BRUCE DEMARA - ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
"Ever since a blue pill called Viagra started getting a rise out of men – and became a billion-dollar pharmaceutical "blockbuster" in the process – it was just a matter of time (and scientific engineering) before a drug to enhance or restore the flagging libidos of women would be developed."

Pharma Sutra, a documentary by Cogent/Benger Productions (airing on CTV Saturday at 7 p.m.) takes a broad, almost clinical look at the issue: the multinational pharmaceutical companies, the approval process, the "sex" doctors, the feminists and, most important, the women and their spouses.

Documentary-maker Robin Benger said the film raises a raft of ethical issues. It all started with a statistic reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1999, which said that 43 per cent of women suffer from female sexual dysfunction.

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The Race for the Next Great Sex Drug is on in PHARMA SUTRA, the CTV Documentary to be aired Saturday, December 6 at 7pm EST.
The compelling one-hour documentary takes an in-depth look at the debate surrounding the multi-billion dollar race to approve the first female sex drug.


Toronto, ON (November 13, 2008) – Ten years after the introduction of Viagra, pharmaceutical companies are on the verge of introducing a new sex drug for women. But is “female sexual dysfunction” a reality – or a brilliant marketing ploy? In the new CTV Original Documentary, PHARMA SUTRA, Toronto filmmakers Marion Gruner and Robin Benger follow the multi-billion dollar race to produce the next “female Viagra.” Airing Saturday, December 6 at 7 p.m. ET on CTV (visit CTV.ca to confirm local listings), meet the doctors, critics, pharmaceutical reps and, of course the women, who debate the merit of treating low libido.

In 1999, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a report that stated that 43% of women suffered from Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD). Some critics opposed the notion of labelling a woman’s sexual problems as a “disease,” viewing it as another ploy by the drug companies to profit off of a “cure.” Others believed that sexual dysfunction is a genuine concern for millions of women and that medical intervention can help.

With FSD identified, the pharmaceutical companies have poured billions of dollars into research to come up with the winning formula that will allow women to attain sexual satisfaction. In the running for FDA approval are a nasal spray, a skin patch and a daily pill, each formulated to supercharge women’s sex drives. While the pharmaceutical companies behind these drugs attempt to get approval, some women would give anything to boost their libido.

PHARMA SUTRA follows a trio of women considering taking these drugs: a 50-year-old empty nester, a grandma battling a depleted libido who's looking to maintain her youth and a mother in her 40s looking to revive her marriage.

With these new sex drugs on the horizon, PHARMA SUTRA looks at the forces surrounding this hot-button issue, including the controversy surrounding FSD, women with genuine libido concerns, doctors supporting the need for these products, the pharmaceutical companies spending millions on the competing drugs and the increasing problem with unauthorized labs producing female libido boosters and selling them on the Internet.

PHARMA SUTRA is written and directed by Marion Gruner and Robin Benger, and was produced and developed by Cogent/Benger Productions in association with CTV Inc. Bob Culbert is Vice-President of CTV Documentaries. Robert Hurst is President of CTV News and Current Affairs. Susanne Boyce is President, Content, Creative and Channels, CTV Inc.

For more information, contact:
Beth Lockley, Publicist, CTV Inc., 416.332.4583 or blockley@ctv.ca
Cynthia Amsden, Cogent/Benger Publicist, 416.910.7740 or roundstone@gmail.com

How To Stop A Hurricane took the 2008 Pariscience film festival by storm. Part human drama and part technological exploration, How To Stop A Hurricane is a fantastic science thriller about one of nature’s greatest forces, and Man’s attempt to contain it. The film uses an imaginative mix of computer animated scenarios and live action to “test” the theories of inventors and experts. This garnered it “The Innovation Middle Schooler’s Prize” at this year’s Pariscience film festival, the international festival of scientific films which takes place every autumn in Paris, France. And middle-schoolers have got to be the toughest audience there is.

China’s Leap Of Faith hits the front page. Cogent/Benger's new two-part exploration of the phenomenal religious comeback in China attracts media attention prior to airing on VisionTV. English and Chinese language news outlets pick up on the pre-Olympics treatment of one of China’s most sensitive topics.

A Globe & Mail review states, “ It was a difficult odyssey for a team of Canadian filmmakers to shoot a documentary on religion in China because both the press and religion are sensitive issues in the Middle Kingdom. But at a time when the Holy See and Tibet are entering a moment critical to their relations with Beijing, and to the freedom of religion for millions of Catholic and Buddhist faithful, this documentary is sorely needed.”

AOL Canada says, “The current religious fervour in China is comparable to the revolutionary energy of the United States in the 1960s, but multiplied by thousands. And rather than rallies, tie-dye, and bra burning, the Chinese are clutching their Bibles and building temples. After more than 30 years of an oppressive Communist hold, China as a whole is finally embracing religious freedom. VisionTV’s new two-part documentary, China’s Leap of Faith, co-directed by Christopher Sumpton of Toronto producer Cogent/Benger Productions, dives head-first into the issue, and into the country that has kept its private affairs a secret for so long. In the film, we travel to China and witness peasants, city workers, and elite folk alike heading off to church and holding private praying sessions in their kitchen. Their closed eyes and clasped hands display an ardour previously suppressed.”

From a Globe & Mail Review section feature: “Ahead of the Beijing Olympics, China's proclaimed openness to foreign media is being sorely tested, as a Canadian documentary film crew found in the heart of Hebei province. It happened when the filmmakers were interviewing a priest on camera. As he answered their questions about the state of religious freedom in China, Father Lu Zhi Zong, a priest in the Catholic enclave of Donglu, a village 150 kilometres south of Beijing, kept glancing over at three local authorities who were monitoring his every word. Authorities keep close tabs on Father Lu because his village is a major pilgrimage site, given its shrine to the Virgin Mary. The site, honouring an apparition of Mary that was reported in 1900, annually drew huge crowds of pilgrims before a mid-1990s crackdown by authorities. During the interview, the officials videotaped the priest behind the back of Canadian filmmaker Diana Xiaoping Dai. "When I did the interview, I noticed that Father Lu was very nervous. He answered my questions, but I could tell he was nervous," she said. "Honestly, if I knew they were filming him, I would probably have asked less tough questions."’

China’s Leap of Faith can be seen July 22 and 23rd on VisionTV.