Acclaimed international series include the Canadian premieres of comedy/drama THE DRY (June 3) from the producers of Normal People; Australian comedy PREPPERS (June 1); Icelandic crime drama BLACK SANDS (June 10); and family drama LOVE ME (June 15) based on the acclaimed Swedish series, Älska Mig.
An Indigenous Stories collection (begins June 1), featuring a variety of series, full-length documentaries from the National Film Board and short documentaries from the National Screen Institute. On June 19, CBC Gem will stream the 2022 INDSPIRE AWARDS in celebration of Indigenous excellence, which will also broadcast on CBC TV June 19 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT) and on CBC Radio One and CBC Listen at 8pm (9 AT, 9:30 NT).
A collection of films and documentaries from Canada and around the world in recognition of Pride (begins June 1) including documentaries NO ORDINARY MAN (June 8) delving into the life of American Jazz musician Billy Tipton and Scandinavian documentary GABI: BETWEEN AGES 8 AND 13 (June 10) that seeks to challenge preconceptions of gender, norms and the right for people to be who they are.
ACCLAIMED INTERNATIONAL SERIES
- THE DRY (8×30, Comedy/Drama, Element Pictures, 2022, UK)
Begins streaming Friday, June 3
*Canadian Premiere*
When 35-year-old Shiv arrives back in Dublin for her grandmother’s funeral, the whole Sheridan family are begrudgingly forced to confront their collective and individual demons. No one expected Shiv to come home permanently. Shiv is six months sober; her parents’ marriage is shaky, overachieving sister Caroline is wound tighter than a spring and younger brother Ant never wants the party to end. While recovery may have equipped Shiv with great ideas and tools, her family and ex-boyfriend Jack will put these and her newfound sobriety to the test in this moving comedy-drama. This darkly tragic comedy/drama from the producers of Normal People and stars Roisin Gallagher (The Fall) Ciarán Hinds (Belfast), Pom Boyd (Vanity Fair), Siobhán Cullen (Origin) and Moe Dunford (Vikings) headline the series cast, joined by newcomer Adam Richardson.
- PREPPERS (6×30, Comedy, Porchlight Films, 2021, Australia)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1 as part of the National Indigenous History Month Collection
*Canadian Premiere*
PREPPERS follows Charlie (Nakkiah Lui, Black Comedy), a young Australian Aboriginal woman, who experiences her own, personal, cataclysmic event when her life crumbles around her. Escaping the fallout, Charlie finds herself at the centre of a mismatched community of ‘preppers’ planning for the apocalypse. Between climate change, economic catastrophe, terrorism, pandemics, meteor strikes, hostile AI, nuclear proliferation, and alien invasion, it looks almost certain that the end is nigh.
- JUBILEE PUDDING: 70 YEARS IN THE BAKING (1×60, Culinary/Competition, Sidney Street, 2022, UK)
*Canadian Premiere*
Begins streaming Thursday, June 2
To mark the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, in recognition of her becoming the first British Monarch to serve for 70 years, enthusiastic British home bakers entered a competition to find a brand-new recipe to mark the occasion. This hour-long one-hour celebratory special charts the competition as five exceptional bakers create extraordinary, original and celebratory cakes, tarts or puddings fit for The Queen. Following in the footsteps of the Coronation Chicken and the Victoria Sponge, this winning recipe will go down in history and become part of the British food story. Up and down the country on Jubilee weekend the winning recipe will be recreated at street parties, family events, community gatherings and Big Jubilee Lunches as the centrepiece to the nation’s celebrations as the Platinum Pudding.
- THE STRANGE CHORES Season 2 (26×11, Tween, Ludo Studio/Media World Pictures, 2022, Australia)
Begins streaming Friday, June 3
In this animated series, two teenage wannabe warrior heroes and a super high-spirited ghost girl master the skills they need to replace the world’s greatest (and oldest) monster hunter by doing his strange, supernatural chores…Yup, turns out “kooky neighbour” Old Man Helsing’s weird house at the end of their street is secretly a portal to supernatural worlds! Charlie (Michael Philippou, Rackaracka) and Pierce (Julian Dennison, Deadpool 2, Hunt for the Wilderpeople) beg him to reveal it all! Helsing’s been thinking he might be getting a bit long in the tooth for all of this supernatural malarkey. And maybe this is his chance to get some… apprentices. Joining them on their adventures is the mischievous teenage ghost girl, Que (Charlotte Nicdao, Please Like Me, Mythic Quest)! Now the gang must complete Helsing’s freaky, bizarre and sometimes downright terrifying chores!
