Remaking the Shroud of Turin: Revealing new documentary airs April 1 on
VisionTV

TORONTO, March 18 /CNW/ - To millions of faithful, the famed Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Jesus Christ. To skeptics, it is an ingenious forgery. To this day, no one has been able to demonstrate definitively just how the Shroud was created. Is it man-made, or the product of a miracle?

On Thursday, April 1 at 9 p.m. and Midnight ET / 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. PT, VisionTV presents the Canadian television premiere of Remaking the Shroud, an hour-long documentary that draws upon scientific and historical evidence in an attempt to solve, once for all, the mystery of the Shroud's origins.

Remaking the Shroud airs as part of VisionTV's "Investigating Easter" lineup, a two-week programming event that explores the mystery and meaning of Jesus' death and resurrection.

Held by many Christians to be a sacred artifact, the Shroud resides at Turin's historic Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. On April 10 it will go on public display for the first time in a decade in Italy. Pope Benedict XVI will make a special pilgrimage to see the Shroud on May 2.

The mysterious cloth has been a source of controversy ever since it first turned up in the possession of a French Crusader during the 14th century. Carbon dating of the fibers suggests it can be no more than 750 years old. Many, however, remain steadfast in their belief that the face imprinted on the Shroud is that of Jesus Christ.

In Remaking the Shroud, American author Nathan Wilson sets out to solve the riddle of the shroud. His quest leads him to Luigi Garlaschelli, an Italian chemist who made headlines last fall with the claim that he had manufactured a reproduction of the Shroud using techniques and materials that would have been readily available in the Middle Ages.

Remaking the Shroud reveals how the famous image on the cloth may have been created, and offers up a compelling theory about its origins. In the end, the film suggests, knowing how the Shroud of Turin came to be is less important than understanding why it exists - and what it has to tell us about the meaning of Jesus' life and death.

Cinenova Productions Inc. produced Remaking the Shroud for VisionTV and National Geographic Channel (US).

VisionTV also presents, on April 1 at 10 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. PT, the feature-length documentary The Fabric of Time. Produced for a Christian audience, this film uses advanced technology to unlock information hidden within the Shroud of Turin. Working with a team of researchers, historians, forensic scientists, botanists, theologians and Biblical archaeologists, the producers examine the Shroud in microscopic detail to build their case for the truth of the Easter story.

    
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For further information: Media Contact: David Todd, Media Relations Manager, VisionTV, Phone: [phone], ext. 207, Email: [email protected]