The View From Here - 13th Season Launch!

ALLAN KING'S FEATURE LENGTH DOCUMENTARY

Empz 4 Life

A Special Presentation World Broadcast Premiere at 9 PM

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Master filmmaker Allan King has documented many aspects of our society in his long career and many of his films were world broadcast premieres on TVO. With Empz 4 Life, in his 50th year of creating relevant films with great impact, King turns his lens to at-risk youth and racism in our community.

Honored with the Directors Guild of Canada Lifetime Achievement Award in 2006, King takes his cinéma vérité style of filmmaking to Empringham, a district of the Malvern community in Toronto that has been the focus of heavy police activity and media scrutiny in recent years and asks, "What does it feel like to be an angry teenager affected by racism?" He focuses on four young men, Chris, Jivon, Jordan and Sadiki, whose strongest role models come from rapping, drug dealing, and the glamour of crime. But what if the expectations and opportunities become positive ones? Brian Henry, who's been to prison and reformed, and John Mighton, a master mathematician, strive to elevate these kids through education. Yet life is not black and white, or so simply resolved, where each day, teens straddle hope and despair.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

The Agenda with Steve Paikin

www.tvo.org/theagenda
Special Edition
Wednesday, March 21, 2007 at 8 pm and 11 pm
60 minutes

In conjunction with The View From Here's presentation of Empz 4 Life, The Agenda with Steve Paikin will precede the documentary with a focus on many of the issues addressed in director Allan King's film.

The Agenda with Steve Paikin is TVO's flagship current affairs program practising what its trusted anchor Steve Paikin calls "long-form" journalism. Each program focuses on one or two issues, never more, providing Ontarians with more intelligent analysis, and more robust, thought-provoking debate and discussion among newsmakers and experts.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

THE VIEW FROM HERE

Harvest Queens

World Broadcast Premiere

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 10:15 pm
30 minutes
Directed by Julia Nunes and Janis Hass

Each year, farming communities across Canada celebrate the harvest with a traditional fall fair. In the northern Ontario town of New Liskeard, crowds gather for the Harvest Queen pageant - a ritual that has been attracting town girls for generations.

Harvest Queens, a new documentary from the OMDC Al Waxman Calling Card program for emerging Ontario filmmakers, paints an uplifting portrait of three exceptional young women from very different backgrounds, as they form unlikely bonds during the run-up to the pageant. By taking us behind the sashes and the smiles and revealing the real-life drama offstage, Harvest Queens flips the traditional notion of a beauty pageant on its head.

Rounding out the hour at 10:45 pm, TVO presents a special encore of Hubert Davis's Academy Award-nominated documentary Hardwood, in which Davis explores his relationship between himself and his father, Mel, a former Harlem Globetrotter. Hardwood is also a product of the OMDC Al Waxman Calling Card program.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

Bradford Riots

North America Premiere

Wednesday, March 28, 2007 at 9 pm
80 minutes
Written and Directed by Neil Biswas

On July 7 2001, the Manningham area of Bradford in northern England experienced what has been described as the worst rioting in mainland Britain for 20 years. The riots erupted after weeks of tension fomented by the activities and threats of white supremacist groups.

Written and directed by Neil Biswas (Second Generation), the hard-hitting drama Bradford Riots tells of that night from the perspective of a group of young Asian men whose lives, families and community have been defined and decimated by these events. Backed up by months of first-hand research within Bradford's Pakistani community, Biswas looks at this Muslim community from the inside to see how it lived and breathed before mass violence blew up on its streets and explores the painful aftermath. The film seeks to explore why this violence happened and who was to blame. And with the backdrop of the September 11 attacks in the U.S., how the severe sentencing of a generation of young Asian men took place even though the majority handed themselves in to the police, pleaded guilty and had no relevant previous convictions. Stars Sacha Dhawan, Ace Bhatti, and Victor Banerjee.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

HUMAN EDGE

About the Body

North American Premiere

Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at 10 pm
60 minutes
Directed by Alona Seroussi and Keren Yehezkely - Goldstein

