MAKE TV ended, LINK Explore and Music ending soon

We had 10 episodes of MAKE TV available to us, and we’ve run through the series twice, so Saturday was the last showing of MAKE.  Perhaps someday in the future we’ll give it another run, but there are no plans right now.

We’ve been running LINK TV’s EXPLORE series since it first became available to us in May of 2008.  New episodes came quickly at first, but have slowed considerably.  We currently have 16 episodes in the series, the latest of which arrived in August 2009.  Since we’ve been continuously repeating the series from the time it started, those early episodes have run a lot, so we’re going to let the current round play out and finish the first week of February.  If more new episodes appear, we’ll insert them in to the LINK TV PRESENTS series.

Similarly, LINK Music also started in May 2008, and we have 14 episodes.  A new episode starts on Saturday morning, and then repeats once a day, every day of the week.  Again, since the early episodes have been running since 2008, and the last new episode became available in February 2009, we’re going to let this one finish its current cycle and end after the second week in February.  Like Explore, if new episodes appear, we’ll insert them in to the LINK TV PRESENTS series.

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Schedule issues — the week in review

Due to an oversight, many of the shows scheduled to cycle to a new episode over the weekend didn’t.  So for this week, we’re repeating the same episode shown last week for:

• Chef’s Plate (probably not a bad thing, since this episode features a local favorite, the chef at the Red Arrow Diner)
• LINK-TV Film
• LINK-TV Explore
• LINK-TV Documentary
• Perils for Pedestrians
• University Channel Saturday episode (repeats Monday and Friday)
• the Monday episode of Jazzercise (Tuesday through Friday will be the correct episodes in the cycle)

Some of our more timely shows (White House Chronicles, Scorch’s PFG-TV, and Hollywood New England) all did show new episodes, which are repeating on their normal schedule if you missed them.

LINK TV February-April 2009

The new LINK TV programming is available,and will start appearing in the schedule on Saturday, February 7th.  We add 1 new Music show, 3 new Films, 3 new Explore episodes, and 9 new Documentaries.  The Documentaries, Films, and the Music show will stop running on April 30th.

Here are the descriptions of the shows.

MUSIC

• 110: There are lots of catchy beats in this one, starting with Sona Mohapatra and some swinging bhangra, followed by Hard Kaur RAP-sodizing about Bollywood, then over to Namavao, Marina and the Magic Powers for some homespun pleasures. Next we get two takes on Balkan Brass from Shantel and Magnifico, head south to Brazil for a rendition of Asa Branca” and finish with Manu Chao’s award winning ode to the street, “Me Llaman Calle.”

FILMS

• Raja: Raja is a nineteen year old orphan literally and figuratively scarred by life. Fred is an emotionally bankrupt westerner living amid his plush gardens and palm trees. Set against the backdrop of contemporary Marrakech, Raja is a cross-cultural drama about a wealthy middle-aged Frenchman’s complex relationship with local youth. Fred’s attempts to seduce Raja, and their mutual attempt at manipulation, are fractured by their gross disparity of income, age and cultural sophistication.
• Takva: A Man’s Fear of God : For over 30 years, Muharrem has led a quiet life as an employee in the same traditional part of Istanbul where he was born. A modest, introverted and lonely man of humble circumstances, he is a strict observer of the Islamic precepts: he prays a great deal and practices sexual abstinence. Muharrem’s religious devotion brings him to the attention of the leaders of a rich and powerful religious group. His reputation for being trustworthy and duteous prompts them to offer him job as a rent collector for their numerous properties. Muharrem receives a new set of clothes; he is given a mobile phone and computer. All at once he finds himself in a world that he had previously succeeded in evading. Before long he begins to encounter such things as hypocrisy and alcoholic excess; to his own consternation he discovers his own penchant for tyranny and pride and even becomes an unwitting accom plice in a con trick. His inner peace is over. Day and night he is tortured by the image of a seductive woman who haunts his dreams. Until now, Muharrem was able to differentiate between worldly and spiritual values. But now the balance and order of his devout existence is in ruins and his fear of God’s punishment is tearing him apart.
• May 6th  (GC):  Renowned Dutch director Theo van Gogh reconstructs the puzzling events that took place following the assassination of Dutch politician Pim Fortuyn on May 6th, 2002. The film is Van Gogh’s final testament to his unique artistic abilities as a filmmaker.

