New international series coming to CBC Gem in July include New Zealand high school rugby drama HEAD HIGH (July 9), Belgian crime thriller THE DAY (July 23), which tells the story of a team of police negotiators and special forces who respond to a hostage crisis in a small bank branch, and acclaimed extraterrestrial British comedy THE ALIENS (July 16) starring Michaela Coel.
CBC Gem has partnered with THE FUTURE OF FILM SHOWCASE (July 9-22) to provide a virtual platform for the annual short film festival’s 11 featured projects from emerging filmmakers in Canada. Highlights include WASH DAY, directed by Kourtney Jackson, focusing on the relationship between three young black women and the daily politics of negotiating their sense of self; Ella Morton’s KAJANAQTUQ, reflecting on the effects of government interference and climate change on Inuk people of Nunavut; and Aziz Zoromba’s FARAWAY, which captures a young Arab man’s feeling of isolation after becoming estranged from his family for his sexuality.
With the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 getting underway later this month, CBC Gem is offering a collection featuring a variety of sports-related titles and programs from and focused on Japan. The collection includes documentaries like THE STAND: HOW ONE GESTURE SHOOK THE WORLD (July 9), offering an in-depth look at the global impact of two African American medal winners raising their fists while standing on the podium at the 1968 Olympic Games; and dramas such as the Japanese production of the popular American series SUITS (July 9), which pairs one of Japan’s top corporate lawyers with a young hotshot associate who’s brilliance comes with a criminal past.
Other exciting new titles in the GET READY FOR TOKYO 2020! COLLECTION include MIRACLES (July 9), a Japanese drama series about a university professor who utilizes unconventional teaching methods, JOANNA LUMLEY’S JAPAN (July 9), which explores the uncharted corners of Japan’s 6,800 mystical islands, and MAIDEN (July 16), which tells the inspirational story of how Tracy Edwards became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989.
NEW INTERNATIONAL SERIES
- HEAD HIGH (6×60, Drama, South Pacific Pictures, New Zealand)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
* Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Set in the home of a struggling but hopeful working-class family, six drama-packed episodes chart the rise of high school rugby stars, Mana (Jayden Daniels, Shortland Street) and Tai (Lionel Wellington, Educators). Two brothers, one dream. Under the guidance of their step-father coach and police officer mum, the boys fight to achieve the ‘Kiwi’ dream of the black jersey. But will the game of rugby bring this whanau together or tear them apart forever?
- ACKLEY BRIDGE SEASON 4 (10×30, Drama, Channel 4, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
This award-winning school drama series set in a Yorkshire mill town returns with a brand new format, some fresh faces, and familiar favourite characters. We’ll meet endearing, awkward, mixed race misfit Kayla Afzal (Robyn Cara, We Die Young) and her lifelong best friend, fiercely loyal Fizza Akhtar (Yasmin Al-Khudhairi, Killing Eve). Their friendship will be tested as they try to navigate messy home lives, disappointing parents and first love.
- THE ALIENS (6×45, Comedy, Clerkenwell Films, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, July 16
THE ALIENS features an all-star cast including Michael Socha (Papillon), Michaela Coel (I May Destroy You), Ashley Walters (Bullet Boy) and Michael Smiley (Kill List). The comedy-drama takes place in an imagined Britain where aliens have been living for the last 40 years. Even though the extraterrestrials have a human exterior and the same behavioural makeup, the community is compelled to live separately from humans. A wall segregates the human side and Troy, the ghetto inhabited by the aliens. Guarding the wall is a man named Lewis, who learns about his alien heritage and goes in search of the truth.
- THE DAY (12×60, Drama, FBO, Belgium)
Begins streaming Friday, July 23
The nerve-racking events of a cold winter’s day, seen from two different perspectives. The odd episodes tell the story of a team of police negotiators and special forces who respond to a hostage crisis in a small bank branch. The even episodes tell exactly the same events, only through the eyes of the criminals inside and their victims.
