In March 2011, TVO programming will keep Ontario voters informed, take you around the world, and follow a courageous filmmaker on a personal journey through the world of predictive genetic testing.

The Agenda with Steve Paikin will take its Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 tour to Hamilton in March for a two-day interactive event discussing issues important to Hamilton and the surrounding region heading towards Ontario’s provincial election.

TVO has several documentaries in March by filmmakers from Canada and around the world. TVO-commissioned films include Dish: Women, Waitressing & the Art of Service, a new film by Maya Gallus about the world of waitressing, and The Night Cook by first-time filmmaker Jay Irving which reunites a Toronto man with his Czech family after 37 years apart. All You Need Is Klaus features artist and musician Klaus Voorman reflecting on his life including his friendship with The Beatles. And Farewell will take you back to the era of glamorous, lighter-than-air travel with a trip around the world on a zeppelin.

New programming for World of Wonder, TVO’s science, math and technology strand, includes In the Family, a film by Joanna Rudnick who delves into the world of genetic predictive testing, and The Silence, a new drama that combines medical technology with a murder mystery.

Current Affairs

The Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011

Hamilton:
Sunday March 27, 2011 – AgendaCamp
Monday March 28, 2011 at 8 pm ET – Live on-location broadcast

Steve Paikin, anchor and senior editor of TVO’s flagship current affairs program The Agenda with Steve Paikin, returns to his native Hamilton for the second stop in The Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 tour.

The economy, healthcare, child care, green energy, public transit, education… What issues do Ontario citizens want to see raised in the October provincial election? What solutions might they propose? To find out, the Your Vote 2011 tour will visit five cities across Ontario and take the pulse of Ontarians in the lead-up to election.

Each two-day visit features the AgendaCamp, a day-long, participant-led workshop on Sunday which will inform the live, on-location broadcast of The Agenda with Steve Paikin the following night at 8 pm. Hometown of NDP leader Andrea Horwath, Hamilton is one of three planned stops to hometown regions of provincial party leaders. The tour kicks off in Ottawa (home to Liberal leader and Premier Dalton McGuinty) on February 27 and 28, and also includes a stop in Niagara Falls (hometown of PC leader Tim Hudak) later in the spring.

Upcoming stops:
Niagara Falls: April 17 and 18
Sudbury: May 15 and 16
GTA area: September (location and dates TBC)

To participate in or propose a discussion topic for AgendaCamp, or for free tickets to be part of the live broadcast audience, please register at yourvote2011.ca beginning February 1.

For five seasons The Agenda with Steve Paikin has provided Ontario with thought-provoking, insightful analysis of current affairs going deeper on the big issues of the day with lively debates and stimulating one-on-one conversations. On March 3, 2011, The Agenda with Steve Paikin marks a significant milestone with their 1000th program.

Allan Gregg in Conversation
Fridays at 10 pm ET
Produced by TVO

On March 4, Allan welcomes Canadian hockey superstar Hayley Wickenheiser who talks about her book, Gold Medal Diary, and leading the Canadian women’s team to gold at the Vancouver Olympics. She also discusses her experience playing pro men’s hockey, and the prospect of a pro women’s hockey league with NHL participation. On March 11, Douglas Coupland, the renowned author of Generation X, talks about his latest novel Player One, which he submitted for the 2010 Massey Lectures. He raises questions about the future of the human species and how technology is changing us. 

Documentaries

Dish: Women, Waitressing & the Art of Service – World Broadcast Premiere
Wednesday March 16, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Directed by Maya Gallus
Produced by Red Queen Productions in association with TVO

Former waitress and award-winning director Maya Gallus (Girl Inside, Erotica: A Journey Into Female Sexuality) dines out and dishes the dirt with waitresses, restaurant owners, and maitre d's about the demands of the job. Some of the stops on this whirlwind tour of greasy spoons and gastro delights include the Ten Acre truck stop in Belleville, ON and the George Street Diner in Toronto; the very exclusive Taillevent restaurant in Paris; the topless-themed Restaurant Les Princesses and the Hooters-style Housters in Montreal; and the Royal Milk and Wonder Parlour “maid bars” in Tokyo’s Akihabara district. Dish takes an insider's look at gender, power, and the art of service and serves up a delicious and illuminating look at the lives of women in the restaurant biz.