- BLACK SANDS (8×60, Drama, Glass River, 2021, Iceland)
Begins streaming Friday, June 10
*Canadian Premiere*
Police Detective Anita (Aldís Amah Hamilong, Katla, The Valhalla Murders) is forced to leave Reykjavik for her hometown situated in Iceland’s striking black sands. The death of a tourist on the black sands appears to be an accident. It quickly becomes Anita’s first case and sends her on a dark journey to revisit her past, unravelling a serial killer operating for years, disguising murders as accidents.
- LOVE ME (6×45, Drama, Warner Bros Australia/Aquarius Films, 2021, Australia)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 15
*Canadian Premiere*
Family relationships, grief, love and new connections. The Mathiesons have it all. As Glen (Hugo Weaving, Lord of the Rings), his daughter Clara (Bojana Novakovic, I, Tonya) and son, Aaron (William Lodder, Wakefield) reel from the shock death of Christine (Sarah Peirse, The Hobbit), they struggle: dealing with their hurt in different ways. Glen is in a sea of pain, stalked by the loss of his wife and the guilt he carries with him. Clara is in a state of emotional ambivalence – the years of a fraught relationship have left a damaging scar. Then there’s Aaron – he’s genuinely hurt. And unsure why the others aren’t seemingly as sad. As the Mathiesons try to regroup and plough on, their fallibility draws them out into the world and ever closer to making the really big mistakes and suffer the most hilarious humiliations, those brilliant, raw moments that teach us to laugh at ourselves and truly love. LOVE ME is based on the acclaimed Swedish series, Älska Mig, created by Josephine Bornebusch.
- A GIRL’S GUIDE TO HUNTING, FISHING AND WILD COOKING (8×30, Food/Lifestyle, Southern Pictures & Broken Yellow, 2021, Australia)
Begins streaming Friday, June 24
*Canadian Premiere*
This captivating series takes viewers on an inspirational adventure with uber-chef turned hunter and forager, Analiese Gregory. At just 35 years old, Analiese is one of the most acclaimed young chefs of her generation and the author of cookbook How Wild Things Are. But after eighteen years of building a stellar career in some of the world’s most famous Michelin restaurants, Analiese is burnt out, disconnected and unfulfilled. Sacrificing the security and success of her acclaimed restaurant career, Analiese has bought a small cottage in Tasmania’s remote and rugged Huon Valley. Over the next year, Analiese will endeavour to live as a wild woman of the land – hunting for ingredients; growing her food; and making the most of the bounty that surrounds her.
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INDIGENOUS STORIES COLLECTION
- GESPE’GEWA’GI: THE LAST LAND (13×22, Documentary, Resolution Productions Inc., 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
GESPE’GEWA’GI: THE LAST LAND is a 13-part documentary series co-directed by Ernest Webb (Reel Injun) and Greg Lawrence (Kevin Spencer) about the Indigenous fishers of Listuguj, Quebec who make their living on the nearby rivers and ocean, harvesting salmon, crab, lobster, and shrimp. Following larger-than-life characters, audiences will experience the fun and excitement of their lives on and off the water. The film also offers a First Nations perspective on how a commercial fishing industry – one that was born out of violence and defiance – grew to be a key economic and cultural support for the community, helping to preserve Mi’gmaq language and traditions that were almost lost.
- SKINDIGENOUS Season 2 (13×30; Documentary/Lifestyle, Nish Media, 2019, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
SKINDIGENOUS returns for its second season with 13 new episodes profiling some of the most talented Indigenous tattoo artists in the world. The adventure once again takes audiences deep into the world of various tribes and communities using the art of tattoo as a lens. SKINDIGENOUS explores Indigenous tattooing traditions around the world by diving into cultures to discover the tools and techniques, symbols, and traditions that shape their art.
- MARY TWO-AXE EARLY: I AM INDIAN AGAIN (1×34, Documentary, directed by Courtney Montour, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
MARY TWO-AXE EARLEY: I AM INDIAN AGAIN shares the powerful story of Mary Two-Axe Earley, who fought for more than two decades to challenge sex discrimination against First Nations women embedded in Canada’s Indian Act and became a key figure in Canada’s women’s rights movement.
