#FIRSTLOOK: “NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE THE TOUR” NORTH AMERICAN DATES

Elevation Pictures & NEON present

NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE THE TOUR

Elevation Pictures is excited to be share that NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE will be touring across North America this fall, including two Canadian tour dates. All stops will feature appearances with director Matt Johnson and co-creator Jay McCarrol.

Directed by: Matt Johnson
Starring: Jay McCarrol, Matt Johnson

When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.

Canadian Tour Stops
Montreal – Cinema Du Musee – October 29 – TICKETS
Vancouver – Rio Theatre – November 10 – TICKETS

Canadian merch details to come.

#TIFF25: DAY SIX SIGHTINGS – COLIN FARRELL, JODIE FOSTER, FALA CHEN, SHU QI, MATT JOHNSON, JAY MCCARROL AND MORE

it’s a bittersweet feeling as we near the half-way point of tiff50. but we are thrilled that we finally get a chance to see some films, which is always what has made this festival so special for us! make no mistake though, there are still some very notable names in-town!

some day six sightings:

•shu qi (pronounced “shoo chee”) at tiff for girl

•rebecca zlotowski and jodie foster at tiff for a private life

•colin farrell and fala chen at tiff for ballad of a small player

•plus a day four flashback with matt johnson and jay mccarrol of nirvanna the band the show the movie

highlights here:

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(photo/video credit: mr. will wong)

#TIFF25: “NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE” REVIEW

By Nicholas Porteous

Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol bring Nirvanna The Band The Show to the big screen in what is likely the single most Toronto movie of all time–Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie. For those unfamiliar with the early 2000s web series and VICE TV show–watch it all right now!–but if you can’t, you’ll be completely fine. Matt and Jay once again attempt to land a gig at The Rivoli, only this time they’re unintentionally warped back to 2008–a vastly different era than you might imagine, in a bonkers tribute to Back to the Future (Parts 1 AND 2).

It’s a fool’s errand to try to pin down the magic of Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie in words, but I’ll do my best. It takes place in a hyper-specific and yet all-too-relatable world of stunts and in-jokes, idiotic schemes and deceptively complex filmmaking that wraps Toronto in a thick blanket of Matt and Jay’s mischief, pulling in unsuspecting real humans and manufacturing situations that can’t possibly be real but also can’t possibly be fake. There’s always a question in the air about what percentage of their misadventures is staged and how much is legit–and that’s half the fun. The other half–we’re talking another metric TON of fun, here–is the unhinged situations themselves. Right up front, we get their most daring stunt yet, involving a trip to the top of the CN Tower. A minor qualm–The Movie never totally matches the sheer scope and awe of this opening sequence again. But even if it was just this sequence–The Movie would be worth a full-priced festival ticket.

Explosively gleeful from the first to the final frame, Nirvanna is meant for a big crowd. The sheer volume and length of audience reactions is so intense, you’ll likely miss several jokes at your screening. At 100 convoluted-as-hell minutes, The Movie might be just slightly too dense with ideas, even for its minor runtime. The shorter length of the show and web series gave more license to sustain this very specific level of crazed storytelling in concentrated chonks. Still, there’s nothing else in the world like it. Aside from tracing the faintest outline of Back to the Future, I could never predict where it was heading next, and it’s impossible not to be swept up in the tidal wave of its audacious aura.

The midnight screening is one of the main events at TIFF ’25, but if you can’t secure a spot there, it’s also showing in IMAX–for perhaps the only time EVER–on the 8th. Don’t miss it.

Nirvanna The Band The Show The Movie screens at TIFF ’25:

Thurs. Sept 4 at 11:59 PM at The Royal Alexandra Theatre

Mon. Sept 8 at 7:30 PM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

Sat. Sept 13 at 10:30 AM at Scotiabank Theatre Toronto

#FIRSTLOOK: “NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE” AWARD MIDNIGHTER AUDIENCE AWARD AT SXSW ’25

Nirvanna The Band the Show the Movie has been awarded the SXSW 2025 Midnighter Audience Award after making its highly anticipated world premiere at SXSW last week. The film has been met with overwhelming praise from both longtime fans and newcomers alike, currently holding a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The long-awaited follow up from Matt Johnson (Blackberry) and Jay McCarrol delivers the signature offbeat comedy and chaotic energy that made the cult-hit series a fan favorite—only bigger, bolder, and more ridiculous than ever.

NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE
Director: Matt Johnson
Producers: Matthew Miller, Matt Greyson
Screenwriters: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.

(Photo credit: Getty Images)

#FIRSTLOOK: MATT JOHNSON’S “NIRVANNA THE BAND THE SHOW THE MOVIE” TO PREMIERE AT SXSW ’25

Matt Johnson’s highly anticipated follow-up to ‘BlackBerry’ is set to premiere in Austin this March as part of the festival’s Midnighter section!

Synopsis:

When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008. Blah blah blah blah blah.

Starring: Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol
Director: Matt Johnson
Producers: Matthew Miller, Matt Greyson
Screenwriters: Matt Johnson, Jay McCarrol

Elevation Pictures to release the Film, more to come.

#GIVEAWAY: ENTER FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A DIGITAL DOWNLOAD OF “BLACKBERRY”

BLACKBERRY recalls the rise and fall of one of the greatest inventions of our time. The Matt Johnson film continues to win raves and this is your chance to win a Digital Download on iTunes!

Synopsis: 

The true story of the meteoric rise & catastrophic demise of the world’s first smartphone, BLACKBERRY is a whirlwind ride through a ruthlessly competitive Silicon Valley at breakneck speeds.

