Saturday, December 25, 2010

Soon-to-launch US cable network OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network has unveiled three documentary acquisitions, including a film about a Canadian woman suffering from cystic fibrosis. : 65_RedRoses.

Soon-to-launch US cable network OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network has unveiled three documentary acquisitions, including a film about a Canadian woman suffering from cystic fibrosis.



65_RedRoses is one of three films picked up by the network for its forthcoming Documentary Film Club strand, which launches next spring. It tells the story of a 23-year-old woman with the genetic disease and awaiting a double lung transplant.



The doc is directed by Nimisha Mukerji and Philip Lyall, and produced by Force Four Entertainment in association with CBC Newsworld and Dualogue Productions.



Elsewhere, One Lucky Elephant follows a circus producer as he struggles to find a permanent home for an orphaned baby African elephant, while Most Valuable Players is a doc about the Freddy Awards, a live TV event honouring outstanding high school musical theatre in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.



The former is directed by Lisa Leeman and exec produced by Sandbar Pictures, while the latter is a Canyonback Films production directed and produced by Matthew D Kallis.



"OWN seeks to entertain, inspire and inform," said Lisa Erspamer, OWN's chief creative officer. "What better way to further that mission than to provide a mainstream platform for emerging and established documentary filmmakers to present different stories that move the viewer, and then to encourage a dialogue and exchange of ideas?"