And then post-ISIS Iraq ("10 ans après les massacres en Irak", SRG SSR), to Cold War stories and unusual espionage episodes narrated in "Whiskey on the Rocks" (SVT - Sweden) and "Ballade de la Baleine" (Arte France).
2. Human Rights and Gender: the story of a chilling crime story reveals a hidden family conspiracy in "Parce qu'elle était une femme" (RTBF – Belgium); "Tested" (CBC/SRC – Canada) questions the often intrusive and unjustified testing of female athletes in sports; "Potížistky/Troublemaking Women" (ČT – Czech Republic) takes a clear stance from women "who have no worries about causing trouble," while Spiked, a digital spin-off of the BBC's classic soap "EastEnders", highlights the all-too-common use of "date rape drugs" among young people.
3. Technology and the future: reflections on ethics, immortality, and artificial intelligence in "Eternal You Transmedia" (SRG SSR – Switzerland) and "Nyhetssök by Sveriges Radio", a project that allows the audience to search news with conversational AI, as well as the vibrant virtual reality game "GreenGuardiansVR" by German ARD. The environment and human impact are at the heart of the BBC's radio drama "Saint Joan of the Anthropocene".
4. Music and Memory: Sophisticated original compositions stand out, such as ARD's "Wildly Tender Is Thy Music", inspired by the poems of Emily Brontë; Radio France's gripping portrait of cellist Mstislav Rostropovich ("Rostropovich, Le Violoncelle en Liberté"); the vibrant music scene in Ukraine during the war in ARTyleriya (UA: PBC); and a touching tribute to the Japanese composer Sakamoto ("Ryuichi Sakamoto: Last Days", NHK).
The final awards ceremony on Friday, October 24, will announce the winners and award, in addition to the traditional prizes, the new Global South Award, the Signis Prize, the Student Jury Award from the students at Universities of Campania, and the prestigious "Prize of Prizes" in Honour of the President of the Italian Republic.