Professional Motion Picture Production and Distribution NEWS

Sundance Channel to Premiere Portraits of Women Artists May 25-29, Airing Nightly at 7PM ET/PT

By Staff
posted May 14, 2009, 23:24

(New York, NY)--Beginning May 25, Sundance Channel will premiere a series of in-depth portraits of some of the greatest contemporary women artists including Marina Abramovic, Ghada Amer, Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, Alice Neel, Cindy Sherman, Kiki Smith, Nancy Spero and Swoon. Sundance Channel�s Week of Women Artists will air Monday-Friday at 7pm e/p.

�This series is not just a celebration of wonderful artists � it is a tribute to some of the most extraordinary women of the 20th century � brave and passionate pioneers with colorful lives,� commented Christian Vesper, SVP, Acquisitions, IFC TV and Sundance Channel.

OUR CITY DREAMS (TV premiere, airing Monday May 25 at 7pm e/p)
Filmed over the course of one year, �Our City Dreams� visits the creative spaces of five women artists, each of whom possesses her own energy, drive and passion. The artists profiled are Nancy Spero, Marina Abramovic, Kiki Smith, Ghada Amer and Swoon. These women, who span different decades and represent diverse cultures, have one thing in common beyond making art: the city to which they have journeyed and now call home � New York. Director Chiara Clemente (daughter of artist Francesco Clemente) documents the many triumphs and challenges for each of the artists.

ALICE NEEL (TV premiere, airing Tuesday May 26 at 7pm e/p)
One of the great portrait painters of the 20th century, Alice Neel reinvented the genre by expressing the inner landscape of her subjects, which included luminaries such as Andy Warhol, Bella Abzug and Allen Ginsberg as well as her neighbors in Spanish Harlem. Alice Neel�s grandson Andrew Neel directs this biography of an influential but emotionally troubled painter.

JOAN MITCHELL: PORTRAIT OF AN ABSTRACT PAINTER (TV premiere, airing Wednesday May 27 at 7pm e/p)
Marion Cajori's elegant film reflects on the life and art of the late Joan Mitchell. Mitchell is revealed as a pioneering female artist and one of the only women who was part of the Abstract Expressionist circle in New York, which included artists such as Jackson Pollock and Willem De Kooning. �Joan Mitchell: Portrait of an Abstract Painter� is "candid, revealing, insightful...One of the best films on art I have seen," says Judith Wechsler, art historian.

GUEST OF CINDY SHERMAN (TV premiere, airing Thursday May 28 at 7pm e/p)
�Guest of Cindy Sherman� is a snapshot of iconic photographer Cindy Sherman through her relationship with artist-turned-cable TV-host, Paul Hasegawa-Overacker, aka Paul H-O.

AGNES MARTIN: WITH MY BACK TO THE WORLD (TV premiere, airing Friday May 29 at 7pm e/p)
�I�m very careful not to have ideas, because they�re inaccurate,� the abstract expressionist painter Agnes Martin says in Mary Lane�s touching documentary about her, but it�s a lie. Agnes Martin was full of ideas, and she dispenses them engagingly in the course of this film.

SUNDANCE CHANNEL
Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel is the television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different. Bold, imaginative and uncompromising, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, and original programs, all unedited and commercial free. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is subsidiary of Rainbow Media Holdings LLC. Sundance Channel operates independently of the non-profit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of encouraging artistic freedom of expression. Sundance Channel's website address is www.sundancechannel.com.

RAINBOW MEDIA HOLDINGS LLC:
Rainbow Media Holdings LLC is a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corporation (NYSE: CVC). Rainbow Media is a leading producer of targeted, multi-platform content for global distribution, creating and managing some of the world's most compelling and dynamic entertainment brands, including AMC, IFC, WE tv, Sundance Channel and VOOM HD Networks. Through IFC Entertainment, Rainbow Media also owns and manages the following: IFC Films, a leading distribution company for independent film; IFC Productions, a feature film production company that provides financing for select independent film projects; and IFC Center, a three screen, state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village. Rainbow Media also operates Rainbow Advertising Sales Corporation, its advertising sales company; Rainbow Network Communications, its full service network programming origination and distribution company; and 11 Penn TV, a company that manages Rainbow Media's NYC studios and post-production facilities.

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Press Contacts:
Sarah Eaton
Sr. Vice President, Public Relations
Sundance Channel
212-708-8043
sarah[dot]eaton[at]sundancechannel[dot]com

Jennifer Stott
Acting Sr. Director, Public Relations
Sundance Channel
212-708-8044
Jennifer[dot]stott[at]sundancechannel[dot]com