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This Spring On HBO Canada

hbo canada [1]This Spring, HBO Canada [1] brings subscribers even more of the highest quality programming available on premium television with all-new series, films, documentaries and returning favourites from HBO. All programming will debut day-and-date with HBO in the US, and subscribers will have access in High Definition, on demand and online. HBO Canada’s Spring 2012 programming line-up includes the following (mostly) imported entertainment:

Series and Original Films

Game Change (HBO Original Film) – Premieres Saturday, March 10 at 9:00 p.m. ET/MT
Starring Julianne Moore, Woody Harrelson and Ed Harris, this HBO Films presentation follows John McCain’s (Harris) 2008 presidential campaign, from his selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (Moore) as his running mate to their ultimate defeat in the general election. Harrelson portrays Steve Schmidt, McCain’s senior campaign strategist. Based on the bestselling book of the same name by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann, the film is directed by Jay Roach and written by Danny Strong. Executive Produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman and Roach.

Game of Thrones, Season 2 (HBO Original Series) – Premieres Sunday, April 1 at 9:00 p.m. ET/MT
HBO’s epic fantasy series Game of Thrones kicks off its 10-episode second season. Based on the popular book series A Song of Ice and Fire, by George R.R. Martin, this Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning fantasy series chronicles an epic struggle for power in a vast and violent fantasy kingdom. Among the returning members of the ensemble cast are Emilia Clarke, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Emmy® and Golden Globe® winner Peter Dinklage, Michelle Fairley, Lena Headey and Kit Harington. The series is Executive Produced by David Benioff and D.B. Weiss.

Girls (HBO Original Series) – Premieres Sunday, April 15 at 10:30 p.m. ET/MT
Created by and starring Lena Dunham (Tiny Furniture), this new 10-episode, half-hour comedy looks at the assorted humiliations and rare triumphs of a group of girls in their early 20s in New York City. Girls is Executive Produced by Dunham along with Judd Apatow and Jenni Konner. Also starring Jemima Kirke, Allison Williams, Zosia Mamet and Adam Driver.

VEEP (HBO Original Series) – Premieres Sunday, April 22 at 10:00 p.m. ET/MT
Created by Armando Iannucci (Oscar® nominee for co-writing In the Loop), VEEP is a new eight-episode, half-hour comedy starring Emmy® winner Julia Louis-Dreyfus as former Senator Selina Meyer, who becomes vice president, only to discover the job is nothing like she expected, but everything she was warned about. The series is Executive Produced by Iannucci along with Frank Rich and Christopher Godsick. Also starring Tony Hale, Anna Chlumsky, Matt Walsh, Reid Scott, Timothy C. Simons and Sufe Bradshaw.

Hemingway & Gellhorn (HBO Original Film) – Premieres May 2012
Starring Academy Award® nominee and Golden Globe® winner Clive Owen and Academy Award and three-time Golden Globe winner Nicole Kidman, Hemingway & Gellhorn recounts one of the greatest romances of the last century – the passionate love affair and tumultuous marriage of literary master Ernest Hemingway and the beautiful, trailblazing war correspondent Martha Gellhorn – as it follows the adventurous writers through the Spanish Civil War and beyond. Executive Produced by Philip Kaufman, Trish Hofmann, James Gandolfini, Alexandra Ryan and Barbara Turner. Also starring David Strathairn, Molly Parker, Rodrigo Santoro, Parker Posey, actor-musician Lars Ulrich and Tony Shalhoub.

Documentaries

Saving Face – Premieres Thursday, March 8 at 8:30 p.m. ET/MT
This 40-min documentary spotlights British cosmetic surgeon to the stars Dr. Mohammad Jawad, as he travels to his homeland in Pakistan to treat survivors of radically disfiguring acid attacks, the majority of whom are women targeted by family members. The film also follows one of his patients as she becomes involved with women in the Pakistani parliament to address the issue of acid violence on a national level. From Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.

God Is The Bigger Elvis – Premieres April 2012
Directed by Rebecca Camissa, this documentary tells the story of Dolores Hart, a rising Hollywood starlet who appeared in films with Elvis Presley, Montgomery Clift and Anthony Quinn, but abandoned her career to become a Benedictine nun in 1963 at age 23. Now Mother Prioress of the cloistered Abbey of Regina Laudis, in Bethlehem, Connecticut, she reveals her life, past and present, with grace and humour.

The Weight of the Nation – Premieres May 2012
Developed in partnership with leading research institutions in the United States, this documentary looks at the contemporary obesity epidemic. Three years in the making, the multi-part series sheds new light on the facts and myths of this urgent public health problem, showing how obesity affects the health of a nation and cripples the health-care system through diseases like diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer and arthritis.

In Eastern Canada, all programming will be available in High Definition and on demand, and on HBO Canada OnLine with Bell TV Online, Rogers On Demand Online and Videotron’s Illico Web. In Western Canada, programming will be available in High Definition on Movie Central HD, and on demand and online with Movie Central On Demand.