You know the National Film Board of Canada — our nation's public film and digital media producer and distributor — but did you know that you can stream exclusive content on the NFB website? Well, now you know, and the timing couldn't be better: in the month of August, vibrant new NFB productions will become available for your streaming pleasure.
Headlining this month's content is the premiere of Sounds & Pressure: Reggae in a Foreign Land, a docuseries by Graeme Mathieson and Chris Flanagan about how some of Jamaica's brightest stars like Nana McLean, Leroy Sibbles and Johnny Osbourne fled to Toronto at the height of the genre's golden age, trading Kingston for Kensington Market to make reggae roots in Canada. A special screening and launch event will take place at the Paradise Theatre on August 22, and you can get tickets here.
Also at the top of the bill for August is the online launch of Audrey Nantel-Gagnon's 2023 documentary, Fire-Jo-Ball, which follows Jo-Ann, a 57-year-old bartender who dreams of becoming a singer and actor. Its NFB premiere will coincide with the birthday of Marjo, an inspiration to Jo-Ann and Quebecers at large.
To mark Pride celebrations across the country (including Public Service Pride Week from August 19 to 23), curator Camilo Martín-Flórez has rounded up three landmark 2SLGBTQIA+ films from the NFB vault: Albert Nerenberg's Escape to Canada (2005), David Adkin's Out: Stories of Lesbian and Gay Youth (1993) and Fernand Bélanger and Dagmar Teufel's Montreal-shot Passiflora (1984), which some say might be the gayest film ever made in Canada. (For more recent recs you can check out at the NFB website, Martín-Flórez suggests two features from 2023 — k.d. lang: songs & silence and Michel Marc Bouchard: Speaking Out.)
Finally, cinema from coast-to-coast(-to-coast) is being spotlighted as NFB introduces various channels themed around every province and territory.