Michal, Ilana, Hila and Aviv are four young women in their 20s who were severely injured in terrorist attacks. For three months, a camera crew followed them in a unique body workshop led by award-winning dancer Ohad Naharin. This poignant documentary explores the brave journey these women had to take to reconnect to their once-cherished bodies. The film observes them as they try to come to terms with their changed physical selves, and follows them into their lives outside of the dance studio to track their emotional journeys to recovery.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

MASTERWORKS

To Tulsa and Back: On Tour with JJ Cale

Canadian Premiere

Thursday, March 15, 2007 at 10 pm
88 minutes
Directed by Jorg Bundschuh

While rock legends like Eric Clapton sing his praises, J.J. Cale remains an enigma. Although he has written chart-topping hits such as "Cocaine" and "After Midnight," and is regularly offered major concert dates, he has preferred to live away from the public eye, taking years off between recordings and performances. For the first time, Cale, perhaps the most unpretentious man in popular music, has agreed to have a film made about his music, his life and career. This landmark documentary follows Cale and his band through six American states on his recent "To Tulsa and Back" tour, and features added footage and photos from throughout Cale's career. A musician's musician, Cale is credited with creating the Tulsa sound, a laid-back mix of rock 'n' roll, country, blues, and jazz.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

HEAVY METAL

Super Copters

Thursday, March 1, 2007 at 7 pm
60 minutes

There have been many contenders for the title of "Super Copter," a helicopter that sets the standard for design and reliability. But one of the newest flying machines that brings it all home is the EH101. Recently chosen to be the next "Marine One" - the presidential helicopter, the EH101 will be specially outfitted as the new Oval Office in the sky. It was a tight race with Sikorsky's S-92, and the competition between the two copters isn't over yet. Though the EH101 is the President's vehicle of choice, both of these state-of-the-art flying machines are now showing off the considerable engineering that went into them for lucrative contracts in the private and public sectors.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

National Geographic - The Vanishing Dragon

Saturday, March 3, 2007 at 7 pm
60 minutes

A winner at the Japan Wildlife Film Festival 2005, this visually spectacular documentary seeks out perhaps the most camouflaged of all ocean creatures, the leafy sea dragon. Unique to the rugged and fierce coastline of Southern Australia, the delicate leafy sea dragon, a cousin of the seahorse, relies completely in its ability to mimic a piece of seaweed in order to survive in its hostile environment. Little has been recorded about these creatures, and information is very hard to find. The only way to properly research them was to visit them and study their behaviour in their own environment. This film reveals information that has never before been recorded.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445   pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org

Saturday Night at the Movies

Saturdays, beginning at 8 pm

Saturday Night at the Movies is an evening of great movies and includes The Interviews, your all-access pass to the actors, directors and producers who make the films you love. The Interviews examine the themes, myths and conflicts presented in cinema, placing them in context of today's society.

March 3, 2007: Diary of Anne Frank (1959); The More the Merrier (1943)
Interviews: George Stevens
Actress Millie Perkins (Anne Frank) and the son of director George Stevens, George Steven's Jr. discuss how the chronicles of a young Jewish girl in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam became an enduring classic feature film.

March 10, 2007: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988); The Grifters (1990)
The Interviews: The Con
A look at the enduring role and culture of the con man and how cinema has turned them into either comedic villain or empathetic hero.

March 17, 2007: The Lady From Shanghai (1947); The Third Man (1949)
The Interviews: Welles
Critics discuss how Orson Welles' film noir take on Sherwood King's story If I Die Before I Wake further galvanized Welles's reputation as cinema's enfant terrible.

March 24, 2007: East of Eden (1955); Viva Zapata (1952)
Interviews: Steinbeck meets Kazan
The social issues depicted and developed in the classic novels of John Steinbeck get their film adaptations from the mind and hands of director Elia Kazan.

March 31, 2007: Compulsion (1959); Frenzy (1972)
Interviews: Crime of the Century
Author Hal Higdon explores the infamous case that director Richard Fleischer used as the basis for Compulsion.

Media Contact: Paul Ginis     416.484.2600 x2445 pginis@tvontario.org
Anne Rubenstein     416.484.2600 x2881    arubenstein@tvontario.org
Audience Relations: 416.484.2665     asktvo@tvontario.org