- HONOUR TO SENATOR MURRAY SINCLAIR (1×29, Documentary, directed Alanis Obomsawin, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
As the Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Senator Murray Sinclair was a key figure in raising global awareness of the atrocities of Canada’s residential school system. Alanis Obomsawin shares the powerful speech the Senator gave when he accepted the WFM-Canada World Peace Award, interspersing the heartbreaking testimonies of former students imprisoned at residential schools.
- WARRIOR SPIRIT (1×95, Documentary, directed by Landon Dyksterhouse, 2021, USA)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
*Canadian Premiere*
As the inaugural women’s flyweight champion and the sport’s first Native American champion, Nicco Montaño was a rising star in the UFC. In her quest to defend her title, Montano realizes she’ll face her biggest challenge before she ever steps foot in the ring. In this look behind the veil of combat sports, WARRIOR SPIRIT questions the controversial practice of intense weight loss and its damaging effect on even the fittest of athletes.
- ƛAʔUUKʷIATḤ DUGOUT CANOE (1×11, Documentary, directed bySteven Davies, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
After working as a clearcut logger in what is now known as the Clayoquot Sound, master carver and land defender Joe Martin reconciles his past by revitalizing the ancestral knowledge and artistic practice of the traditional Tla-o-qui-aht dugout canoe.
- GIFT TO GIVE (1×11, Documentary, directed by Erica Daniels, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
Vanessa Tait, a 36-year old Two-Spirited Cree woman and the youngest of three siblings, remembers her father as a hard working carpenter in their northern First Nation of South Indian Lake, Manitoba. Motivated to pursue her education, Vanessa moved to Winnipeg and earned several university degrees, striving to make her father, Kenneth, proud, even though he hasn’t been fully accepting of who she is. While embracing herself as a proud Two-Spirited woman and discovering what she wants to become in life, Vanessa receives the shocking news that her father has been diagnosed with kidney failure. Kenneth was forced to leave his family behind and relocate to Winnipeg to receive adequate health care. Vanessa puts her life on hold to care for her father and advocate for him through the complex and challenging health care system. Two years into hemodialysis, Vanessa discovers she is a perfect kidney donor for her ailing father. By gifting a piece of herself, she hopes to save his life and gain his acceptance.
- TAILS ON ICE (1×11, Documentary, directed by Miranda Currie, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
This heart-warming story set in the coldest of climates follows Ellesmere, a fit and instantly loveable Canadian Inuit yearling sled dog as she sets off on her first training expedition and rite of passage. With the right experience and discipline Ellesmere has the potential to be the next alpha female. She must learn survival skills from the matriarchs that came before her in order to not only earn, but to defend her position in the dog pack. Running on the Great Slave Lake is no easy task. Ellesmere, along with her musher and pack, must navigate strong winds, snowstorms and pack dynamics. Whatever happens, Ellesmere will find that every dog has a place in the pack.
- INDIGENOUS DADS (1×11, Documentary, directed by Peter Brass, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
INDIGENOUS DADS is a conversation between four Indigenous fathers. Drawing upon their life experiences as children and how they were raised, the fathers discuss their parenting methods and concerns for their children. Topics such as single parenting, racism, and life goals are all discussed candidly between the men offering insight into the hopes and fears of Indigenous dads.
- REEL INJUN (1×90, Documentary, directed by Neil Diamond, 2009, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 1
REEL INJUN is a witty and entertaining documentary that tells the story of “the Indian” in Hollywood movies and how powerful American myths have influenced the understanding (and misunderstanding) of the Indigenous people of North America in almost every corner of the world. Using clips from hundreds of classic and modern Hollywood films, and featuring candid celebrity interviews, REEL INJUN traces the evolution of cinema’s depiction of Indigenous people from the silent film era to today.
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WATCH WITH PRIDE COLLECTION
- DISOBEDIENCE (1×114, Drama, directed by Sebastián Lelio, 2017, Ireland/UK/USA)
Begins streaming Friday, May 27
DISOBEDIENCE follows a woman (Rachel Weisz, The Favourite) as she returns to the community that shunned her decades earlier for an attraction to a childhood friend (Rachel McAdams, Spotlight). Once back, their passions reignite as they explore the boundaries of faith and sexuality. DISOBEDIENCE is written by Lelio and Rebecca Lenkiewicz and is based on Naomi Alderman’s book.
