In May, TVO and its flagship current affairs program, The Agenda with Steve Paikin, continue to take the pulse of Ontario with a visit to Niagara on the Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 tour.

The Niagara tour dates, originally scheduled in April, have been moved to May 15 and 16 due to the federal election called for May 2, and the campaign period occurring throughout April. The Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 is an opportunity for citizens in the Niagara region to share ideas on the issues they feel should shape the provincial election this fall.

May is also Cystic Fibrosis awareness month in Canada. TVO offers valuable on air programming and online content that puts a focus on a disease that affects one in approximately 3600 children born in Canada each year.

And for the fourth year in a row, TVO’s Photography Month showcases photography themed documentaries all month long in conjunction with the CONTACT Photography Festival. Highlights include the world premiere of the TVO-commissioned documentary Disfarmer, and the North American premiere of David Bailey: Four Beats to the Bar and No Cheating.

More May programming includes Prosecutor, a timely documentary that follows the International Criminal Court’s first prosecutor through his early cases; and Bang Goes the Theory continues TVO’s World of Wonder programming showcasing science, math and technology.

AGENDA ON THE ROAD: YOUR VOTE 2011

Niagara
Sunday May 15, 2011 – AgendaCamp
Monday May 16, 2011 at 8 pm ET – Live on-location broadcast

Niagara, home region of PC leader Tim Hudak, will be the next stop in The Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 tour. TVO invites members of the public, community and business leaders from the Niagara region to register at yourvote2011.ca and be part of this great opportunity to share ideas and concerns with their fellow citizens about the upcoming provincial election.

The two-day visit will feature the AgendaCamp, a day-long, participant-led workshop on Sunday May 15, which will inform the live, on-location broadcast of The Agenda with Steve Paikin the following night at 8 pm. Niagara is one of three planned stops to hometown regions of provincial party leaders. The tour kicked off in Ottawa (home to Liberal leader and Premier Dalton McGuinty) and was in Hamilton at the end of March, (hometown of NDP leader Andrea Horwath). In both cities issues such as energy, governance, and healthcare were voted by participants among the top issues they would like to see addressed.

What issues do citizens in Niagara want to see take centre stage in the October provincial election? What solutions might they propose? Engaged citizens are invited to register for the May 15 AgendaCamp at yourvote2011.ca to share their ideas about what they feel should be the focus of the election this fall. Members of the public can also visit yourvote2011.ca for free tickets to The Agenda with Steve Paikin live which will be broadcast live, on location in on May 16.

PLEASE NOTE: the Niagara dates for Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 have been moved to May 15 and 16 from the original April scheduled dates due to the federal election called for May 2. We hope this will give the citizens of the Niagara region who wish to participate in Agenda on the Road an opportunity to put their maximum focus on provincial election issues.

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.

Upcoming Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 stops:
Sudbury: June 26 and 27
GTA area: September TBA

CYSTIC FIBROSIS AWARENESS

TVO’s Cystic Fibrosis awareness programming includes the Canadian premiere of Dying for Breath, a remarkable documentary following a CF patient through a double-lung transplant.  And musical prodigy Alex Stobbs is back with encores of A Boy Called Alex and The Continuing Adventures of A Boy Named Alex.

AT TVO.org, a Frequently Asked Questions section about Cystic Fibrosis will give the facts and figures to help understand the impact of this disease. And also available at TVO.org, an archive interview featuring Paula Todd speaking with Heather Summerhayes Cariou whose book Sixty Five Roses about Heather’s sister Pam who spent a lifetime battling cystic fibrosis.

Dying for Breath - Canadian Premiere
Wednesday May 18, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Directed by Rachel Jean and Damon Fepulea'i; produced by Isola Productions

Cystic Fibrosis sufferer, Paul "Pauli" O'Halloran has lived well beyond his life expectancy, but the older Pauli got, the sicker he became. Getting enough oxygen to breathe became a frightening struggle, mustering the energy to clear mucus from his lungs equally demanding, and the length of time in hospital away from his wife and two small children depressing. His only hope of survival was a lung transplant. This documentary follows Pauli's journey over a five year period - his life as he struggles with failing lung function, the daily grind of hospitalization as he faces the last year of his life, and the uncertain wait for a set of healthy donor lungs. The documentary is made by Pauli's wife, documentary maker Rachel Jean, so Pauli shares the process with us in his usual frank and forthcoming manner.

Alex Stobbs

In support of Cystic Fibrosis awareness month, TVO brings back two popular documentaries that follow an extraordinary young man with cystic fibrosis on a musical journey. On Sunday May 22 at 8 pm, A Boy Called Alex follows 17-year-old musical prodigy Alex Stobbs who has a dream of conducting Bach's great choral piece, the Magnificat, before an audience of 500 in the stunning 15th-century chapel of his school, Eton.

