Sir Lenny Henry To Deliver Keynote Address At MIPCOM

British comedian Sir Lenny Henry is to deliver a keynote address at MIPCOM 2017 as part of the event's expanded Diversity Programme.

It coincides with the inaugural edition of the Diversify TV International Excellence Awards championing diversity, equality and inclusion on the small screen.

The world's entertainment content market, MIPCOM takes place in Cannes, France from 16-19 October. Henry's keynote is scheduled for Wednesday 18 October at 10:50am in the Grand Auditorium.

Sir Lenny Henry has been a comedian since the age of 16, and has risen from cult star on children’s television to becoming one of Britain’s best loved comedians, as well as a writer and award-winning actor. In recent years, he starred in 'The Comedy of Errors' at the National, and 'The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui' at the Donmar Warehouse. As a co-founder of the Comic Relief fundraiser, he announced this year that the public has donated over £1billion to the charity over the last 30 years. Sir Lenny Henry has been an instrumental voice in raising awareness around the lack of diverse representation on and off screen and has long been at the forefront of campaigns to make British broadcasters address issues of diversity.

The Diversify TV International Excellence Awards were created by Diversify TV, a pressure group co-founded by Scorpion TV Managing Director, David Cornwall; Senior VP of Format Production at All3Media International, Nick Smith; Little Black Book CEO, Bunmi Akintonwa; and Liliane Da Cruz, Key Account Manager at Reed MIDEM, which organises MIPCOM.

Dedicated to championing and promoting diversity in all its forms across the international television industry, the inaugural Diversify TV Awards will be supported by A+E Networks President, International & Digital, Sean Cohan; EbonyLife TV CEO, Mo Abudu; EVP, Managing Director Africa at Viacom International Media Networks, Alex Okosi; and the PR agency Franklin Rae.

www.mipcom.com