- SARAH PREFERS TO RUN (1×95, Drama, directed by Chloé Robichaud, 2012, Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, June 3
Sarah is a gifted young middle-distance runner. Her life changes when she’s offered admission to Quebec’s best university athletics program, in Montreal – far from her suburban Quebec City home. Sarah doesn’t have her mother’s financial support for the move, or any support at all: her mother worries that leaving will be bad for Sarah’s health and life. But Sarah moves to Montreal anyway, with her friend Antoine. Though barely out of their teens, they get married in order to qualify for the best scholarships and loans. Marriage turns out to be completely different from what the naïve 20-year-olds expected. Sarah loves running more than anything else, but doesn’t want to hurt anyone with the choices she makes.
- SOMEONE LIKE ME (1×80, Documentary, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Monday, June 6
Drake, a young gay man from Uganda, leaves behind everything he knows to attain the universal freedoms everyone deserves: to be who he is and love whomever he chooses without fear of discrimination, persecution, or violence. A group of queer strangers unite to resettle Drake in Vancouver, but they are tasked with a year-long commitment to someone they’ve never met, and struggle with the challenging conditions of this support. Together, Drake and his sponsors embark on an emotional journey in search of personal freedom, revealing how in a world where one must constantly fight for the right to exist, survival itself becomes a victory.
- WITH WONDER (1×74, Documentary, directed by Sharon Lewis, 2020, Canada)
Begins streaming Tuesday, June 7
*Canadian Premiere*
Born out of Director Sharon Lewis’ own muted struggle with not fitting into neat racial/Queer/Christian boxes, WITH WONDER takes an intimate look at the journey of members of the Queer, Christian community of colour and their attempts to answer the question: Can you be both Christian and Queer? In this feature length documentary, audiences hear and see diverse members of the LGBTQI+ community, including high profile queer activists and Queer clerics, in places like Jamaica, New York, London, and Los Angeles. They each have their own unique ways of amplifying their voices and finding their way back to spiritual health, despite the shaming tactics of some Christian institutions. With Wonder is a love letter to God from the LGBTQI+ community of colour.
- 1:54 (1×90, Drama, directed by Yan England, 2016, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 8
Tim (Antoine Olivier Pilon, Mommy), a shy sixteen-year-old athlete, is both brilliant and talented. But the pressure he undergoes pushes him to the edge, where human limits reach the point of no return.
- NO ORDINARY MAN (1×84, Documentary, directed by Aisling Chin-Yee and Chase Joynt, 2020, Canada)
Begins streaming Wednesday, June 8
For decades, the life of American Jazz musician Billy Tipton was framed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. In NO ORDINARY MAN, Tipton’s story is re-imagined and performed by trans artists as they collectively paint a portrait of an unlikely hero. Together, the filmmakers join Tipton’s son Billy Jr. to reckon with a complicated and contested legacy: how do you tell the story of someone who was hiding in plain sight yet desperate to be seen? NO ORDINARY MAN features leading voices in the trans community, including Marquise Vilsón, Scott Turner Schofield, Susan Stryker, C.Riley Snorton, and Thomas Page McBee, among others.
- GABI: BETWEEN AGES 8 AND 13 (1×60, Documentary, directed by Engeli Broberg, 2021, Sweden/Norway/Denmark)
Begins streaming Friday, June 10
*Canadian Premiere*
Gabi just wants to be Gabi. A simple wish one could think, but it’s not. Gabi feels different. As an outspoken eight-year-old this never created problems. But as the family moves to a small town and puberty closes in, things start to change. Over the course of five years audiences see Gabi growing up before their eyes, challenging the preconceptions of gender, norms and the right for people to be who they are.
- SMALL TOWN PRIDE (1×60, Documentary, directed by Riley Sparks and Chelle Turingan, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, June 10
*Canadian Premiere*
SMALL TOWN PRIDE offers an intimate look at the joys and challenges of being queer in a small town. Filmed in Alberta, Nova Scotia and the Northwest Territories, the film follows LGBTQ2S+ people and allies as they prepare for their local Pride celebrations. Organizing in church basements, classrooms and around kitchen tables, they take on a conservative town council that won’t fly a rainbow flag and bend some rules to create a safe space for youth to come out. But despite experiences of isolation and discrimination, they love their communities and strive to make them places where everyone, no matter who and how they love, can live and thrive.
