Help get Welsh films on TV and Welsh music on the radio for St. David’s Day.
It is that time of year again; Christmas and New Year are done and done, so it is time to get our plans for St. David’s Day under way.
Over the past few years there has been some pretty good success around the US & Canada by good people such as yourselves contacting local radio stations and requesting Welsh music and greetings for St. David’s Day.
This year how about we up the ante – as well as contacting radio station how about we all try and contact local PBS stations and cable movie channels to see if they will show some Welsh programs and films too? Well it doesn’t hurt to ask does it!
To make it a bit easier, listed below is some contact information for selected cable movie channels and television stations as well a list of films they may be able to show.
Local PBS Stations
Some local affiliate stations purchased the rights last year to show ‘Katherine Jenkins: Live at the O2’ and ‘Men Aloud – Live From Wales’, whether they are still able to screen these shows probably varies from station to station, but it doesn’t hurt to ask if they can.
Over the years I have watched the following films on my local Chicago area PBS affiliates, so they are at least available to some stations: The Proud Valley (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Corn Is Green (1945).
For a list of PBS affiliates please click the links below:
http://www.pbs.org/stationfinder/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_PBS_member_stations
Turner Classic Movies
TCM’s vast library of films spans several decades of cinema and includes thousands of film titles from MGM, United Artists, Warner Bros, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, 20th Century Fox, Walt Disney Productions, Columbia Pictures, StudioCanal, Janus Films and others.
I believe the following selection of films might be available for them to screen:
The Citadel (1938), The Proud Valley (1940), How Green Was My Valley (1941), The Corn Is Green (1945), The Lost Weekend (1946), Tiger Bay (1959), Zulu (1964), Under Milk Wood (1972).
Please send this list of films with a request to screen them in honour of St. David’s Day to: http://www.tcm.com/contact-tcm.html
BBC America
From what I know BBC America does not have a vast library of films at its fingertips and it is unlikely that they have that many Welsh films to offer. However contacting them to show a film starring Welsh actors or a Welsh TV series for St. David’s Day might not be a bad idea. If enough of us request say the whole of series one of ‘Gavin & Stacey’ be shown they might be persuaded.
You can contact BBC America at: http://www.bbcamerica.com/contact-us
IFC Films
I am not 100% sure what the back catalogue of films available by IFC is like, it would be worth taking a stab in the dark by requesting the following titles to be screened for St. David’s Day though:
Twin Town (1997), House of America (1997), Human Traffic (1999), Solomon & Gaenor (1999), Very Annie Mary (2001), Eldra (2002), The Edge of Love (2008), Sleep Furiously (2008), Patagonia (2010), Colin (2010), Mr. Nice (2011).
Oddly, IFC did make a film a few years ago called ‘Pontypool’ don’t get excited it’s a sort of zombie film set in ‘Pontypool’, Ontario.
You can contact IFC at: www.ifc.com/contact-us
Fox Movie Channel
Fox Movie Channel shows film primarily from 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, etc. I am aware that they have shown some of the following in the past, so it would be worth asking if they could do so again for St. David’s Day this year.
Human Traffic (1999), Twin Town (1997), The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain (1995).
Contact Fox at: http://www.foxmoviechannel.com/contact.php
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