MEMO: Wendy Mesley to host The Passionate Eye
Fall line-up for the Passionate Eye includes “A Sinner in Mecca,” “Dreamcatcher,” “Democrats,” and “Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi.”
I am very pleased to announce that Wendy Mesley is the new host of The Passionate Eye. Wendy is a Gemini award winning journalist and anchor of Friday and Sunday Editions of The National. She will add the Passionate Eye to her duties starting this October. The Passionate Eye has an excellent line up of films planned for this season.
The season begins on Sunday, October 4th with "A Sinner in Mecca". The film follows gay filmmaker Parvez Sharma on his pilgrimage to Mecca, in Saudi Arabia, where being gay is against the law and punishable by death. Filmed in secret, the viewer goes with Sharma on his very personal journey to the heart of Islam, as he struggles to answer the question "Can a gay man be a good Muslim?"
Other titles this season:
"Dreamcatcher"- the inspiring story of Brenda Myers-Powell, a former prostitute in Chicago, who fights to help other women escape a life on the street.
"Democrats" – In the wake of Robert Mugabe's contentious 2008 presidential win in Zimbabwe the film focuses on the two political rivals tasked with drafting a constitution for the country.
"Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi" – Sunil Tripathi, a student at Brown University disappears in March 2013 and his family launches a social media campaign to find him. Four weeks later the Boston Marathon is bombed. When the FBI releases two blurry photos of their suspects Sunil Tripathi is mistakenly identified as one of them. 'Help Us Find Sunil Tripathi' is about two unrelated events that become tragically intertwined.
The Passionate Eye will also have exclusive online interviews with several of the filmmakers, directors and subjects of this season’s documentaries.
THE PASSIONATE EYE is Canada's longest-running national showcase for independent documentaries. For more than 20 years, the Passionate Eye has provided Canadians with a critical window on the world, exploring international events and people through timely and provocative award-winning documentaries. Passionate Eye documentaries have won Emmys; Oscars, Peabodys and Geminis, and titles like Hunted in Russia, Holy Money, Invisible War, Putin's Games and India’s Daughter have made news.
Fiona Conway, Executive Director, Programming CBC News & Centers
Jennifer McGuire, General Manager and Editor in Chief, CBC News and Centres
H.G. Watson was J-Source's managing editor from 2015 to 2018. She is a journalist based in Toronto. You can learn more about her at hgwatson.com.