Irish animator Seamus Malone saw his animated series ‘Shaun the Sheep’ win the Young People Award at the International Emmy awards held on November 22nd whilst the Northern Ireland shot drama ‘Small Island’ nabbed the top prize in the TV Movie category.
The Irish filmmaker and graduate of Ballyfermot College, Seamus Malone was present at the 2010 International Emmys held on November 22nd in New York City to collect the group’s Children and Young People Award for his series, ‘Shaun the Sheep’. Malone is the supervising animator for Aardman Animations and Sony Pictures and directed the ‘Shaun the Sheep’ series from Aardman Animations.
‘Shaun the Sheep’ is a stop-motion animated children's television series commissioned by the BBC and the WDR. It first aired in the UK on CBBC in March 2007. Shaun the sheep exhibits human intelligence, creativity, and behaviour in a farm setting, which usually provides a situational comedy conflict which Shaun must resolve before the end of each episode.
The filmmaker has also worked on the groups other projects such as ‘Flushed Away’, ‘Wallace & Gromit’ and ‘Chicken Run’ in an animator capacity. ‘Shaun the Sheep’ won in the category of Children and Young People beating off competition from NPS Broadcasting Organisation’s ’13 at War’; TV Globo’s ‘Do-Re-Mi-Factory’ and Fuji Television Network Inc’s ‘Happy Birthday’.
Northern Ireland shot drama, ‘Small Island’ clinched the prize in the category of TV Movie/ Mini-Series on the night. The other nominated projects in the group included ‘Hopeville’ from Curious Pictures/ Heartlines/ SABC Education; ‘Marcel Reich-Raniicki: The Author of Himself’ from Trebitsch Entertainment / WDR / ARD Degeto / Arte and ‘Sound and Fury’ from TV Globo and O2 Filmes.
The two x 90-minute drama, produced by Ruby Television in association with AL Films, shot in Northern Ireland and Jamaica last autumn. It is an adaptation based on the award winning novel by Andrea Levy which is set in 1948 and plays through the relationships of two couples along with acting as a glimpse at Jamaican emigrants settling in post-WWI. Paula Milne (The Virgin Queen) and Sarah Williams (Becoming Jane) penned the adaptation with John Alexander (Life On Mars, Survivors) directing.
The drama stars Naomie Harris (Pirates of the Caribbean), David Oyelowo (The Last King of Scotland), Ruth Wilson (Jane Eyre), Benedict Cumberbatch (Starter For Ten), Nikki Amuka-Bird (The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency, Survivors) and Ashley Walters (Hustle).
For a full list of International Emmy winners visit http://www.iemmys.tv/awards_nominees.aspx/awards/main-sect.