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GET READY FOR TOKYO 2020! COLLECTION
- THE STAND: HOW ONE GESTURE SHOOK THE WORLD (1×90, Documentary, directed by Tom Ratcliffe, USA, 2020)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
It is one of the most iconic images of our time: two African American medal winners at the 1968 Olympic Games standing in silent protest with heads bowed and fists raised as “The Star Spangled Banner” is played. Fifty years later, that singular event remains deeply inspiring, controversial and even misunderstood as one of the most overtly political statements in the annals of sport. THE STAND: HOW ONE GESTURE SHOOK THE WORLD is a revealing exploration into the circumstances that led runners Tommie Smith and John Carlos to that historic moment at the Mexico City Games, mining the great personal risks they took and the subsequent fallout they endured. Through intimate interviews with the participants and witnesses involved in that moment, along with compelling images and archive, the film explores the 1968 Olympic Games human rights stand in the context of a critically important and volatile time for the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
- SPORTS ON FIRE (6×30, Documentary, directed by Pete McCormack, Canada, 2015)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
SPORTS ON FIRE is an episodic documentary series that showcases the world’s greatest athletes caught in the pivotal moments of modern history. Stories covered in the series include a behind-the-scenes perspective on the 1972 Summit Series played at the height of the Cold War, Jesse Owens displaying his remarkable talent and courage during the 1936 Olympics competing for a country that will celebrate his victories but deny him his human rights, and André Spitzer, an Israeli Olympic fencing coach who was taken hostage and killed by terrorists at the 1972 Olympic games in Munich.
- PAIGE (1×90, Documentary, directed by Bjarne Salen, Canada, 2018)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
A close look into the life of Paige Alms, one of the best big wave surfers in the world, as she trains mentally and physically for the 2017 Pe’ahi Challenge (Jaws) on Maui, conquering 40-50 foot waves, and inspiring the next generation.
- SUITS (11×60, Drama, Fuji TV, Japan)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Shogo Ka (Yūji Oda, Bayside Shakedown) is a competent lawyer who works for Yukimura Uesugi Law Firm, one of the four major law firms in Japan. While he is generally recognized as a highly capable individual with a sharp mind, he is also quite arrogant and at times resorts to methods that push the limits of legality in order to get the win. Although Shogo is the biggest earner for the firm, his extreme win-at-all-cost mentality worries his boss, who suggests that he hire an associate as a condition for his promotion. The person who coincidentally comes along is Daiki Suzuki (Yuto Nakajima, Nobuta wo Produce). While he has a sharp mind and a photographic memory, influenced by bad company, he scrapes a living day by day working part-time as a substitute exam taker for various industries.
- MIRACLES (10×60, Drama, Kansai TV, Japan)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
Kazuki Aikawa (Issey Takahashi, Kill Bill, Vol. 1) is a university ethology lecturer with a single-minded fascination with the mystery of living creatures. A peculiar person, Kazuki’s tendency to not follow rules raises the ire of the University while his unconventional teaching methods leave his students confused, but also lead them to use their minds in ways they haven’t done since childhood.
- TOKYO IDOLS (1×90, Documentary, directed by Kyoko Miyake, Japan, 2017)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
TOKYO IDOLS explores Japan’s fascination with girl bands and their music. The film follows an aspiring pop singer and her fans, delving into the cultural obsession with young female sexuality and the growing disconnect between men and women in hyper-modern societies.
- THE DEPARTURE (1×90, Documentary, directed by Lana Wilson, USA, 2017)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
Ittetsu Nemoto, a former punk turned Buddhist priest in Japan, has made a career out of helping suicidal people find reasons to live. But this work has come increasingly at the cost of his own family and health, as he refuses to draw lines between his patients and himself. THE DEPARTURE captures Nemoto at a crossroads, when his growing self-destructive tendencies lead him to confront the same question his patients ask him: what makes life worth living?
- JOANNA LUMLEY’S JAPAN (3×50, UK, Burning Bright Productions, 2016)
Begins streaming Friday, July 9
Travelling Japan by boat, train, plane and foot, British actor and activist Joanna Lumley (The Wolf of Wall Street) turns travel reporter to explore the uncharted corners of the country’s 6,800 mystical islands. From rustic mountains to sprawling super-cities, this epic journey takes her across a beautiful and perplexing country of extremes – with a population to match.
- AND YOUR BIRD CAN SING (1×90, Feature Film, scripted, directed by Shô Miyake, Japan, 2018)
Begins streaming Monday, July 12
*Exclusive Canadian Premiere*
The main character, ‘Me’ (Tasuku Emoto, It Feels So Good), works in a bookshop in the suburb of a town in the north of Japan. He shares a flat with a friend named Shizuo (Shôta Sometani, Themis). Me’s colleague Sachiko (Shizuka Ishibashi, Ichigo no uta) is in a relationship with an older man, the manager of the bookshop, but feels attracted to Me. When Shizuo meets Sachiko, he too starts to like her. Depicted like a breeze in the heat of summer, the relationship between these three young Japanese is built on a delicate balance of love and friendship.
- MAIDEN (1×90, Documentary, directed by Alex Holmes, UK, 2018)
Begins streaming Friday, July 16
MAIDEN is the inspirational story of how Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989. Tracy’s dream was opposed on all sides: her male competitors thought an all-women crew would never make it, the chauvinistic yachting press took bets on her failure, and potential sponsors rejected her, fearing they would die at sea and generate bad publicity. But Tracy refused to give up: she re-mortgaged her home and bought a second-hand boat, putting everything on the line to ensure the team made it to the start line. With the support of her remarkable crew she went on to shock the sport and prove that women are the equal of men.
