11/04/2005

Finnish broadcaster YLE received last Friday at the Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival the EDN Documentary 2005 for its outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture.
Commenting on the award, EDN director Tue Steen Muller said: "YLE is the example of a public broadcaster that looks outside its own borders. Its documentary programming policy is purely international and its aim is to bring the best to its viewers. Therefore YLE both relates to the traditional values of the documentary that brings us to places and situations that we cannot reach by ourselves and looks at the documentary as an art form".
YLE added: "We are looking for creative documentaries with strong personal approach, cinematic character and human substance. And that goes for both the national and the international productions".

In 2004, YLE was involved in nearly 15 international co-productions of documentaries. Among recent international titles are Historia del saqueo by Fernando E. Solanas, Touch the Sound by Thomas Riedelsheimer, Putin´s Mama by Ineke Smits, and Citizen Berlusconi by Susan Grey.