While you’re sitting back with a beer (or three) this evening, you might want to flip on over to ichannel for tonight’s rebroadcast of the eye-opening BBC documentary Do I Drink Too Much? A probing examination of our relationship with alcohol, it’s part of the Beeb’s acclaimed Horizon series, and offers plenty of food (and drink) for thought.

The presenter is British addiction specialist Dr. John Marsden (left), and he has a personal as well as a professional stake in the issue: the son of an alcoholic, Marsden worries that he, too, may be at risk of developing a dependency.

The hour-long film follows him as he meets with leading researchers in North America and the UK, and takes part in experiments designed to help answer questions about the world’s most widely used drug. What does alcohol do to our brains and bodies, and why do its effects vary so much from one individual to another? How does alcohol affect adolescents, and does drinking hold greater risk for youngsters? Are some people genetically predisposed toward alcoholism?

As many as one-fifth of all British adults drink in dangerous amounts, and the number of people in the UK hospitalized because of drinking has gone up 70 percent in the last decade. Here in Canada, it’s estimated that four percent of all adults suffer from alcohol dependency. Given all that we know about alcohol and its impact, why do we continue to drink — and, perhaps more important: could we learn to live without it?

“The General allows us to live in the springtime all year long. His affection is like the sunlight, lighting up every living thing on earth.” – North Korean patriotic song

If you haven’t seen the documentary North Korea: Calling the Tune, do yourself a favour and check out tonight’s encore broadcast at 9 pm ET/PT. It’s a fascinating glimpse inside the world’s last remaining Stalinist dictatorship — and a place more surreal than any sci-fi writer could envision.

When Kim Il-sung, the founder of North Korea, died in 1994, his son and successor, Kim Jong-il, declared him “Eternal President,” making this nation of 24 million the only country on the planet with a dead man as head of state. And that’s just where the strangeness begins.

Among his many distinctions, Kim Jong-il (sometimes called “the General”) is a self-styled patron of the arts. In a country where one-third of the population goes hungry – and nearly a million starved to death during the great famine of the 1990s – the regime spends vast sums on cultural spectacles that promote the wonders of North Korea’s socialist paradise and extol the greatness of its supreme leaders, both father and son.

This 2009 production follows a French documentary team in the capital city of Pyongyang as they observe the preparations for the country’s “April Spring Friendship Art Festival,” celebrating the birthday of Kim Il-sung. Under the ever-watchful eyes of their official handlers, the filmmakers meet the singers, dancers, musicians and others charged with creating art that will mobilize their countrymen to labour for the greater glory of the state.

North Korea’s official ideology (“Juche”) emphasizes the importance of national self-reliance. In the arts, no foreign influence is permitted; Western pop and jazz are strictly forbidden. Music and dance exist to motivate the workers toiling in factories and fields, to glorify the country’s military might, and, above all, to shore up the totalitarian cult of personality surrounding Kim Jong-il and his father.

In carefully stage-managed interviews with the documentary crew, leading North Korean artists dutifully recite patriotic platitudes about their role in the struggle to build socialism, and about the pure and selfless joy that comes with performing for the mighty Kim Jong-il. “The General is our father,” opera singer Gong Ryong Mi says, with chilling sincerity. “Ever since I was born I have received the General’s love … Without him, I couldn’t conceive of my existence.”

With North Korea asserting itself as a nuclear power, and the ailing Kim Jong-il grooming son Kim Jong-un as his successor, the film offers a rare glimpse into the bizarre cultural and social life of a country whose increasingly unpredictable actions have dangerous implications for the stability of the entire Far East.

North Korea: Calling the Tune was produced by Barbara Necek, Francois Thery and Paul de Jenlis.

Food, farming and freedom of choice: original ichannel documentary Milk War premieres Sept. 26

TORONTO, Sept. 8, 2010 – On a November morning in 2006, 20 armed officers raided a small farm two hours north of Toronto. They weren’t looking for drugs or guns. They were there for the milk.

