The Prix Italia 2022 took place from October 4-8 in the Southern Italian city of Bari (Puglia). Under the topic “sustainable me”, the 74th edition of the Prix brought together broadcasters, journalists, filmmakers, and journalists from around the world to award the best of the public and private radio, television, and web creators of the world.
This year, the Prix received a grand total of 321 entries (94 Radio, 155 TV, and 72 Web) from 83 broadcasters and 50 countries all over the world. This is a 35% programmes’ increase since 2021, and +50% broadcasters and countries. Furthermore, more than 80 jurors from 36 different countries made up this year’s juries, on top of the jurors of our Special Prizes.
SIGNIS has been present at Prix Italia for several years now, awarding its prize to the production that best promotes human values. This year, the jury met virtually to discuss the dozens of entries received. The winner of the 2022 SIGNIS Special Award is “Insecticides – A Licence to Kill” by ARTE G.E.I.E. (ARTE Group of European Economic Interest), from France.
This television series highlights how since 1990, 75% of insect biomass has disappeared. The cause is the massive use of neonicotinoids, insecticides that threaten the entire food chain and the survival of animals. The multinationals that produce them are multiplying their efforts to cover their tracks and avoid the regulations, thus the film proposes a major scientific and political investigation to understand the stakes and the strategies of the actors in this vital battle.
For the jury, “comment l’agrochimie a tué les insectes?” (its original name) proposes symbolic imagery, animation, exquisite cinematography, and a full-bodied musical soundtrack that helps tell this engaging yet troublesome story of the massive use of insecticides. “This significant human rights issue is told convincingly with impeccable research data and captivating originality and creativity”, affirms the SIGNIS jury.
The award was handed by Angela Calvini, special envoy from Avvenire newspaper, to Lorenzo Furlan, from Veneto Agricoltura on behalf of ARTE GEIE. Mr. Furlan is one of the few scientists demonstrating the availability of effective alternatives to neonicotinoids and he contributed to the documentary implementation. Lorenzo believes that Insecticides – A Licence to Kill, successfully shows “that blind faith in technology and in money accumulation is destroying our environment, our biodiversity, the quality of our life”, stressing that this is completely avoidable as there are already solutions that can be implemented.
This year’s SIGNIS jury was composed of Peter Thomas (Australia), Guido Convents (Belgium), Catherine Wong (Hong Kong-China), Norman Pena (Philippines), and Mariachiara Martina (Italy), who was the president.