Tag Archives: AMI

Industry News

Ideacom International announces start of production on Human+

From a media release:

Award-winning, independent television and digital media company Ideacom International announced today that production is currently underway on the new documentary series Human+, a co-production with France’s Academy Award®-winning Bonne Pioche, for Ici Explora, TVO, and AMI in Canada and RMC Découverte in France. The five-episode one-hour series, filming in the US, UK, Germany, Sweden, and France, is slated to premiere in April 2019.

Human+ takes viewers into the enigmatic world of scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs who are revolutionizing the way humans see, touch, taste, hear, and smell. Each episode delves into the awe-inspiring and emotional stories of people whose lives are being transformed through some of the most cutting-edge advancements in sensorial technology.

With the participation of the TELUS Fund, Human+ is a Canada-France co-production for Ici Explora, TVO, and AMI in Canada and RMCDécouverte in France. Ideacom International’s Josette D. Normandeau, Bonne Pioche’s Sophie Parrault and André Barro are the Executive Producers, and Amy Webb serves as Producer. Human+ is directed by Vincent Barthélémy and written by Duncan McDowall, Yann Renoard, and Vincent Barthélémy. The series is distributed internationally by Terranoa.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Preview: Growing Sense adds gardening to AMI’s stable of original programs

Here in Southern Ontario, it appears winter is over. Squirrels are bounding all over the place, birds are waking me up and the crocuses in my front garden are in bloom. With the first day of spring officially arriving on March 20, AMI-tv is marking the occasion with the debut of its latest series, Growing Sense.

Airing Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on AMI-tv, each of Growing Sense‘s 10 episodes follow novice gardener Milena Khazanavicius and veteran ecological landscaper Rosmarie Lohnes as they build and tend an accessible garden plot in Halifax’s Common Roots Urban Farm. 

“I believe that when we heal the earth, we heal ourselves,” Lohnes says in the show’s opening credits. It’s sage advice. Viewers are first introduced to Khazanavicius, who once worked as a floral designer with dreams of opening her own shop before losing her sight at the age of 22. She and seeing eye dog Lewis hit up a local Halifax flower shop to nab some herbs for her balcony boxes. It’s at this store we learn Khazanavicius’ life story and the pleasure she derives from the smells and textures of flowers and plants. 

Lohnes, meanwhile, outlines her tale. The daughter of a miner who worked in Northern Ontario, childhoods were spent camping in the woods where she developed her “superpower.” Now she’s founded Helping Nature Heal, which restores sustainable ecosystems and connects people with nature.

The pair, introduced months ago, reunite with a bold plan: fill a community garden plot with plants and vegetables designed to reconnect Khazanavicius with her passion for plants while giving her food to augment her fixed income. Khazanavicius’ first challenge? Getting there.

Featuring integrated described video, Growing Sense is a wonderful addition to AMI’s quickly growing stable of original programming that is blind or partially sighted viewers but enjoyable by all.

Growing Sense airs Tuesdays at 8:30 p.m. ET/PT on AMI-tv.

Image courtesy of AMI.

 

 

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

AMI’s Four Senses to return for fourth season

From a media release:

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) announced today that its cooking show with an accessibility twist, Four Senses, is returning for a fourth season and will begin production this fall.

Four Senses is a unique cooking show produced for AMI-tv by Varner Productions Limited that unites blind and sighted chefs in the kitchen. Hosts Christine Ha and Carl Heinrich are back for season four to share new recipes and experiences with a fresh group of celebrity guests. Each 30-minute show will also include nutrition guidelines for optimal eye health and accessibility tips and tools for independence in the kitchen.

Special guests this year include celebrities from the culinary world and beyond such as interior design gurus Colin and Justin, fashion icon Jeanne Beker, comedian and television star Luba Goy, and many more.  Each guest will share one of their favourite recipes with Christine and Carl, help the hosts prepare two additional dishes and share what inspires their own love of cooking.

Again this season Christine and Carl will be on the road shooting in field segments that highlight Canada’s diverse culinary landscape. Christine will explore Ontario, visiting a cranberry farm in Bala, learning about sustainable trout in Collingwood, and paying a visit to Lake Joe – the CNIB’s camp for individuals living with vision loss. Carl will be on a Nova Scotia road trip visiting Lunenburg, Wolfville, Digby, and Dartmouth. Along the way he’ll check out the Digby Days Scallop Festival, visit the oldest farmers market in Nova Scotia and learn more about the province’s growing wine and craft beer scene.

