13-Film Lineup Includes Unprecedented 10 U.S. Television Premieres
New York, NY, July 27, 2009 – Sundance Channel will offer cable subscribers an exclusive preview of the new season of its late-night destination Asia ExtremeTM when it presents the entire 13-film lineup in a free video-on-demand package (in HD where available) from August 1 – August 31, in advance of the on-air premiere, beginning Sunday, September 6.
Sundance Channel’s Asia Extreme showcases cutting-edge genre films – horror, crime drama, fantasy, action/thrillers, and more – from leading filmmakers in Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Japan. The lineup includes an unprecedented 10 U.S. television premieres, including: Dae-wung Lim’s Bloody Reunion; Ho Choi’s Bloody Ties; Benny Chan’s Divergence; Akihiko Shiota’s Dororo; Songyos Sugmakanan’s Dorm; Johnnie To’s Election; Johnnie To and Wai Ka Fai’s Mad Detective; Johnnie To’s Triad Election; Nicky Loi’s The Victim; and Feng Xiaogang’s A World Without Thieves. Rounding out the package are Norio Tsuruta’s Premonition (a Sundance Channel premiere), Pen-Ek Ratanaruang’s 6IXTYNIN9 and Chan-wook Park Old Boy.
Also in August, an all new Asia Extreme mini-site will launch on sundancechannel.com. (www.sundancechannel.com/asiaextreme) featuring exclusive video interviews with the directors, actors and creative minds behind these cutting edge films as well as blogs, video extras, making-of videos, deleted scenes, trailers, photo galleries and music videos from the films. Sundance Channel’s SUNfiltered blog will also feature original blog posts exploring the state of Asian cinema throughout the month of August (sundancechannel.com/sunfiltered).
Another exclusive offering of the new Asia Extreme season is the original sci-fi/action thriller web series "The Captive," which will premiere online on Saturday, August 1 on the Asia Extreme mini-site. Created by Stuart Hynson Culpepper and Karin Diann Williams of Culpepper/Williams, the 12-episode series follows an unsuspecting twenty-something who is spirited away to the depths of a secret prison, where he faces a brutal interrogation and attempts to escape with the help of a seductive but enigmatic Trustee. The cast includes Michael Gladis, best known as the pipe-smoking ad man Paul Kinsey on "Mad Men." "The Captive" won the 2008 New York Television Festival (NYTF) Award for Best Web Series Pilot.
Asia Extreme showcases the work of a new wave of innovative filmmakers who are reinvigorating the world of genre movies. These films are extraordinary to look at and delightfully different to know: strange and provocative tales told with imagination, precision and verve. Several titles premiering in the new season did not have U.S. theatrical releases, and their Sundance Channel debuts will mark their first appearance outside the film festival and home video circuits.
About 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. Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a 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.
About 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.