Film Professor’s Series Nominated for Peabody Award

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. – The Peabody Award Board of Jurors has nominated the political thriller Bala Loca, created by Assistant Professor of Film and Media Culture David Miranda Hardy, for a 2018 Peabody Award. As a nominee in the entertainment category, Miranda Hardy’s series is one of 60 selected from a pool of nearly 1,200 entries. The awards were first given out in 1941 to honor the highest levels of storytelling through electronic media.

“It is an incredible honor to be nominated, and a rare occasion where non-English programming is recognized,” said Miranda Hardy, whose program is set in Chile. “Seeing Bala Loca in the same list with John Oliver or Better Call Saul or Insecure has my whole team ecstatic.”

Thirty programs will receive awards across six categories, including children’s and youth, documentary, entertainment, news, public service, and radio/podcast. The entertainment award will be announced on Thursday, April 19. Winners and nominees will be celebrated at a gala evening event on Saturday, May 19, at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. Hasan Minhaj, comedian, writer, and senior correspondent on Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, will serve as host.

Miranda Hardy knows he’s up against stiff competition that includes The Handmaid’s Tale, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Alias Grace, and several others. But he says the nomination validates his efforts to put socially motivated discourse in front of a larger audience.

“It’s good to remember that Bala Loca is a show with a protagonist in a wheelchair, that it is a show that deals with the contemporary diseases of our democracy, with the ghosts of corruption and discrimination,” said Miranda Hardy. “This nomination is a huge incentive to continue working hard to put out ‘stories that matter.’”

Bala Loca (stray bullet), which the New York Times described as “a meaty, real-world thriller,” is a 10-episode miniseries broadcast by Turner-owned Chilevision. The show was nominated for a Best Series at the 2017 Platino Awards and is now distributed by Netflix.

Miranda Hardy, who teaches sound design, screenwriting, and directing, offered a special note of thanks to his Middlebury colleagues. “I couldn’t have worked on Bala Loca as I did without the incredible support of the Film and Media Culture Department and Middlebury College.”