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Ambushed: Shooting the war, an uncensored look

Oct 25, 2011

From the external conflict of war to the internal conflict of gender identity disorder, highlights on CBC News Network's THE PASSIONATE EYE at the end of October and the first half of November include:

Transgender Kids (Sunday, October 30 at 10 p.m. ET/PT). What would you do if your young son was desperate to become a girl--or if your daughter wanted to be a boy? This shocking yet touching documentary offers a rare, intimate look into the world of children who believe they were born the wrong sex. Diagnosed with gender identity disorder, their childhoods include puberty blockers, hormone injections, cross-dressing and a struggle for social acceptance. How far are they willing to go to change their gender? How young is too young? And how should parents respond? Transgender Kids follows the lives of four transgender children and the parents who have chosen to support them as they transition to the opposite sex.

I Shouldn't Be Alive: Edge of Death (Wednesday, November 2 at 10 p.m. ET/PT). Charlie Hench sets himself a big challenge before he turns 50--to hike alone through the Sierra Mountains. Things get off to a good start, but when Charlie reaches an elevation of 9,000 feet, a snowstorm suddenly blows in. The amateur hiker is soon out of his depth, lost in a snow-covered landscape, when his foot slips and he crashes over the side of the mountain, landing on a tiny ledge that saves him from falling 500 feet to his death. Alone, trapped, badly injured and freezing, it will be days before anyone even knows Charlie is missing. How will he possibly survive?

Ambushed: Shooting the War (Sunday, November 6 at 10 p.m. ET/PT). This gripping film offers a unique and unvarnished look at what it's like to be on the front lines of a 21st century conflict. Raw, uncensored footage taken by soldiers wearing wireless helmet cams captures the bravery, chaos, grief and terror of a Taliban ambush, in which one of the soldiers is shot and killed. The rest of the film explores the after-effects of this shooting, the intense helicopter rescue, and the impact the young soldier's death has on both his comrades in the platoon and his family back home. Ambushed: Shooting the Warwas directed by Bruce Goodison as part of a BBC documentary series called Our War: Ten Years in Afghanistan, created to mark the 10th anniversary of the War on Terror.

I Shouldn't Be Alive: Crashed in the Rockies (Wednesday, November 9 at 10 p.m. ET/PT). Justin Kirkbride is a pilot in training, but when he takes two friends, Tommy and Larry, on a sightseeing tour of the Rocky Mountains, he finds himself in the test of a lifetime. The plane crashes on a steep, snowy mountainside. With both friends badly injured, Justin decides to hike 45 miles down the mountain in search of help. While he's walking, he manages to hail a rescue helicopter by cell phone, and he joins the rescue pilots to search for his two missing friends. But then disaster strikes again: the rescue helicopter clips a tree and smashes into the mountainside. Can Kirkbride escape with his life for the second time in 24 hours? And will his injured friends survive the night?

CBC NEWS NETWORK DOCUMENTARY SCHEDULE
FOR OCT. 29 - NOV. 13

About CBC/Radio-Canada
CBC/Radio-Canada is Canada's national public broadcaster and one of its largest cultural institutions. The Corporation is a leader in reaching Canadians on new platforms and delivers a comprehensive range of radio, television, Internet, and satellite-based services. Deeply rooted in the regions, CBC/Radio-Canada is the only domestic broadcaster to offer diverse regional and cultural perspectives in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages, plus seven languages for international audiences. In 2011, CBC/Radio-Canada is celebrating 75 years of serving Canadians and being at the centre of the democratic, social and cultural life of Canada./p>

For more information or to request a screener, please contact:

Jeremy Katz, Veritas Communications
P) 416-646-6301
C) 416-997-6970
katz@veritascanada.com

Melissa Prince, Veritas Communications
P) 416-482-2669
C) 416-704-8733
prince@veritascanada.com