Showcasing the best documentaries from Canada and abroad, documentary Channel brings real stories with dramatic, cinematic beauty into the homes of Canadians. The channel features award-winning films, which last year included The Ghosts in Our Machine; Regret; We Are Here; Hue: A Matter of Colour; NCR: Not Criminally Responsible; and Last Woman Standing.
Every year documentary Channel commissions several original titles. Among those premiering this fall are: Blind Spot; Ready for Our Close-Up; and Two of A Kind. Other exciting titles documentary Channel has acquired include The Case Against 8; Particle Fever; Storm Surfers; Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams; and Ben and James in Arabia.
documentary original productions for the 2014/15 season include:
Blind Spot—a film by Criollo Films
Blind Spot is a feature-length documentary film about three blind adventurers who cross the Argentinean Andes on horseback. The film documents the epic horse-powered trek of travellers united by trust and courage, who overcome countless challenges on their mountain pilgrimage. During a two-week guided expedition in the wilderness of northern Patagonia, the riders chart a route of inner exploration to discover a place where adversity and joy become interchangeable, where blindness leads to clarity, and disability creates possibility.
Ready For Our Close-Up—a film by Andrew Gregg
Throughout the 20th century, New York Times photographers took more than 20,000 pictures of Canada from coast to coast to coast. Most of these photos have never been seen by the public. Ready for Our Close-Up will take this photographic record and use it as a lens to see how Americans look at Canada. The film also seeks the point of view of notable Canadians who have been living and working in the United States.
Two of a Kind—a film by 90th Parallel Films
Theyʼre wombmates. Theyʼre soulmates. And now theyʼre facing a shocking development that threatens to tear apart their unbreakable bond. In Two of a Kind, director Leora Eisen gives us an insider perspective on the exclusive world of identical twins.
Award-winning acquisitions for the 2014/15 season include:
The Case Against 8—a film by Ben Cotner & Ryan White
The Case Against 8 is a behind-the-scenes look inside the historic case to overturn California’s ban on same-sex marriage. The high-profile trial first made headlines with the unlikely pairing of Ted Olson and David Boies, political foes who last faced off as opposing attorneys in Bush v. Gore. The film follows the plaintiffs, two gay couples who find their families at the centre of the same-sex marriage controversy. Five years in the making, this is the story of how they took the first federal marriage equality lawsuit to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Particle Fever—a film by Mark A. Levinson & David E. Kaplan
Imagine being able to watch as Edison turned on the first light bulb, or as Franklin received his first jolt of electricity. For the first time, a film gives audiences a front-row seat to a significant and inspiring scientific breakthrough as it happens. Particle Fever follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start-up of the biggest and most expensive experiment in the history of the planet, pushing the edge of human innovation. As they seek to unravel the mysteries of the universe, 10,000 scientists from more than 100 countries joined forces in pursuit of a single goal: to recreate conditions that existed just moments after the Big Bang and find the Higgs boson, potentially explaining the origin of all matter. But our heroes confront an even bigger challenge: have we reached our limit in understanding why we exist? Directed by Mark Levinson, a physicist turned filmmaker, and masterfully edited by Walter Murch (Apocalypse Now, The English Patient), Particle Fever is a celebration of discovery, revealing the very human stories behind this epic machine.
Storm Surfers—a film by 6ixty Foot Films
Storm Surfers is the most sophisticated global surf entertainment brand delivered across all media platforms. Meet two-time world surfing champion Tom Carroll and big wave pioneer Ross Clarke-Jones. Two larger-than-life brothers born of the 1980s generation of pro-surfing and both in their 40s, they live to ride waves the size of buildings. Based in Sydney, Australia, they enlist the help of surf-forecasting guru and meteorologist Ben Matson to track the giant oceanic storms that create massive swells. And so begins the race against the clock, taking Tom, Ross and the crew to the most exotic and remote ends of the planet to ride and claim them. This year they are focused on the winter season Down Under, to hunt down as many giant swells as they can in Australia.
Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams—a film by Dave Stewart & Stevie Nicks
The documentary shines a light on Stevie Nicks’ personal life and shows her writing songs, tap-dancing and attending costume parties and feasts. It includes cameos by Mick Fleetwood, Reese Witherspoon and, quizzically, Edgar Allan Poe, as well as a white stallion, owls and “vampires” who appear in home video-style music videos. Lastly, it also includes a look at previously unseen pictures of Nicks’ childhood and several candid photos taken over the past 35 years.
Ben and James in Arabia (3 X 60) - a BBC2 Production
James Cracknel and Ben Fogle trek deep into the Empty Quarter of the Arabian Desert in the footsteps of explorer Wilfred Thesiger. They train with Bedouin tribesman and, with only four grumpy camels for company, push themselves and their friendship to the limit.
About documentary
documentary is a digital television station devoted to showing the best documentaries from Canada and around the world. With its special emphasis on feature-length films, watching documentary is like having a cinema in your own living room, showing award-winning films 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
