CLIENT
BBC Travel
LOCATION
Menton, France
SERVICES PERFORMED
Pre-production, Filming, Editing, Field production, Subtitling, Translation, Event videography, Festival coverage
LANGUAGES
French, English
An award-winning BBC Travel documentary on Menton's lemon heritage
Riviera Media produced a short documentary for BBC Travel on how the town of Menton is reviving its famous lemon, filmed during the Fête du Citron. The film won a 2023 Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers.
Key facts
Client: BBC Travel
Location: Menton, French Riviera, during the Lemon Festival
Format: video documentary and accompanying article
Our role: pre-production, filming, editing, subtitling, translation, festival coverage
Recognition: 2023 Lowell Thomas Award, Society of American Travel Writers
The story
Menton has celebrated its lemons since 1934 with the Fête du Citron, which uses around 150 tonnes of citrus for its giant sculptures. Behind the festival, only around 15 local lemon growers remain. BBC Travel wanted a film that went beyond the spectacle and told the story of the people keeping this heritage alive.
How we produced it
Access: we organised interviews with growers in their orchards and with the festival team, and managed the permits needed to film within the parade
Festival coverage: capturing the scale of the sculptures and the crowds, while keeping the focus on the human story
Language: interviews filmed in French, translated and subtitled in English for BBC Travel's international audience
Editorial standards: script, structure and fact-checking to BBC requirements, working with the BBC Travel team
The result
The documentary was published by BBC Travel with an accompanying article and received a 2023 Lowell Thomas Award, one of the best-known prizes in travel journalism in the US.
Why it matters for brands
The same skills that make an award-winning documentary make strong brand content: finding the real story, earning people's trust on camera and telling it in English for an international audience.
Read the behind-the-scenes story on our co-founder's blog: The French town reviving its lemon heritage.