- RU-TSU (Short Doc, 1×14, directed by Darcy Hennessey Turenne)
Streaming Now
Snowboarder and activist Tamo Campos explores his connection to his heritage and Japanese roots with grandfather David Suzuki.
- LOST & FOUND (1×90, Documentary, Frank Films Production, Canada)
Streaming Now
On March 11, 2011, Japan was hit by the largest earthquake in its recorded history. The ensuing tsunami engulfed over 90 cities, killing more than 18,000 people, and causing millions of tons of debris to be pulled into the Pacific. One year later, beachcombers in North America began to find Japanese items washed ashore. Consumed with finding their owners, these beachcombers packed their bags and traveled to Japan in hopes of reuniting people with a small piece of their past. LOST & FOUND tells the story of the unlikely friendships that were forged in the wake of a massive natural disaster.
- JAPAN WITH SUE PERKINS (2×50, Documentary, Folk Films, UK)
Streaming Now
Sue Perkins (Last Christmas) explores a country caught between ancient tradition and dazzling technology: Japan. It’s often described as a futuristic city and technological mecca. But, Japan is also steeped in tradition. Sue visits Tokyo, with its neon digital displays, thronging population and bullet-fast trains. She travels to the mountainous villages, and meets the artisans finding new ways to preserve ancient traditions. The rift between age-old traditions and new-age technology is widening, as the country strives to honour its past — and embrace the future.
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CANADIAN DRAMAS
- BLACKSTONE Season 5 (8×60, Drama, Prairie Dog Film & Television)
Begins streaming Friday, July 16
There is hope in the midst of adversity as the Blackstone First Nation strives toward a better life by building a stronger community. Panicked and grief-stricken, the Stoneys fight for the authorities to expand the search effort for Wendy (Miika Bryce Whiskeyjack, Indian Road Trip). Meanwhile, Chief Victor (Nathaniel Arcand, Pathfinder) is MIA and the lack of leadership has left the Blackstone community struggling. Andy (Eric Schweig, The Last of the Moheicans) tries to work his usual channels to stay out of jail while attempting to reestablish himself as Chief. Meanwhile Leona (Carmen Moore, Rustic Oracle) gets close to a girl in the foster care system, but is left seeking justice when tragedy strikes.
- DUE SOUTH Season 3 (13×60, Drama, Alliance)
Begins streaming Friday, July 23
A modern day Dudley Do-Right, Constable Benton Fraser (Paul Gross, Passchendaele) is a Canadian Mountie who goes to Chicago with his pet wolf to find his father’s murderer. Extremely polite and moral, Fraser eventually teams up with streetwise Detective Ray Vecchio, choosing to stay in Chicago after uncovering corruption in the RCMP makes him persona non grata at home.
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DOCUMENTARIES
- THE WALRUS AND THE WHISTLEBLOWER (1×90, directed by Nathalie Bibeau, 2020, Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, July 16
Phil Demers is a 40-something part-time mailman who lives in a bungalow across the creek from MarineLand, the iconic amusement park in Niagara Falls, where he had his dream job as an animal trainer for over a decade. He swam with killer whales and ran the show, until he quit and blew the whistle, making claims of animal abuse and calling for an end to the near 60-year-old practice of keeping marine mammals in pools. Known in the media as the @walruswhisperer, Demers has amassed 27,000 followers on Twitter, has appeared four times on the Joe Rogan show, has testified before the Canadian Senate, and is being sued for $1.5 million for plotting to steal Smooshi, the walrus.
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LIFESTYLE
- GRAND DESIGNS SEASON 18 (5×60, Lifestyle, Boundless Productions, UK)
Begins streaming Monday, July 19
*Canadian Exclusive Premiere*
A chef and a pilates instructor convert a concrete cowshed into a home, a couple find clever ways to save space while building an absurdly small house in London, and a horticulturist builds one of the most ambitious homes ever seen on the show.
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THE BEST OF CBC:
- Past and current seasons of CBC series including BURDEN OF TRUTH THE GREAT CANADIAN BAKING SHOW, FRANKIE DRAKE MYSTERIES, HEARTLAND, MURDOCH MYSTERIES, STILL STANDING, TALLBOYZ, KIM’S CONVENIENCE, BARONESS VON SKETCH SHOW, and SCHITT’S CREEK; and classic CBC hits like BEING ERICA.
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COMING IN AUGUST
- Great British Baking Show Season 11
- Eden
- Canadian Collection
- Black Stories Collection in honour of Emancipation Day