Smile Train's 'DZACHUKA'S SMILE' Wins Gold Panda Award For Best Documentary In Society For Asian Production At The 2013 Sichuan TV Festival

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Smile Train is proud to announce their documentary, 'DZACHUKA'S SMILE,' co-produced by China Central Television Documentary Channel (CCTV), as the winner of the Gold Panda Award for Best Documentary in Society for Asian Production at the 2013 Sichuan TV Festival. 

The 2013 Sichuan TV Festival takes place in Chengdu, China from November 16 – 18, and features an international TV program market, the International Gold Panda Awards, multicultural media events, the World Media Development Forum, and an International radio, TV & network equipment exhibition.  Charles B. Wang, Founder & Chairman of Smile Train, will be present to receive the award on behalf of Smile Train on November 16.

The goal of 'DZACHUKA'S SMILE' is to educate global audiences of how lives can be changed with a simple surgery.  It documents the efforts of the Lamu Sisters and local officials, who work together to change the fate of children with clefts living on the Dzachuka Plateau. The story takes place on the southeastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China.

The Gold Panda Award is one of the most influential film awards in Asia and is always a highlight of the Sichuan TV Festival, which attracts a large international audience. The festival competition is divided into four categories: Documentary, TV Drama, Animation and Student Projects.  Within Documentary there are three sub-categories of Society, Anthropology and Nature & Environment, totaling 27 awards overall.  In 2013, 1064 documentaries from 55 countries and regions were submitted in the competition.  After a preliminary screening and mid-term rating in September, 120 documentaries were nominated as award winning candidates.  Nine documentaries in each category were then chosen as winners.

"On behalf of Smile Train and everyone involved with the documentary Dzachuka's Smile we couldn't be more proud to accept this Gold Panda Award," said Charles B. Wang, Founder & Chairman of Smile Train.  "We are glad that Dzachuka's Smile can bring attention to a wide audience of what we are accomplishing every day at Smile Train."

Established in 1991, Sichuan TV Festival, hosted by the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television and Sichuan Provincial People's Government and organized by Sichuan Radio, Film and Television Bureau and Sichuan Radio and Television, is dedicated to discovering new topics, creating new contents, introducing new formats, and offering new services.  Through the years, it has become one of the most reputable TV festivals in Asia and the most effective platform to access the most updated TV and film marketing information in China.

For additional information on the organization and how to get involved, please visit www.smiletrain.org.

About Smile Train

Smile Train is an international children's charity with a sustainable approach to a single, solvable problem: cleft lip and palate. Millions of children in developing countries with unrepaired clefts live in shame, but more importantly, have difficulty eating, breathing and speaking. Cleft repair surgery is simple, and the transformation is immediate. Smile Train's sustainable model provides training and funding to empower local doctors in 85+ developing countries to provide 100%-free cleft repair surgery in their own communities. To learn more about how Smile Train's sustainable approach means donations have both an immediate and long-term impact please visit www.smiletrain.org.

SOURCE Smile Train