Apparently its a big thing in Asian TV. I went last year but IFA only had 1 documentary submitted- Hyper Rescue Tokyo and that didn't win an award so the ceremony didn't leave much of an impression on me. Also because the food was crap last year and I was so hungry by the end.
This year I thought I had safely ignored the multiple invitations sent until I got a last minute call from my MD in Bangkok saying he wants to buy a table (at S$3000- waaaaaaat!!) and everyone involved in the projects should attend. "Tell everyone I'm in town honey, and I expect them there, it'll be a fun nite!", coming from the effervescent DC, I knew instantly it would be a nite of continuous boozing.
So everyone flocked to Intercontinental Hotel dressed to the nines, but me- I had back-to-back meetings with Frank Smith that Thursday and didn't get home to change or manage to stumble into Suntec to buy anything resembling 'cocktail'. Erin, Nellie, Varsh and Camille all looked stunning and Frank, DC and Jesse looked polished and well, different in their suits and black ties- too bad no one remembered to bring a camera! Duh.
And from the moment dinner was served, in spite of the red/white wine offered by the banquet staff, my dear DC was ordering champagne and whiskey and tequila shots from the bar downstairs intent on getting everyone sloshed. I declared myself a teetotallar and sat this one out.
Bumped into a couple of industry people and cornered by some Italian rats who stunk of alcohol before the night started and was asleep before the awards ceremony began. His pickup line to Camille is worth a mention here:
Rat: Hi, did it hurt when you fall?
Cam: Huh? I didn't fall.
Rat: I meant when you fell from heaven.
Bahahahahahahaha!
And for all the hard work in 2006/7, our team (minus Joe Peter who was filming a Tatler event that night) finally got to see the blood and sweat and tears 'pay off'. The only annoying thing was because these were fully-commissioned projects by Discovery Inc. and MDA/EDB, the IFA name was totally taken off the credit list and made to look like the Discovery team produced them. Grrrr...
Best Natural History or Wildlife Programme or Docu-drama
WINNER
Kingdom of Elephants
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Soul of a River - Cambodia
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Soul of A River - China
Discovery Asia Inc.
Best Cinematography
WINNER
Kingdom of Elephants
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Soul of a River - China
Discovery Asia Inc.
HIGHLY COMMENDED
Revealed Hajj
Discovery Asia Inc.
Best Direction
WINNER
Kingdom of Elephants
Discovery Asia Inc.
Frank grumpily went up with Discovery EP, Lynn Ng, to receive the awards but they were snatched out of his hands once they got to the Discovery table. He mooched back to ours at the back of the room and gladly downed the tequila shot that was lying untouched in front of me. Next time, we demand back-end revenue and co-funding!
NB: Pictures to come, if any..