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Public Affairs

GMA Network's 'Front Row' wins Grand Prize in the 2015 US International Film and Video Festival




Front Row’s winning entry was entitled “ALS”, a feature on the neurodegenerative disease Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). The poignant episode took viewers beyond the viral Ice Bucket Challenge and showed the real story behind the disease through the eyes of ALS patients and their families.
 
"GMA Network won the One World Award for a second year in a row. I don’t believe that has ever happened before,” said Lee W. Gluckman, Jr., Chairman of the US International Film and Video Festival. Last year, GMA News TV won the One World Award for Brigada’s Gintong Krudo, a documentary to raise awareness for child labor in the Philippines.
 


The One World Award was established more than 25 years ago by the International Quorum of Motion Pictures Producers to honor a work that fosters international understanding. USIFVF Gold medalists are in the running for the One World Award, one of the grand prizes given at the Festival.
 
Front Row’s One World Award-winning documentary tells the story of two compelling faces diagnosed with ALS. They were dramatically documented as their respective families continue the fight amidst difficulties in battling the deadly disease, their situations even made harder as they realize their loved ones could just be waiting for death. No cure has yet been found for ALS.
 


“The episode highlights our commitment to important stories, always aimed to raise awareness about and provide information on big issues viewers need not only to know but also to appreciate and understand,” said Front Row’s Program Manager Johnson Jonathan Tam who conceptualized the story. “While some are already enduring the challenges of carrying this deadly disease, there are still no figures relating to ALS in our country and research about this disease is also almost non-existent here,” said Front Row Executive Producer Joseph Conrad Rubio who shared his realization in producing the episode. The documentary hopes to serve as a medium to encourage people to pay serious attention and give valuable support for this important issue. Other members of the award-winning episode include Director-Producer Ian Carlos Simbulan and Researcher Princess Suyat.
 
Front Row’s “ALS” also recently won a Gold World Medal as Best Public Affairs Program in the 2015 New York Festivals.

Catch world-class documentaries on Front Row every Monday night after Saksi only on GMA-7.