CBC Gem
#FIRSTLOOK: CBC GEM MARCH 2025 PROGRAMMING
As Canadians look to support homegrown stories and creators, CBC is bringing a new lineup of 12 exceptional Canadian feature films to wide audiences across the country for free on CBC Gem. The titles include CBC Films’ BROTHER, directed by Clement Virgo, and BEANS, directed by Tracey Deer, as well as recent festival darling MATT AND MARA from Kazik Radwanski, starring Deragh Campbell and Matt Johnson. The 12 films join currently available CBC Films titles such as BLACKBERRY, BONES OF CROWS, and CRIMES OF THE FUTURE in the Spotlight on Canadian Film Collection, launching March 1 on CBC Gem.
Images from the following movies are available. Please credit Courtesy of CBC.
BEANS (Drama, directed by Tracey Deer) CBC Films
Begins streaming Saturday, March 1
Drawing from her own experiences as a child, director Tracey Deer provides a poignant and engaging chronicle of real-life events that shook the nation. BEANS takes place at the height of the 1990 Mohawk Resistance at KanehsatĂ :ke (also known as the Oka Crisis), a 78-day standoff between Indigenous land defenders, Quebec police, the RCMP, and the Canadian military, over the proposed expansion of a golf course on to a Mohawk burial ground. Twelve-year-old Tekehentahkhwa (nicknamed Beans) grapples with her anger over the treatment of her people. The film won Best Motion Picture and the John Dunning Best First Feature Film at the 2021 Canadian Screen Awards.
BROTHER (Drama, directed by Clement Virgo) CBC Films
Begins streaming Saturday, March 1
Propelled by the pulsing beats of Toronto’s early hip-hop scene, BROTHER is the story of Francis and Michael, sons of Caribbean immigrants maturing into young men. Exploring themes of masculinity, identity, and family, a mystery unfolds during the sweltering summer of 1991, and escalating tensions set off a series of events that change the course of the brothers’ lives forever. BROTHER crafts a timely story about the profound bond between siblings, the resilience of a community, and the irrepressible power of music. The film won 12 awards including Best Motion Picture, Achievement in Direction and Adapted Screenplay (Clement Virgo), and Best Performance in a Leading Role (Lamar Johnson), at the 2023 Canadian Screen Awards.
POLARIZED (Drama, directed by Shamim Sarif) CBC Films
Begins streaming Saturday, March 1
On the verge of her wedding, a successful Muslim woman falls into a passionate relationship with a blue-collar Christian woman who works for her. In a modern-day small town that is politically and economically polarized, being true to themselves means turning their backs on everything they’ve ever believed.
MATT AND MARA (Drama, directed by Kazik Radwanski)
Begins streaming Friday, March 7
A chance encounter leads Mara, a young creative writing professor, to reunite with Matt, a charismatic, free-spirited author from her past who wanders onto her university campus. Bonded by their shared interests, the two begin to grow closer as she contends with her strained marriage to an experimental musician. When her husband suddenly cancels plans to drive Mara to a conference out of town, Matt accompanies her on the road trip, where pressure slowly mounts against their undefined relationship.
FINALITY OF DUSK (Drama, directed by Madison Thomas) CBC Films
Begins streaming Friday, March 7
The year is 2045. Extreme environmental devastation has pushed the scattered humans left into the wild. Ishkode is a strong-willed Ojibwe woman who has always lived on her home reserve. After the death of her companion Sam, Ishkode reluctantly teams up with Niife, a Nigerian climate refugee who is searching for her sister in the remote part of Northern Canada she calls “Paradise.” Ishkode’s cheap, general-issue mask is breaking down. With the yellow fog of poisonous air and a menacing, deaf mask-hoarder, Odin, on their heels, Ishkode and Niife must communicate with, trust, and help each other to find “Paradise,” which may or may not exist. What does exist is the drive to live and to hope.
THE BEEHIVE (Drama, directed by Alexander Lasheras) CBC Films
Begins streaming Friday, March 7
The life of a widowed single father, Frank Piers, and his two children, Arron and Rosemary, are upended after a night of strange cosmic phenomena in the skies. The next day, Rosemary discovers a peculiar nest growing on a big leaf maple tree in the back property; by the time Frank and Arron find the nest, it has grown into a giant cocoon-like hive, and it infects Frank with an alien virus. Arron begins displaying symptoms of the virus too, and falls ill while Rosemary escapes the property with her aunt, Zoe Grant, who brings them to a research vessel to escape.
CONCRETE VALLEY (Drama, directed by Antoine Bourges)
Begins streaming Friday, March 14
Rashid, a doctor from Syria, struggles to adjust to his new life in Toronto with his young family. He tries to hold on to his identity by working as an unlicensed doctor, but the tension that has accumulated in his marriage begins to surface.
LEARN TO SWIM (Drama, directed by Thyrone Tommy) CBC Films
Begins streaming Friday, March 14
LEARN TO SWIM is the jazz-infused story of a talented saxophone player, who navigates through a series of personal, professional, and romantic struggles. A musical meditation on love and loss, the film follows the tumultuous relationship between Dezi and a vivacious singer named Selma, and the music they fought to make. The film was named one of Canada’s Top Ten films, presented by TIFF, in 2021.
