In the tradition of Oprah Winfrey's famous book club, the talk show host's cable channel, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, will launch a documentary film club, with a focus on films with inspirational themes.

OWN has partnered with Ro*co Prods., a division of documentary film distributor Ro*co Films International, to do a primetime monthly documentary film series on the cable channel, a co-venture between Winfrey's Harpo Prods. and Discovery Communications that is scheduled to premiere in January 2011.

Exclusive footage from the films featured in the documentary film club will be put up on OWN.tv, and some of them will get nationwide theatrical screenings. OWN plans to create communities nationwide that can screen the films together and participate in a live, moderated panel discussion.

Ro*co, founded in 2000 by managing director Annie Roney, has distributed eight Oscar-nominated feature documentaries, including Born Into Brothels, The Garden, Jesus Camp, No End in Sight, Promises, Regret to Inform, Street Fight and The Weather Underground.

Oprah winfrey