Dairy farmer Michael Schmidt found himself facing multiple charges. The offence: selling unpasteurized milk, a practice outlawed in Canada since 1991. Milk War, an original ichannel documentary making its world television premiere this month, tells the story of one man’s battle with government authorities over raw milk – a fight that Schmidt insists is really about the fundamental right “to eat what we want.”

ichannel, Canada’s political and social issues network, presents Milk War on Sunday, Sept. 26 at 8 pm and 11 pm ET. The hour-long film was written and directed by award-winning journalist Kevin O’Keefe, and produced by Declan O’Driscoll. Gemini Award-winning actor Colm Feore narrates.

Born and raised in postwar Germany, Michael Schmidt has long nursed a suspicion of authority and a belief in standing up for basic principles. On his Durham, Ontario farm, he practices a rigorous organic method known as biodynamic agriculture. And since the early 1990s, he has been catering to an enthusiastic clientele who swear by the superior taste and health benefits of the raw milk he produces. Through a co-operative venture called “cow-sharing,” Schmidt sells shares in each of his cows to individual owners, who take their dividends in the form of milk.

The province of Ontario introduced mandatory pasteurization of milk in 1938. Public health officials say the process eliminates potentially dangerous pathogens and ensures that the milk is safe to drink.

Devotees of raw milk, for their part, say it can be produced every bit as safely – and that it is far better for you than its processed counterpart. Scientific opinion is divided. But Canadian law is unequivocal: it’s illegal for anyone in this country to sell or distribute raw milk to consumers.

Michael Schmidt’s opposition to the raw milk ban put him on a collision course with the Ontario government, and set off a public debate that touched upon a whole host of issues: the immense power of Canada’s $12-billion dairy industry and the challenges facing small, independent farmers; the increasingly controversial nature of large-scale factory farming methods; and a growing public unease about the way most of our food products are processed before they reach us.

At the heart of this debate is a question of basic freedoms: should government have the right to decide what we, and our families, are allowed to eat?

For more information on Milk War, visit the documentary’s Facebook page. To learn more about Michael Schmidt, visit the Glencolton Farms Web site. For an advocate’s viewpoint on raw milk, check out the Campaign for Real Milk Web site. And for the Canadian government’s position, see the Health Canada “Tip Sheet for Raw Milk.”

Milk War was co-produced for ichannel by Stornoway Communications and The Path to Gimli. The film makes its public premiere at Toronto’s The Royal on Sunday, Sept. 19 at 7:30 pm, as part of the M.U.C.K. (Movies of UnCommon Knowledge) Film Festival.

For more information on ichannel programming, please visit www.ichannel.ca.

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Media contact:
David Todd, Marketing Coordinator
(416) 756-5510
dtodd@stornoway.com

The week is off to a great start with the news that the original ichannel documentary Milk War is among the nominees for the 21st Annual James Beard Foundation Awards — the “Oscars of the food world”!

Here’s the official announcement from ichannel:

ichannel DOCUMENTARY MILK WAR EARNS JAMES BEARD FOUNDATION NOMINATION

TORONTO, March 22, 2011 – The original ichannel documentary Milk War has been nominated for a prestigious James Beard Foundation Award.

The hour-long film, which was produced for ichannel by Stornoway Communications and The Path to Gimli, earned a nomination for best Television Special/Documentary in the Broadcast Media category.

Milk War was written and directed by award-winning journalist Kevin O’Keefe, and produced by Declan O’Driscoll. Gemini Award-winning actor Colm Feore narrates. It made its world television premiere on ichannel, Canada’s political and social issues network, on Sept. 26, 2010.

The film tells the story of Ontario dairy farmer Michael Schmidt’s battle with government authorities for the right to distribute unpasteurized milk, a practice long outlawed in Canada. His opposition to the raw milk ban led to a high-profile court case and touched off vigorous public debate on a question of basic freedoms: should government have the right to decide what we, and our families, are allowed to eat?

Established in 1986 and named in honour of the legendary American chef and food writer, The James Beard Foundation (http://jamesbeard.org/) is dedicated to “celebrating, nurturing and preserving America’s diverse culinary heritage and future.”

The annual James Beard Foundation Awards (www.jbfawards.com), sometimes described as “the Oscars of the food world,” celebrate North America’s leading food and beverage professionals. The awards cover all aspects of the industry, including chefs, restaurateurs, cookbook authors, food journalists, and restaurant designers and architects.

