DOC Channel – Oscar Month

The Documentary Channel® (DOC) salutes outstanding achievement in documentary filmmaking throughout March by telecasting an Academy Award®-winning or nominated documentary every day of the month..

The network’s special “Oscar’s Picks” programming will include documentaries of both short and feature-length variety from all seven decades that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences® (A.M.P.A.S.®) has presented documentary awards.

MONDAY NIGHT PREMIERES
FLAMENCO @ 5:15
This Oscar®-winning film is a visual and emotional thriller. It is an impressionistic record of a flamenco dance class given to senior students of the National Ballet School of Canada by two great teachers from Spain, Susana and Antonio Robledo. The film shows the beautiful young North American dancers–inspired by the flamenco rhythms and mesmerized by Susana’s extraordinary energy–joyously merging with an ancient gypsy culture.
Mon. March 8 @ 8pm (ET)

THE COLOURS OF MY FATHER: A PORTRAIT OF SAM BORENSTEIN
With great singleness of purpose, Sam Borenstein painted for over 40 years. Despite his obvious talent it wasn’t until the end of his life that his work began to be known. Twenty years after the artist’s death, animation filmmaker Joyce Borenstein brings her father’s work to a wider audience. Using various animation techniques in this documentary, she skillfully and harmoniously integrates archival material, filmed sequences, the paintings themselves, and reminiscences of friends and family to bring Sam Borenstein’s work to life.
Mon. March 8 @ 8:30pm (ET)

“DOCTalk: Oscar® Special” celebrates the 82nd Academy Awards® with an exciting look at some of the nominees for best documentary. Through exclusive interviews with the filmmakers and footage from their Oscar® nominated films, DOCTalk presents the inside story behind the year’s most acclaimed documentary films, including segments on doc feature contenders “The Cove” and “Food Inc.”
Fri. March 5 @ 9:45pm (ET)

“DOCTalk: Academy Awards®” salutes the 2010 Oscars® with 4 films previously honored at the Academy Awards®.
“An Inconvenient Truth” – Al Gore and director Davis Guggenheim discuss their Oscar-winning film about the environment.
“Gravity Is My Enemy” – Director John Joseph remembers the amazing life of Mark Hicks, a gifted artist paralyzed from the neck down.
“Scared Straight” – Filmmaker Arnold Shapiro reveals what it was like to film inside a maximum security prison and create a film that impacted an entire generation.
“The Garden” – Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy gives us the inside story of dedicated farmers attempting to save their land from the city government.
Fri. March 12 @ 10:05pm (ET)

The judges of the seventh annual Big Sky Documentary Film Festival have selected this year’s award winning films in the four competitive categories: Best Feature, Big Sky Award, Best Short Film and Best Mini Doc (under 15 minutes). The 2010 Festival Winners are:

Best Feature: Lixin Fan’s Last Train Home
Artistic Vision for Best Feature: Josh Fox’s Gasland

Big Sky Award: Joseph Aguirre’s Next Year Country
Artistic Vision for Big Sky Award: Lucien Castaing-Taylor and Ilisa Barbash’s Sweetgrass

Best Short Film: Charlene Music’s Danza Del Viejo Inmigrante
Artistic Vision for Best Short: Kelly Anderson’s Never Enough

Mini-Doc (under 15 minutes) Award: Paramita Nath’s Found
Artistic Vision for Mini-Doc: Tony Donoghue’s A Film About My Parish-6 Farms

There were also four Programmer’s Choice Awards, awarded by the Big Sky programming staff. Michael Angus’s Salt and Robert Drew’s The Sun Ship Game both received awards for Excellence in Cinematography. Rainer Komer’s Milltown, Montana received an award for Excellence in Editing. And Briar March’s There Once Was An Island was awarded the Natural Facts Award for its artistic rendering of a vital environmental issue (climate change) and its effect on human life.

The Best Feature and Big Sky Award films will receive a guaranteed broadcast deal from Free Speech TV. Both shorts categories will receive a broadcast offer and licensing fee from The Documentary Channel®.