TV Guide Network to Air Exclusive One-Hour Special Featuring Never-before-Seen Footage and Interviews from the Six-Time Academy Award® Nominated Film "Precious”

TV Guide Network will air an exclusive one-hour special on the six-time Academy Award® nominated film "Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” a Lionsgate® release. The special, hosted by veteran television personality Tanika Ray, documents the film’s extraordinary journey from page to screen, and includes never-before-seen film footage, exclusive interviews with the director and cast members, and emotional reactions from filmgoers who have seen the movie and been touched by its story. "Precious: The Story Behind the Movie” premieres Saturday, February 20 at 8:00 p.m. ET/PT on TV Guide Network.

Already a multi award-winning film, "Precious” was recently nominated for six Academy Awards®, including Best Picture, Best Actress (Gabourey Sidibe), Best Supporting Actress (Mo’Nique), Best Adapted Screenplay (Geoffrey Fletcher), Best Director (Lee Daniels), and Best Film Editing (Joe Klotz). Director Lee Daniels, the first African American director to receive a "Best Director” nomination for a movie that was also nominated for "Best Picture,” spoke exclusively to TV Guide Network about the journey "Precious” had taken from its introduction at the Sundance Film Festival to becoming one of the most talked about films of the year. "I’m proud to have been a part of this, and it’s not just me…I’m proud for my cast…” He continues, "I’m happy for African American filmmakers…This is a statement…it’s a very exciting time for me.”

"TV Guide Network is proud to further explore 'Precious' in a one-hour special, from its indie film beginning to its award-winning mainstream success,” said Diane Robina, TV Guide Network’s Executive Vice President of Development, Acquisitions and Programming Strategy. "The film and its journey to the screen are testaments to strength and perseverance in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.”

In an exclusive interview for "Precious: The Story Behind the Movie,” star Gabourey Sidibe shares with TV Guide Network her perspective on the film. "A lot of people are afraid to see the movie because they think it’s so dark but it’s actually a beautiful film and it makes you appreciate the light in your life.”

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About Precious

Lee Daniels’ PRECIOUS: BASED ON THE NOVEL ‘PUSH’ BY SAPPHIRE is a vibrant, honest and resoundingly hopeful film about the human capacity to grow and overcome.

Set in Harlem in 1987, it is the story of Claireece "Precious” Jones (Gabourey Sidibe), a sixteen-year-old African-American girl born into a life no one would want. She’s pregnant for the second time by her absent father; at home, she must wait hand and foot on her mother (Mo’Nique), a poisonously angry woman who abuses her emotionally and physically. School is a place of chaos, and Precious has reached the ninth grade with good marks and an awful secret: she can neither read nor write.

Precious may sometimes be down, but she is never out. Beneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her. Threatened with expulsion, Precious is offered the chance to transfer to an alternative school, Each One/Teach One. Precious doesn’t know the meaning of "alternative,” but her instincts tell her this is the chance she has been waiting for. In the literacy workshop taught by the patient yet firm Ms. Rain (Paula Patton), Precious begins a journey that will lead her from darkness, pain and powerlessness to light, love and self-determination.

PRECIOUS, which has already garnered more than $45 million at the North American box office, expanded to more than 650 theatres nationwide this past weekend after the recent announcement that the film has earned six Academy Award® nominations. PRECIOUS received Oscar® nods for Best Picture, Best Actress (newcomer Gabourey Sidibe), Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique), Best Director (Lee Daniels), Best Adapted Screenplay (Geoffrey Fletcher) and Best Editing (Joe Klotz).

The film has already won a Golden Globe® and a Screen Actors Guild Award® for Best Supporting Actress (Mo'Nique). It has also earned nine NAACP Image Award nominations, including Best Motion Picture, and it earned a nomination for the Darryl F. Zanuck Producer of the Year Award In Theatrical Motion Picture (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness), a Directors Guild of America Award nomination for Lee Daniels as Best Director and a Writers Guild Award nomination for Geoffrey Fletcher (Best Adapted Screenplay). PRECIOUS has been named to AFI’s list of 10 best films of the year and dozens of year-end critics' 10 Best lists.

Lionsgate in association with Oprah Winfrey and Tyler Perry present A Lee Daniels Entertainment / Smokewood Entertainment Group Production of PRECIOUS, directed by Lee Daniels from a screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher based upon the book ‘Push,’ a novel by Sapphire. The film stars Mo’Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, Sherri Shepherd, Lenny Kravitz and introduces Gabourey Sidibe. PRECIOUS was produced by Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness and Gary Magness. Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Lisa Cortés and Tom Heller are Executive Producers; Simone Sheffield serves as Co-Executive Producer; Mark G. Mathis is Co-Producer; and Andrew Sforzini and Asger Hussain serve as Associate Producers.

For press information please visit Lionsgate’s Precious EPK at: http://www.lionsgatepublicity.com/epk/precious/

For consumer information please visit the film’s website at: http://www.weareallprecious.com/

For additional press information and photography, visit TV Guide Network’s press room at: www.tvguidenetworkpr.com.