Toru Kubota（freelance）, director of the program “BS Special: Resistors on the Border ~Record of a filmmaker exiled from Myanmar~” produced by Naoki Yonemoto, won The Outstanding Newcomer Award in the Documentary category at the 41th ATP Award TV Grand Prix!
What is the ATP Award TV Grand Prix? Held once a year, the judges are creators of television programs and other video content, who select outstanding works from their unique perspectives. The awards were established in 1984 as the only awards in Japan in which the producers and directors of the production companies themselves serve as judges to select outstanding works, in order to enhance the social function of production companies, which are important players in Japan’s video content industry, and to respond to the passion and spirit of each and every production staff member working there. Works are accepted in three core genres: documentary, information/variety, and drama, and the top prize Grand Prix will be awarded.
『BS Special: Resistors on the Border ~Record of a filmmaker exiled from Myanmar~』
NHK BS 59-minute program First broadcast date: July 18, 2024
A coup took place in Myanmar three years ago. Many civilians became victims of the military’s crackdown. In the midst of this, some people fled to a town across the border in Thailand and are fighting back with cameras as their weapon of choice. A cameraman with a prosthetic leg reports on the front lines of the fighting, wanting to convey the current situation in his homeland to the world. A former Myanmar soldier broadcasts a program calling on his former comrades to surrender. Documentary filmmaker Toru Kubota, who was detained by the Myanmar authorities, records the resistance of these video creators.
[Director] Toru Kubota
[Producer] Naoki Yonemoto