January 26 programming on SBS

Violence

Award-winning film Sweet Country will air on SBS and NITV on Saturday January 26 as part of a diverse and culturally rich day of content.

SBS

Marshall Heald, Director, Television and Online Content, SBS said, “Australia is one of the most multicultural nations in the world and SBS is uniquely placed to reflect what it means to be an Australian today. Our diverse and inclusive programing for 26 January will offer a range of different perspectives, providing audiences with an opportunity to celebrate who we are, as well as raising complex issues by telling important stories that would otherwise go untold.”

On 26 January, SBS will present a special schedule of programs across the network that invite Australia’s diverse communities to explore the nation’s rich Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and multicultural history. Featuring a range of voices and perspectives, the distinctive line up will encourage all Australians to reflect on, learn more about and celebrate what it means to be Australian today.

SBS will also release a gripping new online interactive documentary Missing, recognising the Indigenous heroes of one of Australia’s most remarkable true crime stories; the abduction of eight-year-old Wendy Pfeiffer.

Created by SBS’s award-winning documentaries team, Missing was developed in collaboration with Wendy and the families of Jimmy James and Daniel Moodoo, with principal photography by award-winning photo artist Tamara Dean captured on location 52 years later. Each scene is a beautiful, stylised landscape mosaic of photographs in the Adelaide Hills that the viewer must piece together to drive the story forward.

Elsewhere on the network, SBS News and Current Affairs will air the regular January series, My Australia, where inspiring Australians of all backgrounds talk about what being Australian means to them, in and around the day’s regular news coverage.

Additional programing on SBS includes a marathon of Untold Australia, the documentary series that unearths some of the most fascinating and unreported stories from Australia’s diverse communities, Where Are You Really From? and The Family Law.

NITV

The multi-platform offering will build on NITV’s annual season, #AlwaysWillBe, an inclusive line-up helping all Australians deepen their understanding of the nation’s identity, and exploring what 26 January means to Australia’s First Nations Peoples.

For the second year, SBS will simulcast with NITV, the national Indigenous television channel, between 7am-2pm on 26 January, with highlights including the annual Sunrise Ceremony live from Sydney’s North Head, hosted by John-Paul Janke and featuring cultural performances and live entertainment by Shellie Morris, Djakapurra Munyarryun, Dhapanbal Yunupingu, Arian Pearson and Mim Kwanten. This will be followed by the second season of landmark series Songlines on Screen, award-winning documentary, Connection to Country and Living Black. From 9.30pm, SBS and NITV will simulcast the multi-award winning film, Sweet Country.

NITV will lead the network in shining a light on Australia’s shared history through stories of strength, resilience, survival and celebration with a week’s worth of programs, 20-26 January, offering audiences deeper insight into 26 January through an Indigenous lens.

Highlights include documentaries Wik vs Queensland, We Don’t Need a Map, Servant or Slave and After Mabo; films Radiance and Samson and Delilah, comedy series Black Comedy and the novel adaptation of Jasper Jones. NITV’s flagship news and current affairs program, The Point will also return with a special episode called iProtest, which will take an in-depth look at historic reactions to Indigenous protests and news coverage from the last three years surrounding the ‘Change the Date’ movement.

NITV Channel Manager, Tanya Orman said, “Australia’s First Nations Peoples are diverse with different perspectives and views, and NITV’s programming surrounding 26 January will reflect this. The day provides an opportunity for all Australians, no matter what their cultural background, to come together to recognise Indigenous history – which is Australia’s history.

“The NITV mob will also be hitting the road and going out into the community to showcase events that are happening around the country, and share Indigenous voices and storytelling exploring what this day means for many.”

SBS VICELAND

SBS VICELAND will air an extended 17 hour version of slow TV sensation, The Ghan: Australia’s Greatest Train Journey, which explores a story important to our shared multicultural history as the train passes through stunning landscapes of the central Australian outback.

SBS Food will take audiences on a culinary journey through Australian history and cuisine, serving up a weekend marathon of Kriol Kitchen, Drive Thru Australia, Miguel’s Tropical Kitchen and Poh’s Kitchen.

To celebrate the 70th anniversary of Australian Citizenship, SBS Radio will cover citizenship ceremonies and community events, reflecting the experiences of multicultural and Indigenous Australians across its language programs. The programs will also include a series of interviews with Australia Day ambassadors and community members available across all platforms on-air, online and social.

SBS On Demand will release a number of collections including Always Will Be, featuring a selection of NITV programming as well as Our Stories, a landmark series of mini-documentaries from the heart of Indigenous communities.