To enter for a chance to win, click “like” on this Post at MR. WILL ON FACEBOOK. Re-Tweet this Contest Tweet below for an extra chance!

#Giveaway; Enter for a chance to #win a Digital Download of acclaimed Matt Johnson film, #BlackBerry!https://t.co/vyYnvDNTfY pic.twitter.com/UOySEiRVPk

— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) June 15, 2023

Rules and regulations here.

BLACKBERRY is now available digitally.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)

#INTERVIEW: JAY BARUCHEL, GLENN HOWERTON, MATT JOHNSON & THE CAST OF “BLACKBERRY”

By Mr. Will Wong

After winning raves out of its Premieres in Berlin and at SXSW ’23, Elevation Pictures release BLACKBERRY readies a release in theatres next month. The Film centers on the rise and fall of the world’s first ever Smartphone, developed just an hour outside of Toronto. The Comedy-Drama is directed and written by Toronto’s Matt Johnson, the Script adapted from Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff’s book Losing the Signal: The Untold Story Behind the Extraordinary Rise and Spectacular Fall of BlackBerry. And not only this, Johnson also stars in the Film as well.

The Red Carpet was rolled-out at TIFF Bell Lightbox as the Film got a full circle moment, premiering before a Canadian audience, after having filmed last year in Waterloo – where exactly the story is set and history was made.

Those to walk the Red Carpet tonight included:

Jay Baruchel as Mike Lazaridis
Glenn Howerton as Jim Balsillie
SungWon Cho as Ritchie Cheung
Michelle Giroux as Dara Frankel
Mark Critch as Bettman
Ian Rosen, President & COO of Harry Rosen
Co-Authors Jacquie McNish and Sean Silcoff
Director and Writer Matt Johnson as Douglas Fregin

The real Jim Balsillie, former Chair and CEO of Research in Motion even made an appearance! We hear he loved the Film.

We had the great pleasure of chatting with the evening’s special guests.

Ian Rosen, President & COO of Harry Rosen, graced the Red Carpet as the refined men’s fashion retailer was a partner of the event. Rosen himself oversaw fashion for star Jay Baruchel at the Premiere. We ask him what he’s most excited about.

Rosen: “My wife and I met over BBM (BlackBerry Messenger), so we’re just getting in this nostalgic mood thinking about this Film, and getting to see a different angle of this story.”.

Sean Silcoff is Co-Author of the book on which Matt Johnson based his Script. He tells us about the process of the book making it to the big screen.

Silcoff: “After the book came out, we started hearing from people interested in making it into a movie. We signed an option deal and I knew right away, an option is a longshot. You believe it when you see it. Early last year, we got the call the Movie’s being made and I still thought ‘I can’t believe it’s true’. We got to visit the set in Hamilton and it was surreal to see all these people working on the Movie, making a living because of the work you did and knowing the story’s going to live on in another format.”.

Michelle Giroux plays an Investigator named Dara, who arrives at a critical turning point in the Film.

Giroux: “Dara comes in the latter half of the Film, which I haven’t seen yet. She’s an investigator who’s been trying to reach the boys at BlackBerry and she wants to look the hiring of technicians under false pretenses. It’s actually at the point in the Film when they start to catch-on and things start to implode.”.

Mark Critch certainly is a busy man, coming off a Canadian Screen Award win last weekend for his work on THIS HOUR HAS 22 MINUTES and also prepping the third season of CBC’s hit series SON OF A CRITCH. He stars in BLACKBERRY as Bettman.

Critch: “Bettman at first thinks this is going to go great, but realizes slowly but surely that maybe there’s more to it. It’s been fun. I was only on the Film for a couple days, but it was so many exciting people. I loved working with Jay and Matt is such an exciting Filmmaker. When Jay actually sent me the Script, I started on my kitchen counter and finished the whole thing before I even realized what I was doing. It was like my BlackBerry, I couldn’t put it down.”.

We ask Matt Johnson about the many caps he gets to where in this Film – what his greatest challenges were and what his favourite parts were.

Johnson: “The biggest challenge was learning to communicate with these Actors so that we could be a true unit, because I’d never met them before and I wanted to have a sense that we’d known each other for years. The funnest part? Making movies is not fun – like production. So the funnest part was when we were shooting stuff in the ’90s and I was with the other Engineers and we were just kinda screwing around. But honestly it was all kinda painful.”.

Jay Baruchel is winning raves for his performance as Mike Lazaridis, Founder of BlackBerry with his work being called his most mature performance to date. He happens to be a huge fan of BlackBerry and was actually still using one up till a couple years ago.

Baruchel: “I had almost all of them! Whatever the last one was where they put the QWERTY keyboard back on it because for a while they had Android phones with a hybrid keyboard on it, or you could buy a QWERTY Keyboard to use on your Android.”.

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelpha star Glenn Howerton also is getting acclaim for his portrayal of charismatic Businessman Jim Balsillie. He tells us a bit about his process.

Howerton: “For me it’s all about the Script. It’s all about reading the Script over and over and over again. You do the research, especially something like this which is based on a true story. Fill out the story that’s not exactly on the page so that you have an idea what it is. For me it’s all about information-gathering and letting it slowly seep into my bones and by the time it’s time to film, I know what the character’s going through so well that I don’t have to think about what goes before or after because on the day of filming, you don’t want to be thinking about all that stuff. You want to just throw it all away and have fun.”.

Our Chats below, including some footage filmed on our old BlackBerry Key2!

Backdrop by Coolab.

Elevation Pictures release BLACKBERRY May 12, 2023.

Review to come.

(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures/Mr. Will Wong)