Channel 4 documentaries has announced a series of new commissions, including a live programme from Leeds’ True North as profoundly deaf people hear for the first time.
It’s one of a number of new documentaries for the channel’s Cutting Edge strand.
“The purpose of Cutting Edge strand is to give our most talented documentary makers the support they need to produce the best films they possibly can,” explained Channel 4 documentaries commissioning editor Alisa Pomeroy.
“The films tackle a range of subjects and stories, they can be everything from quirky to heart-wrenching, often making challenging and less populist subjects accessible. Crucially, the one uniting theme is that they all reflect the world around us, revealing brand new stories, or exploring well-trodden stories with a fresh and modern voice.”
Cochlear Live (working title) will be a television first, using fixed rigs to record a group of profoundly deaf people, who share the moment when they can hear for the very first time.
One month before the programme, each person will undergo surgery to have their cochlear implant fitted. Then on the night of the transmission, their implants will be switched on, with their reactions broadcast live from a UK hospital.
The implant stimulates the inner ear and can give people access to sounds that they were previously unaware of.
Made by True North, its creative director is Andrew Sheldon.
Also making a Cutting Edge documentary is Manchester’s Nine Lives Media. Bailiff Busters (working title) follows grass roots campaigners, who are standing up to bailiffs to try and stop people being evicted.
Due to the current housing crisis, more than a 1000 people a week are losing their homes, this film features a resistance movement, trying to keep families in their homes.
It’s directed by Colin Stone, with Ricardo Pollack and Cat Lewis the executive producers.
