Nobel Media’s Official Documentaries for 2010 produced by Blakeway Productions

Nobel Media AB, the company responsible for the official Nobel Prize media portfolio, is continuing their collaboration with the award-winning documentary company, Blakeway Productions.  Following on from the success of last year’s Nobel programmes, Blakeway has again been commissioned to produce the documentaries: Nobel Laureates 2010, a 1x60' documentary, which explores the lives and careers of all of this year’s Nobel Laureates and The Nobel Peace Prize Documentary 2010, a 1x30’ documentary profiling the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, the Chinese writer and activist, Liu Xiaobo.

In addition to this, they have for the first time been commissioned to make a 1x30’ documentary on The Nobel Literature Prize Documentary 2010, portraying the life and writing of this year’s  Nobel Literature Laureate, the Peruvian author, Mario Vargas Llosa. The film is based on an interview with the Peruvian writer, in Spanish, that explores how his relationship with his dominant father, growing up under a military dictatorship and his political experiences have shaped his novels.

Nobel Laureates 2010 features extensive interviews with the Nobel Laureates and takes us all over the world in order to interview extraordinary people as diverse as the  Peruvian Literature Laureate Mario Vargas Llosa and one of the youngest Physics Laureates ever, 36 year old Russian born Konstantin Novoselov. From Japan to Peru, Spain, America and the Philippines, the Laureates speak about their ground breaking work and the influences that have shaped their remarkable lives. Along with the Nobel Laureates, the filmmakers also meet some of the people whose lives have been touched by their work – people like Louise Brown, the first IVF baby, born in 1978 as a result of the 2010 Nobel Laureate in Medicine Professor Robert Edwards’ pioneering work, which made possible the births of 4 million children round the world.

The Nobel Peace Prize Documentary 2010 explores Liu Xiaobo’s life and writing and takes a close look at the text that offended the Chinese government and led to his imprisonment. Since the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, many of those closest to Liu Xiaobo have been placed under house arrest or put under surveillance by the Chinese authorities. Despite that, Blakeway have managed to film inside China and conduct revelatory interviews with many of those closed to Liu Xiaobo. These include Zhou Duo, Liu’s friend with whom he went on hunger strike in Tiananmen Square during the 1989 protests, Mo Shaoping, his lawyer, and Professor Xu Youyu, a signatory of Charter 08, the manifesto that landed Liu Xiaobo in jail.

Camilla Hyltén-Cavallius, CEO, Nobel Media, said:

“All three of this year's official Nobel documentaries mirrors the great contributions of the 2010 Nobel laureates in the most interesting and engaging way. We are truly happy to co-operate with Blakeway Productions in producing such high quality programmes aimed at a worldwide audience.”

Fiona Stourton, Executive Producer for Blakeway Productions, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to be working with Nobel Media again on a series of films which cannot fail to be fascinating because the Laureates are all inspirational people.”

 Nobel Laureates 2010 is produced and directed by Leslie Woodhead, a distinguished British documentary maker, winner of multiple international awards including recognition by BAFTA, RTS, a Peabody Award and an Emmy nomination in the USA. He received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth in 1993.

The Nobel Peace Prize Documentary 2010 is produced and directed by Claudine Parrish and The Nobel Literature Prize Documentary 2010 is produced and directed by Lucy McDowell. The Nobel Literature Documentary 2010 will be distributed by BBC Worldwide.

For information regarding the distribution of the Nobel Peace Prize Documentary and Nobel Laureates 2010 please contact Nobel Media.  

Media Contact Nobel Media AB
Merci Olsson
Marketing and Communications Director

Tel: +(46) 738 52 35 95
E-mail: merci.olsson@nobel.se