Brazilian serial drama “Orphan of a Nation” won the grand prize at this year’s Seoul International Drama Awards, the nation’s biggest international television drama awards event.

Instead of the usual live ceremony, a prerecorded version of the awards ceremony conducted without an audience aired at 3 p.m. on Tuesday on MBC.

“Orphan of a Nation” is a 154-episode television series revolving around two refugees, a Syrian woman and a Lebanese man, in Brazil who overcome conflicts surrounding them through love. Based on a novel, the show received critical acclaim for its portrayal of diverse cultural, religious and racial issues as they relate to refugees.

The judges said a solid storyline about the refugees and their difficulties, refined visual elements and the extensive scale of the project shot across continents defined the series’ exceptional quality.

Korean drama series “When the Camellia Blooms,” which aired from September to November 2019 on KBS, picked up five trophies, including for best actress for Gong Hyo-jin and best screenwriter for Lim Sang-choon in the international competition section.

Germany’s “The Turncoat” won for best TV movie and Britain’s “World on Fire” won in the miniseries competition, followed by Korea’s “Everything and Nothing” and “Itaewon Class” as runner-ups in the two categories, respectively.

Best director went to Adam Smith of “World on Fire” and best actor went to Waleed Zuaiter from British crime-thriller “Baghdad Central.”



By Choi Ji-won (jwc@heraldcorp.com)