In keeping with AMI’s mandate of making accessible media for all Canadians, Four Senses features integrated description, where hosts and guests describe their surroundings and actions for audience members who are blind or partially sighted, as well as closed captioning for those with hearing loss.

Season four of Four Senses will air on AMI-tv in January, 2017.

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Featured, Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Four Senses nails winning recipe in Season 3

Carl Heinrich and Christine Ha are cooking up good stuff on Four Senses. Heinrich, the Season 2 winner of Top Chef Canada, and Ha, who took the Season 3 title in MasterChef, are back for Season 3 of AMI-tv’s culinary series sharing recipes with each other and celebrities while traipsing the country meeting with the folks that put food on our tables.

The two chefs—and the Four Senses crew—have hit a real groove in Season 3, returning Thursday at 7:30 p.m. ET. The most obvious thing I noticed during a set visit last fall was the confidence the two have in the TV process. Gone are the jitters I saw in the first season, replaced with an understanding of what Four Senses is, and their roles in it. Yes, the program features embedded description for those who are blind or partially sighted and closed captioning for those with hearing loss, but at its heart Four Senses is a cooking show—and a darned entertaining one.

“Christine has had a lot of experience with very big productions,” says executive producer Anne Marie Varner. “This is a little more relaxed and she gets to hone her skills in terms of describing what she’s doing in the kitchen. She’s been very good at being able to point out to our guests and Carl what the challenges are when you’re blind or visually impaired in the kitchen. Carl has really grown in his confidence working in TV and it shows in his performance. You’re seeing a completely different person.”

Celebrity guests in the kitchen include Thursday’s visitor, Chef Corbin Tomaszeski, followed in the coming weeks by CHFI’s Erin Davis, French Chef at Home‘s Laura Calder, Chatelaine‘s Claire Tansey and BreakfastTelevision Toronto’s Frank Ferragine. As for the locations Heinrich and Ha will be visiting, Prince Edward Island, rural Ontario and Kelowna, B.C., beckon for features on lobsters and oysters, butter tarts and goat milk. Varner notes Four Senses is a national program, and she wanted their location segments to reflect that. A Season 3 addition that helped elevate Four Senses is new director Arlene Hazzan Green; the Emmy and Genie award winner is pushing the cooking process to the back burner in favour of stirring the pot through conversation about cooking and accessibility.

“We needed more conversation. ‘Who are you and why are you interested in this?'” Varner says. “She’s really focusing on the performance and learning about the twist that makes Four Senses unique.”

Four Senses airs Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. ET on AMI-tv.

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Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary

Season 3 of AMI’s Four Senses to premiere on Jan. 14

From a media release:

Accessible Media Inc. (AMI) announced today that its cooking show with an accessibility twist, Four Senses, will kick off season three on Thursday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m. on AMI-tv. For the first time, fans are invited to visit AMI’s Facebook page during the broadcast to stream the episode andparticipate in a live question and answer session hosted by Four Senses’ very own celebrity Christine Ha.

Four Senses is a unique cooking show produced by AMI in partnership with Varner Productions Limited that unites blind and sighted chefs in the kitchen. Chef Carl Heinrich is back alongside Christine to share new recipes and experiences with a fresh group of celebrity guests. Each 30-minute episode will also include nutrition guidelines for optimal eye health and accessibility tips and tools for independence in the kitchen.

Season three begins with Chef Corbin Tomaszeski from Restaurant Makeover joining Carl and Christine in the Four Senses kitchen. Additional chef and celebrity guests this season include: CHFI morning show host, Erin Davis, Laura Calder of French Chef at Home, Claire Tansey of Chatelaine and the return of Frank Ferragine (aka Frankie Flowers).

The show also highlights culinary wonders across the country with stops in Prince Edward Island, rural Ontario and Kelowna, British Columbia. Along the way, Christine and Carl will have the opportunity to catch lobsters and harvest oyster beds in PEI, visit with renowned Canadian Chef Michael Smith at the Inn at Bay Fortune, travel the Butter Tart Trail in Wellington North, and visit an accessible goat milk farm in the Okanagan.

In keeping with AMI’s mandate of making accessible media for all Canadians, Four Senses features embedded description, where hosts and guests describe their surroundings and actions for audience members who are blind or partially sighted, as well as closed captioning for those with hearing loss.

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