MATEJ Mináč's documentary Sila Ľudskosti (The Power of Good) has become the first Slovak film to win an International Emmy Award. The prize, which is given annually to the best non-US film made for television, was presented to Mináč on November 25 at the New York Sheraton Hotel.
"Producer of the film Patrik Paššo and I kept thinking until the last moment that our participation in New York was only going to be a pleasant trip. The strong competition from Japanese, Canadian and German television films would push us to the role of observers. Then we heard from the stage - and the winner is . . . The Power of Good! We forgot to breath," Mináč said to the daily Sme.
The documentary tells the story of British stockbroker Nicholas Winton, who saved 669 Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia, bringing them across Hitler's Germany to the UK. Produced in cooperation with a Czech television station, the film competed with 1,000 other documentaries from around the globe.