Documentary

Friday November 30 at 7.30pm on FOX8

Switched at Birth tells the story of two teenage girls who discover they were accidentally switched as newborns in the hospital. Bay Kennish grew up in a wealthy family with two parents and a brother. Meanwhile, Daphne Vasquez, who became deaf at an early age, grew up with a single mother in a working-class neighbourhood. Things get complicated when the families meet and struggle to learn how to live together for the sake of the girls.

Saturday December 1 at 6.30pm on BIO

Faced with their own mortality an improbable group of young people, many of them HIV-positive young men, broke the mold as radical warriors taking on Washington and the medical establishment. HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE is the story of two coalitions-ACT UP and TAG (Treatment Action Group)-whose activism and innovation turned AIDS from a death sentence into a manageable condition. Despite having no scientific training, these self-made activists infiltrated the pharmaceutical industry and helped identify promising new drugs, moving them from experimental trials to patients in record time. With unfettered access to a treasure trove of never-before-seen archival footage from the 1980s and ’90s, filmmaker David France p , g , puts the viewer smack in the middle of the controversial actions, the heated meetings, the heartbreaking failures, and the exultant breakthroughs of heroes in the making.

Tuesday November 27 at 9.30pm on BIO

Alex Lewis knows he does not have much longer to live. Aged 21 he finds himself falling hopelessly in love and can’t quite believe what’s happening.

Alex was first diagnosed with bone cancer shortly before his 18th birthday. After over three years of intensive treatment, he realises he is running out of options. He decides to cram as much life as possible into the time he has left. His remarkable zest for life is contagious.

On the first day of filming in June, 2010 his only sadness is not being able to commit to a long-term relationship. That evening, he goes to a party in Swansea, kisses a girl, falls in love and within weeks they are inseparable. In September Alex and Ali become engaged to be married. This is a story of the power of love, as a young man confronts his mortality in the most emotionally charged circumstances imaginable. Giving birth to sextuplets is a five million to one chance. Only 160 cases of sextuplets have ever been documented. This engrossing documentary has access to just such a remarkable event as the film tracks Andy and Vicky Lamb, as they prepare for the birth of six babies babies at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford How will this extraordinary event affect this ordinary couple? at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. How will this extraordinary event affect this ordinary couple?

9:30pm – Wednesday, December 12 on ABC2

Joan Rivers: A Piece Of Work takes us on a year-long ride with the irreverent comedian and pop icon Joan Rivers, peeling away the mask of the legendary performer, laying bare both the struggle and thrill of living life as a groundbreaking female entertainer.

With unprecedented, unguarded access, the film captures intimate scenes shot in Joan’s 75th year – Joan at home, during holidays, performing stand up and acting in a play she wrote, gossiping with her fans, writing jokes and managing her career – interweaving them with home movies, stand up routines, book recordings, personal photographs and archival footage to create a lush visual landscape and cinematic backdrop for the narrative as it unfolds.

A unique look inside America’s obsession with fame and celebrity – Joan’s story is both an outrageously funny journey and a brutally honest look at the ruthless entertainment industry, the trappings of success and the ultimate vulnerability of the first queen of comedy.

8:30pm – Sunday, December 9 on ABC2

Freddie Mercury (1946-1991) was one of the most charismatic, complex and fascinating characters in British rock music. The story of Queen is a well known one but this new film focuses on Freddie Mercury and the solo projects he worked on outside of Queen.

Using extensive archive footage of interviews with Freddie Mercury, concerts, video shoots and personal material, much of it previously unseen, along with new interviews with friends and colleagues, a portrait emerges of a man who was very different to his flamboyant onstage public persona. A generous, caring, thoughtful man with a selfdeprecating sense of humour and a genuine passion for music. Freddie Mercury touched the lives of millions through his career both with Queen and as a solo performer and this new program will delight and inform his legions of fans.

Tuesday November 13 at 9.30pm on BIO

This poignant documentary examines how families cope when the man about the house becomes a woman. In candid interviews, two mums who used to be dads reveal how their decision to undergo gender reassignment changed their families’ lives, while their children talk openly about how losing a father and gaining another mother has affected them.

9:30pm – Friday, November 16 on ABC2

Sixteen-year-old Jon is a typical teenage boy in all respects except one: he was born a girl.

Brought up as Natasha for 15 years, Jon can remember feeling male since he was only five years old. He eventually confided in his mother Luisa, who supported him in seeking help from his GP and subsequently a gender specialist.

Jon was diagnosed with gender dysphoria, a condition that affects over 100 British children every year, and is embarking on an extraordinary journey of transition. This program follows mother and son through the first three months of Jon’s life-changing treatment as the testosterone pushes his female body into male puberty.

For Jon the changes that follow are things he’s always wanted. But for Luisa, this means coming to terms with the enormous loss of her daughter.

The Boy Who Was Born a Girl is a sensitive, moving and remarkable film about one teenager’s determination to be true to himself and the extraordinary love and support of a mother.

Tuesday November 6 at 9.30pm on ARENA

Arena explores the intertwining lives of a group of young entrepreneurs on the path to becoming Silicon Valley’s next great success stories on Start-Ups: Silicon Valley premiering Monday, November 5 at 10 pm ET/PT. Silicon Valley isn’t a town, a neighbourhood, or a zip code… it’s a concept; the epicentre for the most revolutionary advances in technology and where the future of tomorrow is being created today. Sarah Austin, Dwight Crow, Kim Crow, Kim Taylor, David Murray, and brother and sister duo, Ben and Hermione Way, all have a unique perspective on the future of technology, business, and how to get ahead in the most competitive culture in the country. These driven, ambitious and hig y p y y p ghly motivated individuals are all work and all play as they blaze their own paths to become the next Silicon Valley success story. While trying to find balance amidst their complicated social network they discover that in the fast paced world of Silicon Valley success and failure can come and go with just a simple keystroke.

Monday November 5 at 9.30pm on BIO

This is the first major documentary to look back on the impact of this remarkable woman, whom commentators of both both the political left and right agree changed the face of 20th C the political left and right agree changed the face of 20th Century entury politics forever Feat politics forever. Featuring uring many excerpts from many excerpts from her powerful speeches and insightful contributions from her political supporters and detractors, a portrait emerges of a woman whose strength of conviction eventually becomes the weakness of intransigence. And as British society threatens to break apart with street rioting, the grandees of her own party are beginning to sharpen their knives to remove the g y greatest female leader in world history.

9:30pm – Friday, November 9 on ABC2

Seventeen-year-old Sam and 20-year-old Evan describe themselves as a gay male couple but underneath their clothes they have female bodies.

What makes this story so exceptional is that they are both in the process of changing their genders from female to male, at the same time.

This film follows their gender-changing journey and the prejudice they encounter along the way including the humiliation and fear they suffer of having eggs thrown at them as they walk to the bus stop.

This is the story of how Sam and Evan met, fell in love, and embarked on a remarkable transgender journey together to transform their bodies from Girls to Men.