THIS PLACE (Drama, directed by V. T. Nayani) CBC Films
Begins streaming Friday, March 21
Starring Devery Jacobs (Backspot, Reservation Dogs) and Priya Guns (Tide of Lies), THIS PLACE is the story of two young women falling in love for the first time. One is half-Iranian, half-Mohawk; the other is Tamil. KawenniiĂłhstha has just moved to Toronto, to pursue her dream of becoming a poet. The city is also where her estranged father lives. Raised by her single Kanien’kehá:ka mother in KahnawĂ :ke Mohawk Territory, she never knew her dad. And he does not know she exists. She yearns to meet him, but struggles to make contact. For Malai, after the passing of her mother, her father’s alcoholism reaches its peak, pushing her to leave home with her elder brother. Years later, as her father battles terminal cancer, she tries to reconcile with him, while navigating her brother’s refusal to do the same. Through two families complicated by love and loss, this film intimately explores the stories of those living in the liminal space between cultures, displaced both at home and abroad. At the centre of it all remains KawenniiĂłhstha and Malai, whose journeys we follow together and apart.
YOU CAN LIVE FOREVER (Drama, directed by Sarah Fobes and Mark Slutsky) CBC Films
Begins streaming Friday, March 21
When Jaime, a gay teenager, is sent to live with her aunt and uncle in a community of Jehovah’s Witnesses in small-town Quebec, she falls madly in love with a devout Witness teen. As the two young women grow closer, Jaime finds herself drawn deeper into the Witness theology. The two begin a secret affair and for a short time forget that they are from two different worlds.
KIPKEMBOI (THE WALL STREET BOY) (Drama, directed by Charles Uwagbai) CBC Films
Begins streaming Friday, March 21
Kipkemboi, a young mathematical genius in Kenya, must pass up a MIT scholarship and provide for his family when his father dies. As he struggles with his dreams slipping away, Kipkemboi’s girlfriend, Chipchirchir, gives him a book that changes his life. Inspired by what he learns, he develops an algorithm to play the stock market. As he starts stock trading from a cobbled-together computer, his algorithm turns out to be an astronomical success generating millions of dollars. With massive profits falling into an unknown town in Kenya, it attracts the attention of unsavoury international financiers, local police and the elders of his village. Kipkemboi and Chipchirchir must run to save their lives.
IL PLEUVAIT DES OISEAUX (AND THE BIRDS RAINED DOWN) (Drama, directed by Louise Archambault)
Begins streaming Friday, March 28
Three elderly hermits live in the woods, cut off from the rest of the world. While wildfires threaten the region, their quiet life is about to be shaken by the arrival of two women: a luminous octogenarian unjustly institutionalized her whole life, and a young photographer charged with interviewing survivors of the region’s deadliest forest fire. After the death of the eldest hermit, the two women make an astonishing discovery: hundreds of paintings echoing his tragic experience related to that devastating fire. A story of intertwined destinies, where love can happen at any age.
#SPOTTED: CBC GEM’S “REAL BLACKITY TALK” PREMIERE
The Red Carpet was rolled out at Imagine Cinemas Carlton Cinemas in celebration of upcoming CBC Gem Series REAL BLACKITY TALK. The ground-breaking Docu-Series, hosted by sisters Aiza and Kamana Ntibarikure. The Show explores the voices of Black Women and non-binary Black people. How amazing seeing in-person events again at long last!
See the Trailer:
It was a festive affair on the Red Carpet as the Ntibarikure Sisters were joined by some up-and-coming local talent, including TIFF Rising Stars and stars of new, acclaimed CBC Series.
REAL BLACKITY TALK premieres March 18, 2022 on CBC Gem.
Learn more about the Series here.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong/CBC)
#FIRSTOOK: NEW CBC GEM SERIES “FOR THE RECORD”
A new six episode series is coming to CBC GEM called FOR THE RECORD. Each episode centers around one centerpiece song from Universal Music‘s catalog of hits, including a track by Canadian YouTube sensation Johnny Orlando!
Synopsis:
Ray and Angela just broke up. What if the iconic songs we all know and love had the power to bring them back together? Follow the interconnected people, stories & music that mend their broken hearts.
See the Trailer here.
Episode 1
Title: Splitsville
Centrepiece song: Wouldn’t It Be Nice By The Beach Boys
Synopsis: Ray and Angela just broke up. They’ve just got one thing left to do together: divvy up their prized record collection. One album, Pet Sounds, proves to be non-negotiable, leading the couple to unearth the pain and bitterness that drove them apart.
Director: Lisa Baylin (Guidestones, Save Me) & Julian De Zotti (Suits, Transplant)
Actors: Anna Hopkins (The Expanse, Shadowhunters, Bad Blood), Julian De Zotti
Episode 2
Title: The Broken Hearts Tour
Centrepiece song: Phobias by Johnny Orlando
Synopsis: Angela spends Christmas with her niece Madison, who is desperate to meet her “soulmate”: the real-life pop star Johnny Orlando. But cynical Angela is hellbent on teaching this tween “stan” that love is a lie. Only Johnny Orlando himself can prove her wrong.