The Broadcast Media award winners will be announced on May 6, 2011.

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You can read the original ichannel news release here. Watch the Milk War trailer:

For a glimpse of what the James Beard Foundation Awards are all about, check out this highlight video from last year’s gala.

“I am a perfectionist with breasts. Just like Picasso or Michelangelo …”
– Dr. Stuart Linder, Beverly Hills plastic surgeon

Breast enhancements. Tummy tucks. Muscle implants. These days, it’s possible to create a whole new you – for a price.

California, the birthplace of modern plastic surgery, is the destination in tonight’s Louis Theroux documentary special, Under The Knife, at 10 pm ET/PT. In a place obsessed with self-image, all it takes is a few thousand dollars and the flick of a scalpel to become whoever you want to be.

“If you’re shopping for a perfect body,” Louis says, “this is where you come.” But does changing the person outside make the person inside any different? Does plastic surgery help people to become their better selves – or does it simply indulge the vanity of the wealthy and privileged?

As he gets under the skin of America’s plastic surgery business, meeting the doctors and patients caught up in the quest for everlasting youth and beauty, Louis decides the only way he can fully understand this obsession is to go under the knife himself.

Check out a video preview here.

Big game hunting in South Africa is a blossoming tourist industry, with the cost of a trophy ranging from $250 for a baboon to as much as $100,000 for a rhino. In tonight’s hour-long Louis Theroux documentary, African Hunting Holiday, the intrepid British journalist travels to Limpopo Province to enter the elite world of well-heeled hunters who pay top dollar for the chance to shoot Africa’s wildlife.

Watch a clip here.

On game farms, fenced in and stocked with trophy animals, American tourists arrive hoping to bag such exotic beasts as impalas and zebras. What predatory impulse drives men and women to stalk these magnificent creatures with crossbows and high-powered rifles?

And what of the gamekeepers who facilitate this desire? Do they regard the animals on their preserves as anything more than commodities? Do they see anything wrong with breeding these animals just to be hunted and slain? Or are they, paradoxically, helping to save endangered species from extinction?

As Louis immerses himself in the mentality of the big game hunter, he is challenged to put aside his preconceptions and experience a hunt for himself. Behind the camouflage of a hunter’s blind, he trains his crossbow on a healthy male warthog. But can he bring himself to pull the trigger?

Every year, Canadians give an estimated $10 billion-plus to charity. But how do you know that your donation is making a difference?

There are more than 160,000 registered charities and non-profits across the country. The vast majority operate honestly — but some do break the rules. In the last year, nearly 600 Canadian charities have been shut down for failing to keep their books up to date. Another 40 have had their status revoked because they weren’t doing the work they were supposed to do.

On tonight’s edition of @issue (airing at 8 pm ET/PT), host Karyn Pugliese investigates the challenge of giving wisely. Among her guests: Newfoundland filmmaker Christopher Richardson, whose documentary Where’s My Goat? offers a lighthearted but incisive look at the subject. Having adopted the practice of “ethical” gift-giving — he buys goats for Third World families as a thank-you gift to clients — Richardson began to question whether his donations were actually helping people on the ground. The film follows him as he travels to Zambia in search of one of the goats he bought online.

Tonight’s @issue also examines the work of Charity Intelligence Canada, a group that evaluates the effectiveness of charitable organziations operating across the country. Charity Intelligence publishes a list of recommended charities and social enterprises.

The Revenue Canada Charities Directorate is also an invaluable source of information on issues related to charitable giving.

Intrepid British television journalist Louis Theroux has a reputation for burrowing deep into unusual and often hidden subcultures – from neo-Nazis to religious recluses, survivalists to white supremacists. His willingness to immerse himself in these worlds has extended to the point of accepting a (fully clothed) walk-on part in a gay skin flick while investigating the San Fernando Valley porn industry, and undergoing liposuction for a documentary on plastic surgery.

A disarmingly gracious interlocutor, he has a way of getting his subjects to reveal more of themselves than they intend – sometimes to their regret. Jimmy Savile, a flamboyant British entertainer who got the Theroux treatment on the BBC series When Louis Met … has described him as “the pirhana fish of interviewers.”