DOCUMENTARIES

• A Dream in Hanoi:  Twenty five years after the end of the Vietnam War, Vietnamese and Americans join forces in a unique collaboration. Two theater companies, one American and one Vietnamese, come together to stage the first performance in Vietnam of Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. This spirited tale follows the actors, directors, producers and technicians from both countries as they struggle to surmount the huge obstacles of language, culture, ideology, and a history of war on their journey to opening night at Hanoi’s famous Opera House. The film features Vietnam’s renowned theater, the Central Dramatic Company of Vietnam, and actors and staff from the Artists Repertory Theater in Portland, Oregon. Music is performed by artists of Vietnam’s National Theater of Music and Dance and the Cheo Theater of Hanoi. A DREAM IN HANOI is the first American documentary about American/Vietnamese relations that does not focus on the Vietnam war or its legacy of human suffering.  Two theater companies, one American, one Vietnamese, collaborate to produce A Midsummer Night’s Dream in Hanoi.
• The Cell:  The year is 2026. Solera, an exclusive retirement community in the south of France, has won the local Senior Olympics for third year running. Its residents suffer from strokes, diabetes, heart disease, Alzhemier’s disease – all the ailments of old age. But now many of these diseases can be cured or contained with the latest stem cell therapies. The old are getting younger, and death is being postoponed. A young TV reporter, Ella, finds that Solera is not what it seems; the residents are guinea pigs, on the cutting edge of medical research. The Cell is Ella’s investigation.
• Chihoinaz: What Rights for Women?:  A multifaceted and moving “voyage of discovery”, undertaken by a young woman on the verge of adulthood. This film is an opportunity to look at women’s lives today, in many parts of the world. Discrimination takes different forms on different continents, and it is this complex picture that this documentary explores
• Relocated Mountains:  As a child Sirwan Namo’s family escaped the Kurdish genocide under Saddam Hussein’s regime, settling finally as refugees in New Zealand. Years later, Sirwan risks his life by traveling back to Iraq to keep a promise–to visit his grandmother before she dies. This is the compelling story of a man in search of his past and a promise made to family.  Co-production of ButoBase Film and Television Production and ITVS International.
• The Orchestra of Piazza Vittorio:  After rounding up musicians from a thriving immigrant neighborhood in Rome to create the eclectic Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio, filmmaker Agostino Ferrente captured their heartwarming individual stories in this captivating documentary. The film reveals that, for many members of the group — which is made up of Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus and atheists from 11 countries — making music is as second nature as breathing.
• Crazy:  CRAZY is a film on the reminiscences of Dutch UN soldiers about the battlefields where they served ; memories inextricably linked to one special song that brought them solace far from home. Starting with the very first UN mission to Korea (1950), the film takes us on a journey to the Lebanon, Cambodia, Rwanda and former Yugoslavia. Using home videos photos and gruesome archive footage, the soldiers tell their poignant stories about fear, love, impotence and death.
• Nuclear Iceberg (Nuclear Terrorism: is America Safer?):  The possibility that terrorists could acquire a nuclear weapon to build a crude nuclear bomb and attack the United States is the most urgent threat to American lives and liberties today.  “The Nuclear Iceberg” reveals this largely neglected and potentially catastrophic issue. 
• Soweto Strings:  A fun-filled block with videos that are musically and visually eclectic. Magnifico’s “House of the Rising Sun” goes Balkan, Mexican Institute ofSound visits the dinosaur room, Rahul Sharma presents a philosophical hallucination, SoCalled deconstructs his head, Ojos de Brujo create a spiritual and cultural collage, Dengue fever pays tribute to the Road Warrior, and Antiquarks gets down on the dancefloor with the hurdy gurdy. 
• The Play: In a remote Turkish village, nine peasant women put on a play based on their own histories. Pelin Esmer’s documentary captures a soaring moment of liberation from the most unexpected of places.

EXPLORE (Here are the descriptions we have for the Explore episodes in our rotation)

• In this special presentation the Annenberg Explore team visits non-profit organizations working in India, and captures the sites and sounds of the world’s largest democracy.
• The Explore team from the Annenberg Foundation visit non-profit organizations in India.
• EXPLORE – CHINA is a multi-faceted, guided exploration through modern day China and Tibet in search of the “great minds” who are defining the current state of Chinese society.
• In this special presentation the Annenberg Explore team visits non-profit organizations in the US, China and Costa Rica.
• The Explore team from the Annenberg Foundation focusses their attention on endangered animals.
• Explore: “From the Yangstze to the Hood”
• Explore: Spiritual India
• Explore Special Africa, China & India

LINK TV

The nice people at Link TV give us a variety of programs to run.  These are typically international in nature, produced around the world, and looking at topics of interest around the world.  These get scheduled under 4 different categories on ACTV20.

LINK TV MUSIC runs every day, with a new episode premiering on Saturday, and then repeating through the following Friday.  They are about 30 minutes long, and feature a variety of world music.  In general, once we’re given an episode, we can run it without limit, so the cycle of Music shows grows slowly, and the cycle repeats.

LINK TV EXPLORE premieres on Sunday night, and then repeats 4 more times during the week.  Explore episodes are documentaries, usually 30 minutes long.  In general, once we’re given an episode, we can run it without limit, so the cycle of Explores grows slowly, and the cycle repeats.

LINK TV DOCUMENTARIES premiere on Saturday night, and repeat twice more during the week.  Documentaries vary wildly in length, but we allocate an hour in the schedule for them.  Documentaries come with a limited time window of availability, generally 3-4 months, then we have to stop showing them.  Some have adult themes, so we run them later in the evening.

LINK TV FILMS (Cinemondo) premiere on Sunday night, and repeat twice more during the week.  Films vary wildly in length, so we allocate two hours in the schedule for them.  Films also come with a limited time window of availability, generally 3-4 months, then we have to stop showing them.  Some have sophisticated themes, so we run them later in the evening.  We generally receive three films for each period, so we keep cycling them until they expire.