Canadian Music Week is pleased to partner with Hot Docs to present four Canadian music documentaries as part of the 2021 CMW Virtual Festival May 18 – 21, 2021. CMW Conference registrants and Hot Docs members will have access to the premiere of No Tickets At The Door, and notable works from the Hot Docs archives including I’m Going To Break Your Heart, Feist: Look What the Light Did Now, and 6ix Rising.
In addition to the Hot Docs films, the CMW Virtual Conference event will feature keynote speakers, networking sessions, breakout rooms, one-on-one meetings, exhibitors, the International Marketplace, and Q & A Sessions.CMW Virtual Conference will present In Conversation with Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk, hosted by Bob Lefsetz, Thursday, May 20. Raine Maida will also appear on the Ch-Ch-Changes: What’s New in Tech & Tunes in 2021 panel on Friday, May 21. Registration is open now at http://www.cmw.net/register/.
Curated in partnership with Hot Docs, the four documentaries celebrating Canadian music include:
No Tickets At the Door (2021)
Director: Danny Alexander
Streaming until July 6
No Tickets No Tickets At The Door is an in-depth look into Toronto’s diverse underground music scene and the myriad of challenges that musicians, promoters, and venues are facing. Questions about creative survival and perseverance during the lockdown, as well as the overwhelming effects of merciless gentrification, are actively raised and discussed by the community. Part documentary, part love letter to the scene, filmmaker and musician Danny Alexander explores the creative impulses that are driving musicians today while paying close attention to the endangered status of Toronto as an incubator for the arts.
Featuring interviews with prominent contributors such as Sook-Yin Lee, Dan Burke, Luna Li, Yamantaka//Sonic Titan, Odonis Odonis, Bad Waitress, Hot Garbage, Vypers, and TRP.P, owners of historic venues like the Horseshoe Tavern, and local politicians who are championing the arts. No Tickets At The Door examines the importance of music communities in the modern age and what is at stake if a city is no longer hospitable towards them.
I’m Going To Break Your Heart (2019)
Directors: Annie Bradley and Jim Morrison
Limited streaming engagement from May 18-21
Their romance made headlines as Canada’s beautiful young rock royalty, but nearly two decades and three children later, Raine Maida and Chantal Kreviazuk struggle – like most people – with their relationship. I’m Going to Break Your Heart captures the raw and wrenching journey these renowned singer-songwriters took to find their way back to each other. Filmed on France’s isolated but romantic Saint Pierre et Miquelon island in the dead of winter, the documentary immerses viewers in their musical relationship, even as it exposes long-standing wounds and unresolved heartache. Ultimately, I’m Going to Break Your Heart is the true story of rediscovering love through creativity, in which music plays the lead role.
Feist: Look What the Light Did Now (2010)
Director: Anthony Seck
Streaming until July 6
Look at What the Light Did Now ostensibly documents the making of the 2007 album The Reminder and subsequent touring, but, more broadly, is both an illumination of Feist’s unique collaborative process and a poetic collaborative work in itself. The film pulls back the curtain to reveal intimate partnerships with the people Feist calls her ‘amplifiers’: The photographer who helped her hide within the frame, shadow puppeteers in hockey arenas, an artist who built a thread-radiating mural, the video director who conducted fireworks, the pianist who guided the recording of the album, and other musical and visual collaborators.
6ix Rising (2017)
Directed by Shawney Cohen
Streaming until July 6
It’s no secret Toronto has recently placed itself amongst North America’s most buzz-worthy music cities due to the blockbuster ascents of Drake and The Weeknd. But that attention has also turned the city’s local rap scene into a hyper-competitive, and highly creative environment where young artists are fighting for attention on the world stage.
CMW registrants will receive the promo code to access these films during the event, May 18-21, 2021. Hot Docs Members get free access throughout each film’s streaming window.
