Escape at Dannemora, Showtime’s limited series based on a true-life prison break, took top honors at the 2019 Monte Carlo TV festival, winning best overall program, as well as best actress for Dannemora star Patricia Arquette.
Ben Stiller directed the series, which co-stars Benicio Del Toro and Paul Dano as prisoners in the Clinton Correctional Facility who both become sexually involved with an inmate supervisor (Arquette) who helps them to escape. Arquette has already won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for her performance in the series.
Best actor honors went to Gregory Montel for his performance in the France Television TV movie Thirst for Life, playing a career-driven husband trying to avoid dealing with his wife’s slip in alcoholism.
HBO’s Italian coming-of-age drama My Brilliant Friend, produced with RAI in Italy, won best drama series at Monte Carlo and Richard Madden took home the best drama actor award for his role in the Brit thriller series Bodyguard. Outstanding drama actress honors went to Luxembourg star Vicky Krieps for her performance in Sky’s war drama Das Boot.
On the Spectrum, an Israeli sitcom about three 20-something roommates on the autism spectrum, swept the comedy honors at Monte Carlo, winning for best comedy series and for stars Naomi Levov and Niv Majar as best comedy actress and actor, respectively.
The series was originally produced for yesTV in Israel and has landed a pilot order at Amazon for a U.S. adaptation.