The Night Cook – World Premiere
Wednesday March 9, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Directed and produced by Jay Irving in association with TVO

From first-time filmmaker Jay Irving, The Night Cook is the story of George Golias, a charming and eccentric Czech immigrant who lives alone with his eight beloved cats behind Vesta Lunch restaurant in Toronto, a popular greasy spoon diner where he works the graveyard shift. In 1968, George fled Czechoslovakia fearing he would be arrested or even killed for being an anti-communist activist. He left behind a wife, daughter and siblings, as well as a mother who wondered if she would ever see her son again. Thirty-seven years later, George decides to return to the Czech Republic to unravel the events that led him to flee his homeland and to finally face his past.

Farewell – North American Premiere
Wednesday March 2, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Directed by Ditteke Mensink
Produced by Pieter van Huystree Film

Constructed entirely of archival footage, Farewell tells the story of the first round-the-world flight by zeppelin and offers a fascinating look into the world of the roaring twenties just months before the stock market crash that would plunge the world into the Great Depression.

In August 1929, the LZ 127 Graf Zeppelin became the first hydrogen-filled airship to circumnavigate the globe. When it took off from New York, the German-built zeppelin was a symbol of hope, progress and the improving relationship between the USA and Germany.

Of the 20 passengers and 40 crew on board the lighter-than-air craft, the sole woman was Lady Grace Drummond-Hay, reporting on the adventure for the Hearst media empire. With narration based on her letters and diaries, Farewell chronicles the historic 21-day flight and provides a rare glimpse of day-to-day life in the zeppelin gondola as well as stunning footage from the air and from the zeppelin’s stopovers in Friedrichshafen, Germany, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Chosen – North American Premiere
Wednesday March 30, 2011 at 9 pm
100 minutes
Produced by True Vision Productions

Chosen deals with a subject often whispered but rarely spoken about: the sexual abuse of boys by teachers in Britain's private schools. For thirty years the boys at Caldicott prep school stayed silent nursing the dark secret of the abuse they suffered. But as adults, Tom, Mark and Alastair break that silence with breathtaking honesty telling their stories straight to camera. Chosen reveals how these boys were groomed, how abuse goes undetected and why we need to listen.

All You Need is Klaus – Canadian Premiere
Thursday March 31, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Directed by Jörg Bundschuh

As a close friend of The Beatles and the go-to bass player for many of pop music’s brightest stars for decades, Klaus Voorman has seen it all. The famed graphic artist and musician takes stock of his life and creative journey in this behind-the-scenes look at rock and roll history. Voorman befriended the Fab Four when they were unknowns playing gigs in Germany. For a while he lived with George Harrison and Ringo Starr and was the graphic designer for The Beatles’ Revolver album cover. He would go on to become the bassist for the Manfred Mann Band and, in 1969, for John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band. Klaus Voormann was on the frontlines of the pop era's meteoric rise and played on all the Beatles’ solo albums. With interviews featuring Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Carly Simon, Van Dyke Parks, Twiggy and others, a portrait of a modern Renaissance man emerges.

More documentaries in March:

National Geographic - Saturdays at 7 pm ET
In March, nature-lovers can explore stunning hiking settings on the USA’s west and east coasts. On March 5, Big Sur: California’s Wild Coast visits the rocky shoreline and majestic redwoods of the coastal region between San Francisco and Los Angeles. On March 12, Into the Wilderness: Appalachian Trail traverses the 3500 km-long scenic mountain trail that cuts through 14 states, encountering rattlesnakes and giant moose along the way.

World of Wonder – Science, Math & Technology

In the Family - Canadian Premiere
Tuesday March 1, 2011 at 9 pm ET
Written and directed by Joanna Rudnick
Produced by Kartemquin Films

At the age of 27, filmmaker Joanna Rudnick tested positive for the BRCA mutation. Joanna now faces an impossible decision: remove her healthy breasts and ovaries or risk incredible odds of developing cancer. Armed with a positive test result that leaves her essentially "a ticking time bomb," she balances dreams of having her own children with the unnerving reality that she is risking her life by holding on to her fertility. In her very personal film, Joanna takes us on a journey through the unpredictable world of predictive genetic testing.

Also for World of Wonder in March:

The Silence - Sundays March 6 to 27, 2011 at 10 pm ET
Eighteen-year-old Amelia, who was born deaf, is struggling to integrate into the hearing world after receiving a cochlear implant and witnesses a murder, putting her whole family in jeopardy. Featuring a deaf actress in the lead role, this four-part thriller combines the challenges of adapting to a new piece of hearing technology with a classic crime drama.

Evolutions – Tuesdays March 15 to 29, 2011 at 9 pm ET
Using CGI to recreate scenes from millions of years ago, this series follows the evolutionary tales of three modern animals. Find out how the deadly velociraptor evolved into the farmyard turkey; how a small wolf-like animal became the modern whale; and how the bear family has adapted to a wide range of climates from tropical to sub-zero.