On Tuesday nights (at 10 pm ET/PT), starting Feb. 22, ichannel is presenting a series of six Louis Theroux documentary specials produced for the BBC. Darker and tougher than any of his past projects, these hour films follow Theroux as he tours the places angels fear to tread – from the crime-ridden streets of Johannesburg to a California institution for dangerous paedophiles.

Here’s a sneak peek at the lineup:

Feb 22: “The Most Hated Family in America” – Louis gets to know the family of anti-gay preacher Fred Phelps, founder of the infamous Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kansas. Along with his followers, Phelps has become notorious for picketing the funerals of U.S. servicemen and others to protest America’s tolerance of homosexuality.

March 1: “Law and Disorder in Johannesburg” – Louis travels to Johannesburg, a city increasingly besieged by crime. Despairing of the capability of the police and courts to protect them, many residents have turned to private security firms offering protection for a price. Do these private police, with their sometimes brutal methods, really represent a solution – or are they just another part of the problem?

March 8: “African Hunting Holiday” – Hunting in South Africa is a blossoming tourist industry, with the cost of a trophy ranging from $250 for a baboon to as much as $70,000 for a rhino. Louis Theroux travels to Limpopo Province to enter an elite world of hunters who pay top dollar for the chance to shoot Africa’s big game. Along the way he meets a seven-year-old out to bag a springbok, a CEO intent on bringing home the head of a hippopotamus, and an Evangelical who preaches a macho do-or-die gospel of self-actualization through hunting.

March 15: “Under the Knife” – Breast enhancements. Tummy tucks. Muscle implants. California, the birthplace of modern plastic surgery, is the destination in this documentary special. In a place obsessed with self-image, all it takes is a few thousand dollars and the flick of a scalpel to become whoever you want to be. As he gets under the skin of America’s plastic surgery business, meeting the doctors and patients caught up in this quest for everlasting youth and beauty, Louis begins to wonder if he too might be a candidate for a nip and tuck.

March 22: “A Place for Paedophiles” – Coalinga Mental Hospital in California houses more than 500 convicted paedophiles. Most have already served lengthy prison sentences, but have been deemed unsafe for release. Their choice: remain institutionalized indefinitely, or submit to the hospital’s rigorous program of rehabilitation and therapy. Louis visits Coalinga to meet with patients and therapists, and to consider whether these men – many with long histories of sexual violence – can be sufficiently changed to live freely in society.

March 29: “The City Addicted to Crystal Meth” – The impoverished rural towns of California’s Central Valley have some of the worst rates of crystal meth addiction in the United States. In this documentary, Louis travels to Fresno, a city ravaged by the cheap and highly addictive drug. There, he meets men and women hopelessly mired in the madness of long-term addiction, police officers fighting a losing battle to keep a lid on the problem, and a group of ex-addicts running a rehab centre that aims to repair the damage crystal meth has done to their community.

Intrepid reporter Louis Theroux returns in a series of documentary specials starting Feb. 22

Here’s some good news for EastLink subscribers: ichannel will be available in free preview until March 1. Check us out on EastLink channel 151. And to subscribe, call 1-888-345-1111 or visit www.eastlink.ca.

Here’s a taste of what’s in store in February:

Today, more than a billion people will light a cigarette. Humanity’s strange and deadly romance with tobacco is the subject of the eye-opening BBC documentary WE LOVE CIGARETTES (Tuesday Feb. 8 at 9 pm ET/PT).

Is Canada’s public health care system in critical condition? Host Karyn Pugliese tackles this contentious question on ichannel’s current affairs flagship @issue (Tuesday Feb. 22 at 8 pm ET/PT).

Intrepid British journalist LOUIS THEROUX goes where angels fear to tread — from the crime-ridden streets of Johannesburg to the notoriously homophobic Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas — in his acclaimed series of documentary specials (Tuesdays, starting Feb. 22 at 10 pm ET/PT).

Several characters reach a crossroads in the second season finale of the groundbreaking medical drama series ST. ELSEWHERE, starring Denzel Washington, Mark Harmon and Ed Begley Jr (Thursday Feb. 24 at 10 pm ET).
 

ichannel Documentary Premiere: WE LOVE CIGARETTES, Tuesday Feb. 8 at 9 pm ET/PT