The following week on Sunday May 29 at 8 pm, the story picks up with Alex: A Passion for Life. Now 19, Alex is at Cambridge and his cystic fibrosis is getting worse. But he’s not letting anything slow him down as he prepares to conduct one of the world’s most famous choral works, Bach’s St. Matthew Passion in front of an audience of a thousand in one of London’s top concert halls.

TVO PHOTOGRAPHY MONTH

In May, TVO presents documentaries that capture the power and artistry of photography and profile artists whose lives behind the lens are often as fascinating as the subjects in their view finders.

Close Up: Photographers at Work - Portraits - TVO Premiere
Thursday May 5, 2011 at 9 pm ET
50 minutes
Directed by Albert Maysles and Bradley Kaplan
Produced by Maysles Films Inc.

Photographers Steve McCurry, Brigitte Lacombe, Jay Maisel, Susan Meiselas, Miru Kim and Bruce Davidson share insights on their work and what makes a great portrait. Interviews with curators, artists, and authors also help demonstrate the passion of this gifted group and help put their work in context.

National Geographic
John Gollings: Eye for Architecture – Canadian Premiere
Saturday May 7, 2011 at 7 pm ET
55 minutes
Produced by 360 Degree Films and SBS

Award winning architectural photographer John Gollings takes a photographic journey through the rapidly changing cities of Australia and Asia where we witness firsthand their remarkable facelift as well as their historic roots.

David Bailey: Four Beats to the Bar and No Cheating - North American Premiere
Thursday, May 12, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Directed by Jérôme de Missolz; produced by LuFilms and White Rabbit

From Vogue magazine fashion photographer to filmmaker, painter and sculptor, David Bailey is the working-class Londoner who befriended the stars (Mick Jagger, Andy Warhol, Jack Nicholson, Roman Polanski), married his muses (Jean Shrimpton, Catherine Deneuve, Marie Helvin) and captured the tumultuous culture and history of the 1960s and onward with his iconic celebrity images. Now in his 70s, Bailey reflects on his career as a celebrity portraitist.

Close Up: Photographers at Work - TVO Premiere
Thursday May 19, 2011 at 9 pm ET
50 minutes
Directed by Rebecca Dreyfus; produced by Ovation TV

Artistic greats Gregory Crewdson, Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, Albert Maysles, Andrew Moore and Sylvia Plachy discuss the impact their work has on their lives and on culture as a whole.

Disfarmer - World Premiere
Wednesday May 25, 2011 at 9pm ET; Monday May 30 at 10 pm ET
60 minutes
Produced by Public Pictures and Nomad Films in association with TVO
Written and directed by Martin Lavut

During the two World Wars and the Depression era, residents in the small mountain town of Heber Springs, Arkansas would go to portrait photographer Mike Disfarmer if they wanted their picture taken. Years later, these simple but striking images would be hailed as a work of artistic genius that captured the lives and emotions of rural America in difficult times. His subjects wanted a memento. Heber Springs residents, artists, collectors and critics discuss the life and work of Mike Disfarmer, and through their stories, reveal how a photographic image has the power to transcend the subject matter.

Karsh Is History – TVO Premiere
Thursday May 26, 2011 at 9 pm ET
60 minutes
Directed by Joseph Hillel

With his home base in Ottawa, Armenian immigrant Yousuf Karsh became the most celebrated portrait photographer of the 20th century. His image of a scowling Winston Churchill is one of the most famous photographs of a world leader ever captured, and his photos of Ernest Hemingway, Martin Luther King, Albert Einstein, John F. Kennedy, Picasso, Glen Gould, Audrey Hepburn, among others, have become the definitive portraits of these iconic figures. This retrospective combines archival footage and interviews with photographers and critics to tell the story of Yousuf Karsh.

MORE FOR MAY

Prosecutor - World Premiere
Wednesday May 11, 2011 at 9 pm ET; encore May 15 at 11 pm ET
95 minutes
Directed by Barry Stevens
Produced by White Pines Pictures and the NFB in association with TVO

In March 2011, the International Criminal Court and its chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, began an investigation of Muammar Gaddafi for alleged crimes against humanity against the people of Libya. With extraordinary inside access into how the relatively new ICC works, the timely documentary, Prosecutor, follows Moreno-Ocampo as he investigates and prosecutes some of the world's worst criminals for some of the world's worst crimes. He's a hero to genocide survivors, but has bitter enemies on both the right and the left. Prosecutor offers front-row seats to the historic events that will determine whether the ICC is a groundbreaking new weapon for global justice or just an idealistic dream.

Bang Goes the Theory - North American Premiere
Tuesday, May 17 to June 14, 2011 at 7 & 7:30 pm ET
10 / 30 minutes
Produced by Open University and BBC

An irreverent and fun magazine-style series looking at cutting edge science, with big stunts, team challenges and glimpses of the technology of the future. A small team of experts undertake hands on experiments relating to everything from the Big Bang theory to biology.