The Miracle of Life

The Miracle of Life is a documentary film about the human reproductive process. The film won multiple awards including a Peabody and an Emmy when it was broadcast as part of the American TV series Nova.^[1] Photographed by Lennart Nilsson, the program originally aired in Sweden on November 26, 1982 under the title of "The Saga of Life."^[2] The BBC acquired the episode for the documentary series Horizon and aired it that same month.^[3] Many scenes were edited and the intro in both the Horizon and Nova versions are different, as well as the ending scene where the baby was born.

The Nova version of the film was broadcast on PBS on February 15, 1983. It was written and produced by Bebe Nixon and narrated by Anita Sangiolo.^[4]

A sequel called "Life's Greatest Miracle" aired on November 20, 2001 on PBS using microimagery taken by Lennart Nilsson with narration by John Lithgow.^[5]

Awards

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The episode won the following awards:^[1]

1984

1983

References

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^ ^a ^b "NOVA – Broadcast Awards Listed by Date". Public Broadcasting Service. Retrieved 5 July 2011.
^ "Sagan om livet". IMDb. 24 January 1983.
^ "The Miracle of Life". IMDb. 11 October 1982.
^ http://embryo.asu.edu/view/embryo:127874 ^{[dead link]}
^ "Life's Greatest Miracle". NOVA. 20 November 2001.
^ "The Peabody Awards - NOVA: The Miracle of Life". PEABody Awards. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
^ Notable children's films and videos, filmstrips, and recordings, 1973-1986. Chicago: ALA. 1987. ISBN 978-0-8389-3342-8. Retrieved 2024-02-15.

External links

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The Miracle of Life is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive
Life's Greatest Miracle Video on PBS

v t e International Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary
1960s	Big Deal at Gothenburg (1967) La Section Anderson (1968) The Last Campaign of Robert Kennedy (1969)
1970s	No Awards (1970–1978) Secret Hospital (1979)
1980s	Fighting Back (1980) Charter pour l'enfer (1981) Is There One Who Understands Me?: The World of James Joyce (1982) The Miracle of Life (1983) Heart of the Dragon (1984) 28 Up (1985) Chasing a Rainbow: The Life of Josephine Baker (1986) The Sword of Islam (1987) The Last Seven Months of Anne Frank (1988) Four Hours in My Lai (1989)
1990s	J'ai Douze Ans et Je Fais la Guerre (1990) Cambodia: The Betrayal (1991) To Sell a War (1992) Disappearing World: We Are All Neighbours / Monika and Jonas – the Face of the Informer State (1993) Life in the Freezer: The Big Freeze (1994) Anne Frank Remembered / Contre L'Oubli (1995) The Pelican of Ramzan the Red / People's Century / The Saga of Life: The Unknown World (1996) Gerrie & Louise (1997) Exile in Sarajevo (1998) 14 Up Born in the USSR / Just Like Anyone Else (1999)
2000s	Kapo (2000) Welcome to North Korea (2001) The Power of Good: Nicholas Winton (2002) Das Leben geht weiter (2003) The Boy Whose Skin Fell Off (2004) Das Drama von Dresden (2005) Hiroshima: BBC History of World War II (2006) Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of the Manic Depressive (2007) The Beckoning Silence (2008) The Ascent of Money (2009)
2010s	Mom and the Red Bean Cake (2010) Life with Murder (2011) Terry Pratchett: Choosing to Die (2012) 5 Broken Cameras (2013) No Burqas Behind Bars (2014) Miners Shot Down (2015) Krieg der Lügen (2016) Exodus: Our Journey to Europe (2017) Goodbye Aleppo (2018) Bellingcat: Truth in a Post-Truth World (2019)
2020s	For Sama (2020) Hope Frozen: A Quest to Live Twice (2021) Iraq's Lost Generation (2022) Mariupol: The People’s Story (2023)

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