Gala Turca Vicente Hernandez
Universal Cinergía’s Turkish Drama Gala took place on Monday the 22nd at The Temple House in Miami Beach. The event celebrated the tenth anniversary of the arrival of Turkish content in Latin America with the telenovela Las 1001 Noches, sold by Global Agency to Mega de Chile.
At the gala, Turkish companies with a presence in the region were recognized for their track record and as part of the Latin American audiovisual industry. ATV, Calinos, Eccho Rights, Global Agency, Inter Medya, Kanal D, MADD, Mistco, OGM, Raya, TRT, and MediaHub were awarded. All the senior executives of these companies attended to receive their respective awards, including Esperanza Garay representing Megamedia, the network that broadcast the first Turkish content. In addition, many Turkish artists were also awarded.
During the dinner break, Turkish singer Murat Evgin sang some of his hits, which are part of the soundtrack of many of the productions seen on Latin American screens. Now, he even has some of his songs in Spanish.
After the performance, Juan Ignacio Vicente and Patricio Hernández were honored for being the first to bet on Turkish content when they worked at Mega Chile. The Chilean Mario Kreutzberger (Don Francisco), an icon in Spanish-speaking TV, presented the recognition.
“In our country, we have a saying: ‘Necessity knows no bounds,’ and great changes occur in scarcity, bringing out the best in our hearts. We no longer work at Mega, but I want to congratulate the entire Megamedia team, who at the time dared to make that change,” said Patricio Hernández upon receiving the award. Now, he is the general manager of Latina Televisión de Perú.
Juan Ignacio Vicente, general manager of Chilevisión and VP of Paramount Chile, thanked for the tribute, saying that to be successful, you always have to believe and have confidence in what you do.
The Venezuelan professor Carolina Acosta-Alzuru, from the University of Georgia, was also recognized during the gala for her studies and comparisons between Turkish and Latin novels.
The Turkish drama Fatmagul won the Press Critics Award. Amy Ibarra of PRODU presented the award.
The successful gala closed with virtual fireworks, after some emotional words from Gemma López to Liliam Hernández, both directors of Universal Cinergía Dubbing.
The producer of the event was Ingrid Salcedo.
