NASHVILLE, Tenn. (December 19, 2008) — The Documentary Channel® (DOC) will premiere a collection of thought-provoking documentaries with international focus that share “a common thread” with Americans as part of its “Primetime Premieres” Monday lineup during January.

The diverse month of programming debuts Monday, Jan. 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT with the exclusive U.S. television premiere of “Fair Play,” featuring a group of uniquely talented artists from the United Kingdom who struggle with learning disabilities including Down syndrome. Immediately following at 10 p.m. ET/PT will be the U.S. television premiere of “Justice On The Grass,” the revealing film where female victims of rape, torture and other atrocities in Rwanda are able to face their violators literally on the grass in outdoor civil court proceedings.

On Monday, Jan 12, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, DOC will exclusively telecast “Seeds of Summer,” about two young female Israeli military recruits and their transformational journey into soldiers. Following on Monday, Jan. 19, DOC premieres “Miss Gulag,” about a beauty pageant staged by female inmates in a Siberian prison camp, and “Big Dreamers,” a comedic story of an outlandish marketing ploy designed to help revitalize a small Australian town at 9 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. ET/PT, respectively.

Finally, on Monday, Jan. 26, at 9 p.m. ET/PT, DOC will hold the U.S. television premiere of “The Disappeared,” which relives the tragic events of the military dictatorship in Argentina through the lens of a young man kidnapped in his infancy by a military officer after his parents, who were militants, were brutally murdered.

“The films we are premiering in January showcase those international films which best embody a common thread through our human experience,” says Tom Neff, The Documentary Channel founder and CEO. “Across the world, differences in culture, language or politics may conspire to keep us all separated; but as individuals we all experience things like first love, discrimination, hope, competition. They’re familiar stories which transcend country borders.”

DOC’s “A Common Thread” primetime schedule for January is as follows:

Monday, Jan. 5 “Fair Play” (United Kingdom) 9:00 p.m. ET/PT

“Justice On The Grass” (Rwanda) 10:00 p.m. ET/PT

Monday, Jan. 12 “Seeds of Summer” (Israel) 9:00 p.m. ET/PT

Monday, Jan. 19 “Miss Gulag” (Siberia) 9:00 p.m. ET/PT

“Big Dreamers” (Australia) 10:15 p.m. ET/PT

Monday, Jan. 26 “The Disappeared” (Argentina) 9:00 p.m. ET/PT

DOC is available on DISH Network (Channel 197), and several broadcast stations in major markets including NYC TV (Channel 25) throughout the greater New York metropolitan area.

“Fair Play,” produced and directed by David Herman, follows the struggles of a theater troupe of six actors, five of whom are coping with Down’s Syndrome and other learning disabilities, as they rehearse and mount a production of “The Choice,” Claire Luckham’s acclaimed play about abortion. Set in a small village in the English countryside, an intimate portrait is revealed of the thespians, whose own lives conflict with the characters they portray. The film is a co-production of West Park Pictures Limited, TeleScope International and ITVS International, in association with YLE Teema.

“Justice On The Grass,” produced and directed by Glen Milner and Gille Klabin, returns to Rwanda where one of the world’s worst acts of genocide occurred in 1994. This moving documentary examines the outdoor court proceedings where female victims of rape, torture and other atrocities get the opportunity to face their violators in controversial civil trials literally held on grass. The “gacaca” process, where judges and lawyers are replaced by ordinary Rwanda citizens, was revived by the Rwandan government when formal courts were overwhelmed with the need to process nearly 100,000 people still in jail awaiting trial in a timely manner. The unique access gained by Milner and Klabin led to staggering findings, as the country’s legal system continues to adapt 14 years later in order to meet the demands of such a large scale of trials. Narrated by British actor Art Malik (“True Lies,” “The Path to 9/11”), this film shows the true legacy of genocide through the people affected the most.

“Seeds of Summer,” a co-production of Eden Productions and ITVS International, focuses on an army base in the heart of Israel’s southern desert where 66 teenage girls have arrived as new military recruits. Directed by Hen Lasker and produced by Edna and Elinor Kowarsky, “Seeds of Summer” closely follows two of these recruits as they make the transformation from fragile, vulnerable young girls to fierce fighters and skilled combat soldiers and examines what it takes for women to become soldiers in a male-dominated world.

“Miss Gulag,” a Ford Foundation and Sundance Institute Documentary Fund grant winner, was shot in Siberia and is made by three women of Russian origin, director Maria Yatskova and producers Irina Vodar and Raphaela Neihausen. Through the prism of a beauty pageant staged by female inmates of a Siberian prison camp emerges a complex narrative of the lives of the first generation of women to come of age in Post-Soviet Russia. “Miss Gulag” explores the fate of three women: Yulia, Tatiana, and Natasha, all bound together by long prison sentences and circumstances that have made them the vigilantes of their own destinies. Undoubtedly, their life is harsh under the constant surveillance of UF-91/9, but it is no less so on the outside. Today these women, their families and loved ones are sustained by hope for a better life upon release. This is a story of survival told from both sides of the fence.

“Big Dreamers” is a comedic feature documentary from filmmakers Camille Hardman and John Fink that brings to light one man’s quixotic struggle to build the world’s largest gumboot in a tiny tropical township in the far north of Queensland, Australia. “Big Dreamers” looks at the old sugar-producing town of Tully, which was a prosperous town until one day Brazil decided to dump its sugar stockpile on the global market. The prospects of the town facing financial ruin inspired Ron Hunt, the quixotic and determined town elder to take action. Hunt was not going to see his town die, so he decided to build a tourist monument, proposing building The World’s Biggest Gumboot in honor of Tully’s Australian record rainfall of 7.98 meters in 1950. Hunt hired the famous out-of-towner Bryan Newell to build the monument, which put local artist Roger Chandler’s nose out of joint, and left many wondering whether the cost, rain delays and other calamities would save the town from financial devastation.

“The Disappeared” relives the horrors of Argentina’s Dirty War (1976-83) through the experience of Horacio Pietragalla, a young man raised by the maid of the officer who kidnapped him after the military brutally murdered his parents. The film, selected Best Documentary at the 2007 Documentary and Fiction Festival of Hollywood, follows Pietragalla as he reconstructs the cause for which his real parents gave them their lives, and, through this search, reclaims his true identity. This personal journal internalizes the tragedy that ravaged the country for seven years and exposes polarized views on state-driven terrorism in groundbreaking interviews with top officials and military figures. “The Disappeared” is the first feature documentary by filmmaker Peter Sanders, son of two-time Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Denis Sanders.

About The Documentary Channel®: The Documentary Channel (DOC) is the USA’s first 24-hour television network exclusively devoted to documentary films and the independent documentary filmmaker, providing viewers with round-the-clock opportunities to see fascinating, eclectic and award-winning documentary films of all lengths and genres. Headquartered in Nashville, Tenn., with offices in New York and Los Angeles, DOC was founded by Oscar®-nominated and Emmy®-winning documentary filmmaker Tom Neff (CEO) in January 2006. DOC now reaches over 21 million homes nationwide via DISH Network (Channel 197) and several broadcast stations in major television markets, including NYC TV (Channel 25) throughout the greater New York metropolitan area. DOC also provides content to online distribution outlets through YouTube (www.youtube.com/documentarychannel) and Sling.com (www.sling.com/network/189/The-Documentary-Channel). For more information on DOC, visit www.documentarychannel.com.