Monday, April 28, 2008

Sundance Channel Buys Canadian Docs, NFB Films

The American specialty channel Sundance has acquired rights to 11 National Film Board of Canada productions, including Confessions of an Innocent Man, made by Vancouver’s Paperny Films.

Confessions, directed by Academy Award-nominate David Paperny and narrated by Martin Sheen, recounts William Sampson’s horrific account of being wrongfully imprisoned in Saudi Arabia. Sampson, a British-Canadian citizen working as a business consultant at the time of his arrest, was charged by the Saudis with plotting murder and a terrorist bombing. Tortured and jailed for almost three years, Sampson wrote of his experience in a book (cover image, pictured) of the same name. Paperny’s film made headlines of its own when if was featured last fall at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Other items in Sundance’s shopping cart include Triage: Dr. James Orbinski’s Humanitarian Dilemma, about Canadian doctor James Orbinski (head of Medecins sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders) on an African pilgrimage of hope; and the feature documentary Wild Horse Redemption, by Academy Award-winning director John Zaritsky. Produced by Terence McKeown (The Boys on the Bus), Wild Horse Redemption looks at innovative program in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains that offers inmates the chance to learn how to train and work with wild horses.

Sundance’s short list of short films includes, Oscar nominee Madame Tutli-Putli, Sleeping Betty, Engine 371, Conte De Quartier, Flutter; Jeu, Tower Bawher and Tragic Story Y With A Happy Ending.

More Doc Talk

Air India 182, which recently opened Toronto’s Hot Docs film festival, will air June 22, commercial-free, on CBC. The film, directed by Sturla Gunnarrson, will air on the anniversary of the flight's departure 23 years ago, and on the eve of Canada's National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Terrorism.

On June 22, 1985, Air India flight 182 left Canada en route to Delhi with 329 passengers aboard, most of them Canadians. An explosion in the baggage compartment ripped apart the plane, when it was near the Irish Coast, killing all on board. Canadian Sikh extremists, seeking revenge against the Indian government, planted the explosives when the flight began its journey from Vancouver. (You can read more about the film in an earlier blog dated March 18…)

The Hot Docs festival has just ended in T.O.…Just in time as tomorrow Vancouver’s Doxa Festival will announce its lineup …Doxa will run from May 27 to June 1…Check this space tomorrow for the 411 on the lineup and fest highlights.

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