Corus Entertainment sets the stage for a new film and entertainment experience next month when Sundance Channel (Canada) joins Corus' premier portfolio of specialty services on Monday, March 1. Offering a home to movie enthusiasts, music fans, creative and socially engaged audiences, Sundance Channel gives Canadians a new way to look and talk about the world around them. Offering a lineup of award-winning, diverse and engaging titles, Sundance Channel features the best in feature films, festival-selected shorts, documentaries and innovative original series.
"We are very pleased to be launching Sundance Channel and introducing this world-renowned brand to Canadian audiences," said Paul Robertson, President, Television, Corus Entertainment. "The quality and diversity of Sundance Channel's programming gives viewers a wide variety of independent-minded films and original programming, creating a completely unique television destination for Canadians."
The schedule is built around six defined programming blocks anchored weeknights in prime time and on Saturday and Sunday nights:
On Monday nights, Sundance Stage focuses on film adaptations of stage plays and kicks off in March with the award-winning Canadian series Slings & Arrows followed by some of Hollywood and theatre's biggest names in American Film Theatre, including the films The Homecoming, The Maids, Rhinoceros and Luther.
The Tuesday night block, Critics Choice bows in with the ultimate Hollywood insider show In the House with Guber and Bart, featuring entertainment news and interviews hosted by legendary industry insiders Peter Bart (former editor-in-chief, Variety) and Peter Guber (producer Rain Man, Batman, The Color Purple), offering insights, opinions and conversations from and with Hollywood's major players. Each episode is followed by a critically-acclaimed film chosen from festival selections from around the globe. March titles include Tom Gilroy's Spring Forward, which takes an intimate look at a manufactured father and son relationship and won a Toronto International Film Festival Discovery Award; Errol Morris' off-centre documentary on pet cemeteries in the acclaimed Gates of Heaven, and the controversial Brother's Keeper, winner of the Sundance Film Festival Audience Award.
Wednesday nights are dedicated to Sundance Series featuring the best of Sundance-produced original productions, with exclusive premieres including the world-travel treasure seeking eight-part series Man Shops Globe, about the buying excursions of Anthropologie's buyer-at-large, the eye-opening green series The Lazy Environmentalist, and the hard hitting Brick City, which documents efforts to renew and revitalize Newark, New Jersey, a city challenged by decades of urban decline.
Thursday nights are all about music with Sonic Screen, and features series such as Music Makers, 360 Sessions and London Live with performances by today's established and up-and-coming stars from Beck and Kanye West to Feist.
Weekends on Sundance Channel begin on Friday nights with Theatreland, an insightful documentary series on the London theatre scene. On Saturdays at midnight, Midnight Snack offers films that have earned a loyal cult following over the years such as Naked Lunch, Return of the Secaucus Seven and Brother from Another Planet. Asia Extreme rolls out on Sundays at midnight and features the new wave of innovative filmmakers from the Far East who are shaking up the world of genre movies with titles like Bloody Reunion, Divergence and Triad Election.
Sundance Channel is available in Canada based on a license agreement with Rainbow Media.