Programs of interest on Sydney Community TV (UHF 31) —
Perleeka, indigenous Australians' program, nightly, 7pm.
Art Experimenta, Mondays, 8pm and 11.30pm, and Tuesdays, 3am and 6.30am.
Bent TV, gay and lesbian program, Thursdays, 10.30pm and Fridays, 2.30am.
Waste Not, Want Not, environment and recycling, Saturdays, 8.30pm and 12.30am, and Sundays, 4.30am. For more information phone 649 9622.
Actively Radical TV — Community television's progressive current affairs program tackles the hard issues from the activist's point of view. CTS Sydney (UHF 31), every Friday, 10.30pm.
Motherland — This is a documentary of memories and images, chronicling the lives of two Latvian grandmothers in suburban Australia. Filmed in both Brisbane and Latvia,
Motherland, directed and written by their grandson Kriv Stenders, explores the fragile relationship that refugees and their children have with their country and culture of origin. SBS, Sunday, March 17, 8.30pm.
Acts of War — A two-part history series on the roles US President George Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein played in shaping the Gulf War. This first part deals with events leading up to the war. SBS, Sunday, March 17, 11.40pm.
Petra and the General — A BBC program that explores the life, death and legacy of Petra Kelly, founder of the German Green Party, whose extraordinary relationship with army general Gerd Bastien ended in tragedy. SBS, Monday, March 18, 1.30pm.
China Rising — A three-part history of China made for Britain's Yorkshire Television. The first episode, "Paradise of Adventurers", visits Shanghai, regarded as the greatest metropolis on the Asian mainland and a monument to colonialism. SBS, Monday, March 18, 5pm.
Salman Rushdie — A wide-ranging interview with the controversial novelist. Rushdie discusses his life and works, particularly his latest book,
The Moor's Last Sigh. SBS, Monday, March 18, 11.15pm.
Ballot Measure 9 — In 1992, a bitter battle over rights for lesbians and gay men was fought in the US state of Oregon. This doco is a shocking and vivid portrayal of the politics of intolerance that underlie the rhetoric of "family values". ABC TV, Wednesday, March 20, 8.30pm.
Insomnia specials — Two old pot-boilers that may be worth catching.
Flame in the Streets (1962) is a drama about "racial conflict in Britain" that follows a woman's announcement that she intends to marry a "West Indian".
Captain Boycott (1947) is a ripping yarn about Irish tenant farmers' struggles with a wealthy landlord. ABC TV, Thursday, March 21, 12.30am and 2am.
Some Liked it Hot — When palaeontologist Dean Falk took her car to be repaired, her conversation with the mechanic gave her a clue to one of the mysteries of human evolution. The "radiator theory" was born. If the engine can only be as big as the radiator can cool, the development of a human brain is predicated on the ability to cool it. Bipedalism, Falk argues, offers an important mechanism for cooling. It may have played an important role in the hot African savanna where humans originated. SBS, Thursday, March 21, 8.30pm.