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MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Awards
“I’m glad to be doing this, this is important” The MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Awards event returns to Cannes after a virtual presentation last year. For this, its fifth edition, the ceremony is hosted by French TV and movie personality Salif Cisse. He spoke to the MIPCOM Preview ahead of the event FRENCH actor and screenwriter of Senegalese descent, Salif Cisse, is host of the fifth MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Awards. He is the star of the upcoming Netflix series Endless Night which is released early next year. Best-known for the 2020 film All Hands On Deck (A L’Abordage), a 2020 TV movie, and the 1997 mini-series Multiprise, Cisse also had a role in Black Sheep Films’ Mental, a TV series about a group of young people who shake things up at a youth psychiatric hospital. Mental was shortlisted in the Disability category at last year’s MIPCOM Diversify TV Excellence Awards. “I’m glad to be doing this, this is important,” Cisse said of his role as host on the occasion of the Awards’ fifth edition. “But to be honest, I hope that in the future we will no longer need to give awards for good representation of minorities on TV. To me, it is just as important as doing a good show,” he said. “For a long time a lot of minorities felt like they were ‘invisibilised’ in so much content. “Not showing or not naming certain groups of people is like denying their existence. It should be natural to have various type of people in these shows.” There are some 20 high-level professionals from around the world participating in the Awards and
mentoring sessions as part of MIPCOM’s diversity drive this year, and all have spoken about the importance of diversity and inclusion both behind and in front of the camera. In this context, Cisse said some things are improving: “On camera, things are a little bit better than before,” he said. “Behind the camera, it’s still not enough. It is partly because there’s a lack
of access to off-camera training for under-represented communities.” He added: “Also, people feel less obligated [to insist on diversity behind the scenes] because it doesn’t show on camera. “This is the situation we’re in right now. It should not be something to brag about, or to show the world: ‘Hey diversity is good over here!’ It should be natural. It should not be done out of pity, or political cor-
MIPCOM PREVIEW • 22 • October 2021
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There’s a lack of access to offcamera training for underrepresented communities rectness. It should be done because a large group of people that are talented are not represented enough in our line of work. And something is off about that.”