Director: Dane Clark & Linsey Stewart (Mr D, Bickford Park)
Actors: guest starring Johnny Orlando, Anna Hopkins, Alexandra Beaton (The Next Step, Hardy Boys), Moni Ogunsuyi, Julian De Zotti, Callum Maudsley
Episode 3
Title: Dinner Music
Centrepiece song: Redemption Song by Bob Marley
Synopsis: Ray’s new girlfriend Sara wants him to meet her parents. Over a dinner of traditional oxtail stew cooked by the “woke” Ray, they all get into a battle royale about cultural appropriation in music when he plays a Bob Marley protest song during the meal.
Director: Sudz Sutherland (Ginny & Georgia, Batwoman)
Actors: Julian De Zotti, Moni Ogunsuyi, Maurice Dean Wint (Lead in new Syfy series The Surrealtor), Karen LeBlanc (Guest Star of Lovecraft Country).
Episode 4
Title: Climax
Centrepiece song: I Feel It Coming by The Weeknd
Synopsis: Stefan is a charismatic pastor, eligible bachelor and devoted disciple of The Weeknd who goes through a crisis of faith when he engages in a passionate affair.
Director: Sudz Sutherland
Actors: Lyriq Bent (Power, The Affair), Kira Clavell, Phil Borg, Maurice Dean Wint, Karen LeBlanc.
Episode 5
Title: That Twilight Queer Love Affair
Centrepiece song: I Put A Spell On You by Nina Simone
Synopsis: Recent widow Joy is about to turn 70. On the eve of her birthday she meets Fiona, a Nerds 4 Hire employee, and they strike up an unlikely friendship thanks to Nina Simone.
Director: Theresa Rebeck (The 355, Smash)
Actors: Alannah Ong, Theresa Tova, Uni Park, Kira Clavell, Phil Borg, Neil Lu
Episode 6
Title: The Drop
Centrepiece song: Stars Tonight by Zeds Dead
Synopsis: Rain is attending her annual Zeds Dead EDM festival pilgrimage. She’s also 8 months pregnant. Don’t judge! When she goes into labour, there’s only one person there to assist her: Ray, itching to get back together with his first love, Angela.
Director: Matt Eastman (Ming’s Dynasty, Whatever Linda)
Actors: Justine Nelson, Julian De Zotti, Theresa Tova, Anna Hopkins, Olivia Mata, Martha Lucia Rodriguez, Melissa McNerney, Brynn Chamblee, Manuel Bonilla, Miguel Bonilla, Vicki Perry, Tashi Simmons, Alice Forsanari, Mason Tanner Hassenplug
FOR THE RECORD streams on CBC GEM December 11, 2020.
(Photo/video credit: CBC Gem)
#FIRSTLOOK: CBC GEM SHORT FORM SERIES “THE 410”
Premiering tomorrow on CBC Gem, three-part Short Form series THE 410 centers on a young South Asian woman (Supinder Wraich) who is left to her own devices after her truck driving father is imprisoned for drug trafficking. She turns to crime to bail him out of jail, placing herself at great risk, crossing paths with some key people in her life to make it happen.
The gritty Series created, written and starring the talented Wraich examines crime and culture, making for an intense watch. Wraich is perfect as the anti-heroine balancing moral judgement with the greater good even if it means doing the unconventional.
The Cast and Crew behind THE 410, named after a highway which connects Brampton to Greater Toronto, celebrated its release at the Artspace Sandbox on Adelaide Street West. In attendance were Wraich, Jade HassounĂ© (Shadowhunters), Balinder Johal (Beeba Boys), Sarena Parmar (Suits, Degrassi: The Next Generation) and Renuka Jeyapalan (Workin’ Moms, Kim’s Convenience). Special guests included Kimberly Sue-Murray (Shadowhunters), Vinay Virmani (Dr. Cabbie, Little Italy) and among others, Karena Evans star of Canadian Screen Award-winning Firecrackers and Director of Drake’s videos for smash hits, In My Feelings, God’s Plan and Nice for What.
Wraich tells the audience in a Q&A about repeat times in high school where others would tell her “You’re pretty for a brown girl”, which initially she thought was a compliment before realizing that it really wasn’t. She describes her process writing the story and returning to her roots very much like her character Suri whom after being blonde and wearing blue contact lenses, finds herself, owning her “brown-ness” embracing again her family and community, the very things that once made her feel very insecure.
See some Snaps from the night:
Left to right Matt Power, Jade Hassouné, Balinder Johal, Renuka Jeyapalan and Wraich
Karena Evans (left) showing support for her friends
The 410 streams on CBC GEM Thursday, May 2, 2019.
CBC Gem offers local live CBC TV channels live from coast-to-coast for free, while a $4.99 per month premium option offers CBC News Network live 24/7 and on-demand content.
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong/CBC Gem)
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