TV sitcoms compete for Golden Rose
Television comedy programmes from around the world are competing to draw the loudest laughs at the Golden Rose of Montreux festival on Lake Geneva.
The 40th edition of the festival opened on Thursday with a screening of the Swiss-French sitcom, Les Piques-Meuron.
Opening the five-day event, the director-general of the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SBC), Amin Walpen, said that over the four decades of its existence the festival had fostered quality and innovation
The Golden Rose is the only international comedy festival devoted exclusively to light entertainment programmes for television. More than a thousand producers, broadcasters and journalists are expected to attend.
At this year’s event, 90 productions out of 240 put forward were selected for the competition. Most of these (27) are from Britain, but there has also been a strong increase in productions from the United States (14), Germany (10) and Canada (9).
As every year, a Golden, Silver and Bronze Rose will be awarded to the top three films in five categories: comedy, variety, sitcom, music and gameshows.
The Golden Rose Festival is a joint venture between the SBC and the town of Montreux, under the patronage of the European Broadcasting Union.
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