In April, TVO’s lineup of programs will provide perspectives on issues and cultures at home and around the world. In mid-April, The Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011 tour will visit Niagara for a two-day event providing citizens in the region a forum to discuss issues leading up to the provincial elections later this fall.

And with the changes brought on by the history-making protests in northern Africa and the Middle East, sparked in part by rising food prices, TVO has the timely North American premiere of The Future of Food. The two-part documentary examines the complicated system of food production around the world and how it may be in jeopardy. More documentaries in April include: the North American premiere of Coast, a breathtaking exploration of coastal communities in the United Kingdom; the Canadian premiere of Joanna Lumley: Catwoman which follows the Ab Fab actress’s examination of peoples’ fascinations with felines; and an encore of the Genie Award-winning A Hard Name by Alan Zweig, whose films will be showcased in a retrospective at this year’s Hot Docs festival.

Also in April, Allan Gregg talks to one guest who wants to shift our view of cancer, and another who wants us to take another look at the Group of Seven. And Saturday Night at the Movies presents themes of unusual bonds, the perils of US presidents, and rude behaviour in polite society.

Agenda on the Road: Your Vote 2011
Niagara
Sunday April 17, 2011 – AgendaCamp
Monday April 18, 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 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 the 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. 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 will also be in Hamilton at the end of March, (hometown of NDP leader Andrea Horwath).

Upcoming stops:
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.

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.

The Future of Food – North American Premiere
Tuesdays April 5 and 12, 2011 at 9 pm ET
2 / 60 minutes
Produced by Blakeway Television Production

We take our food for granted. Supermarket shelves groan with an incredible variety of produce – produce of all seasons, and from all over the world. But at the end of 2007 and into 2008, we saw that the international food system is not as stable as it looks. Is this just the beginning of a new era of food – an era when the old certainties are radically overturned? Travelling to America, Latin America, India, Africa and Europe, this series unravels the complicated web of links that binds the world together, bringing food from farm to table and asks what needs to happen to avert a major global food crisis.

Coast  - North American Premiere
Mondays April 8 to May 23, 2011 at 7 pm ET
8 / 60 minutes
Produced by Open University

A team of experts, including historians, archeologists, and geologists, explore the surprising and inspiring stories that affect the coastline communities of Britain and Ireland. From tourism and fishing, to military defence and archeology, the coastline is embedded with forgotten history and culture. The visually stunning tour will take you to places such as Dover, Isle of Wight, Liverpool, Dublin, Holyhead, and the Outer Hebrides.

A Hard Name – Encore
Wednesday April 27, 2011 at 9 pm
90 minutes
Written and directed by Alan Zweig

TVO presents Alan Zweig’s Genie Award-winning Best Feature-Length documentary, A Hard Name, to coincide with the start of the Hot Docs Documentary Festival (running April 28 to May 8). This year, Hot Docs will feature a retrospective of Alan Zweig’s work.

In A Hard Name, we meet eight middle-aged ex-convicts who are trying to stay out of prison, perhaps for the first time in their lives. Prison is what they know; they've learned how to survive there. The men and women who are featured, most of whom have spent 30 to 40 years in and out of jail, open up and tell their stories, reflecting on their pasts and sharing harsh painful personal viewpoints on what led them to where they are now.

Victoria Falls: The Smoke That Thunders – TVO Premiere
Wednesday April 6, 2011 at 7 pm ET
60 minutes

A tale of life on the Zambezi River, set against the epic backdrop of Victoria Falls. The story is told from the point of view of a local African fisherman, who has fished these waters for 69 years, and whose riverside companions are elephants, baboons, hippos and kingfishers. Follow the fortunes of these animals through his eyes, and learn how their lives are ruled by the moods of the river and the rains.

Joanna Lumley: Catwoman – Canadian Premiere
Fridays April 15 and 22, 2011 at 7 pm ET
2 / 60 minutes

Actress and animal lover Joanna Lumley is turning cat detective, to explore the unique relationship we have with our feline friends. Joanna embarks on a unique journey around the world to uncover the history of the cat - visiting Egypt, Japan, Namibia, North America, Belize, Mexico, Belgium and the UK as she seeks to find out why cats stir such different responses in different cultures.

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

On April 1, Allan welcomes Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer. Dr. Mukherjee discusses how our understanding of cancer has changed over time and the latest developments in diagnosis and treatment. Be sure to visit Allan Gregg in Conversation online at www.tvo.org/allangregg for past interviews with cancer experts such as Dr. Marla Shapiro and Dr. Robert Buckman. On April 22, award-winning art historian and author Ross King takes a fresh look at Canada’s most iconic artists and talks about his book, Defiant Spirits: The Modernist Revolution of the Group of Seven.

Saturday Night at the Movies
Saturdays beginning at 8 pm ET

In April, TVO’s long-running film anthology program presents film festival favourites exploring themes of unusual bonds, presidential assassinations, and etiquette and social propriety in ‘polite society’ at the turn of the 19th century.

On April 16, The Station Agent (2003) features strong performances from Peter Dinklage, Patricia Clarkson and Bobby Cannavale as three lonely people who form a connection at an abandoned train station. Later the same night The Cuckoo (2002), set against the backdrop of World War 2 Findland, explores an unlikely bond between a trio of people of very different backgrounds.

On April 23, Sean Penn stars as a loser out to get the President of the United States in The Assassination of Richard Nixon (2004). It’s paired with Oliver Stone’s JFK(1991).

On April 30, An Ideal Husband (1999) features Rupert Everet, Julianne Moore, Cate Blanchett and Minnie Driver in an adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s comedic play. Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence (1993) completes the evening’s double bill looking at social mores of upper class society.