Lebanon Wins Its First Internet Emmy

Lebanon’s web-based drama series Shankaboot took home the first International Emmy for “Digital Program: Fiction” at the awards ceremony in Cannes on Monday night. A web-based series, it is set in Beirut and regarded as the world’s first Arab web program. It was designed as a vehicle to explore social problems often overlooked by mainstream Arab media. “And it’s worth mentioning, in a country plagued by slow Internet, the concept is brilliant: episodes average between 5–10 minutes in length, not too long to download and just long enough to keep fans eager with anticipation for the next episode,” writes Angie Nasar.