29 FREE MOVIES OF BLACK COMMUNITIES IN CANADA BY NFB

Now more than ever is the time to consider the realities of Canadian-Black communities. Explore the collection of film by distinguished Black filmmakers, creators, and allies that the National Film Board of Canada put together. The incredible stories of strength, courage and perseverance in the face of adversity that these films present are not often found in mainstream history books. Black communities and cultures have been part of Canadian history from its earliest days, but sadly, their contributions and the lessons they can teach are rarely studied at the elementary or secondary level in schools.

Ice Breakers

2019 | 15 min Josh Crooks is a promising teen hockey star in a sport where Black players like him are chronically underrepresented. Ice Breakers reveals the buried history of a pioneering Black hockey league in Atlantic Canada, as Crooks discovers that his unshakable passion is tied to a rich and remarkable heritage.

Ninth Floor

2015 | 1 h 21 min Director Mina Shum makes her foray into feature documentary by reopening the file on a watershed moment in Canadian race relations – the infamous Sir George Williams Riot. Over four decades after a group of Caribbean students accused their professor of racism, triggering an explosive student uprising, Shum locates the protagonists and listens as they set the record straight, trying to make peace with the past.

Unarmed Verses

2016 | 1 h 25 min

This feature documentary presents a thoughtful and vivid portrait of a community facing imposed relocation. At the centre of the story is a remarkably astute and luminous 12-year-old black girl whose poignant observations about life, the soul, and the power of art give voice to those rarely heard in society. Unarmed Verses is a cinematic rendering of our universal need for self-expression and belonging.

TO CHECK OUT THE FULL LIST VISIT: BLACK COMMUNITIES IN CANADA: A RICH HISTORY