Kiwi-made documentary takes on the best of Asia

Kiwi-made documentary takes on the best of Asia

A New Zealand documentary focusing on understanding autism has been nominated for an award at the 2014 Asian Television Awards.

‘Unlocking Autism’, produced by Auckland-based digital disability content specialist The Attitude Group, is up for the Best Social Awareness Programme – and is the only Kiwi ticket on the bill.

The documentary might be up against some of Asia’s biggest broadcasters, including the Discovery Network Asia-Pacific and Al Jazeera, but its heartfelt story captured the eye of the judges.

‘Unlocking Autism’ centres on neurologist Dr Rosamund Hill and her coordination of a research project bringing together scientists and the autism community in an attempt to uncover the causes of autism. Viewers are granted insight into Hill’s personal experience with autism. Her son Claude was diagnosed with the disorder at an early age.

Attitude Group CEO Robyn Scott-Vincent says The Attitude Group is proud to be representing New Zealand television overseas and to be showcasing New Zealand’s leadership around disability.

“A nomination like this validates what The Attitude Group is trying to achieve – to be a global leader in promoting possibilities for people with disabilities,” says Scott-Vincent. “The series has now been picked up by broadcasters in 30 countries and our content has been watched online in more than 170 countries. None of this would have been possible without the support of New Zealand On Air, which has long recognised the value of what we are doing.”

Robyn and her team, including the documentary’s director Wendy Colville, will find out if they are winners when the Awards are held in Singapore on December 11, 2014. The Asian TV Awards are the Asian television industry’s most significant and celebrated event, recognising excellence in programming, production and performance.

The nomination follows on from a stellar year for Attitude, having won three documentary awards in the past 12 months. Their latest win was in the TV Perspective Award at the annual Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) 2014 Awards in Macau for the documentary ‘The Attitude Awards’.

The company also took out the 2014 Asia Image Apollo Awards Prize for Editing for its documentary ‘Jimmy Wants a Job’ which also focused on autism, and won the Special Jury Prize in last year’s ABU Awards for a documentary about New Zealand’s Paralympic cycling team.

In addition to these international accolades, The Attitude Group has been selected from broadcasters and companies across the Asia-Pacific region to participate in the 1 Asia co-production initiative, funded by the Japanese Government.

The Group’s flagship documentary programme ‘Attitude’ screens on TV One on Sunday mornings and since its inception in 2005 has showcased the lives of more than 1000 people with a disability. While its core audience is in New Zealand, the international accolades and the group’s web platform AttitudeLive.com is helping to grow its popularity offshore.

AttitudeLive.com was launched in September 2013 and since then has grown its audience to 160,000 users, with over half a million page views.

In 2014, The Attitude Group became the first independent production company to secure broadcast rights for both the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games and the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. The Sochi games were livestreamed to a receptive audience in New Zealand via AttitudeLive.com, almost doubling the viewing audience from the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Winter Games.

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