- CHECK IT (1×90, Documentary, directed by Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, 2016, USA)
Begins streaming Friday, June 10
At first glance, they seem unlikely gang-bangers. Some of the boys wear lipstick and mascara, some stilettos. They carry Louis Vuitton bags, but they also carry knives, brass knuckles and mace. As vulnerable gay and transgender youth, they’ve been shot, stabbed, and raped. Once victims, they’ve now turned the tables, beating people into comas and stabbing enemies with ice picks. Started in 2009 by a group of bullied 9th graders, today these 14-22 year old gang members all have rap sheets riddled with assault, armed robbery, and drug dealing charges. Led by an ex-convict named Mo, Check It members are now creating their own clothing label, putting on fashion shows and working stints as runway models. But breaking the cycle of poverty and violence they’ve grown up in is a daunting task. Life for the Check It can be brutal, but – it’s also full of hope and an indomitable resilience.
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SPORTS
- BRING IT IN WITH MORGAN CAMPBELL (30 minutes, Sports, CBC Sports Digital Studios, 2022, Canada)
New monthly episodes begin Wednesday, June 8
Living at the intersection of sports and culture, race and politics, BRING IT IN WITH MORGAN CAMPBELL combines insight, context and humour to help audiences understand some of the big and complex topics surrounding sports and the modern athlete.
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DOCUMENTARY
- THE QUEEN AND CANADA (1×60, Documentary, CBC News Studios, 2022, Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, June 3
As the largest country in the commonwealth, is Canada duty or devotion for the Queen? Adrienne Arsenault (CBC News) sets out to answer that question in this documentary examining the deep connection and sometimes complicated relationship between Queen Elizabeth and Canada. Featuring interviews with high-profile and everyday Canadians that have had close and personal encounters with the Queen, the film also includes extensive rarely seen archival video, never-before-told stories, and exclusive access inside Windsor Castle, the Queen’s permanent residence.
- IN SEARCH OF A BETTER WORLD (1×90, Documentary, directed by Robbie Hart and Mary Darling, 2021, Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, June 17
IN SEARCH OF A BETTER WORLD is the remarkable story of Payam Akhavan, one of the world’s leading human rights lawyers. Born in Iran, Payam came to Canada at the age of nine with his family, because of persecution by the Islamic Republic against the Baha’i minority to which they belonged. Moved by the courage of a 16-year-old girl who was hanged for demanding her human rights, Payam, now a renowned scholar and advocate in leading human rights cases before the world’s highest tribunals such as the International Court of Justice and as Special Advisor on Genocide to the International Criminal Court, committed his life in Mona’s memory to fight for justice for victims of genocide. This documentary takes viewers on a dramatic journey from Payam’s childhood in Iran, to inside the Rohingya refugee camps and on to the World Court at The Hague; and provides proof of the resilience of the human spirit and that in recognizing the oneness of the world will be what saves humanity.
- CAPTAINS OF ZAATARI (1×93, Documentary, directed by Ali El Arabi, 2021, Egypt)
Begins streaming Friday, June 17 in recognition of World Refugee Day
*Canadian Premiere*
Two best friends Mahmoud and Fawzi, living in the Zaatari Refugee Camp in Jordan, have an undying dream of becoming professional soccer players while facing the difficult reality of their lives. Despite being confined under dire conditions, they remain hopeful and practice day in and day out. When a world-renowned sports academy visits, both have a chance to make this dream come true.
- STATELESS (1×97, directed by Michèle Stephenson, 2020, Canada/USA)
Premieres Friday, June 17 in recognition of World Refugee Day
In 1937, tens of thousands of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent were exterminated by the Dominican army on the basis of anti-black racism. Fast-forward to 2013: the Dominican Republic’s Supreme Court stripped the citizenship of anyone with Haitian parents, retroactive to 1929, rendering more than 200,000 people stateless. Director Michèle Stephenson’s documentary follows the grassroots campaign of a young attorney named Rosa Iris, as she challenges electoral corruption and fights to protect the right to citizenship for all people.
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FEATURE FILM
- FATHER AND GUNS (1×107, Drama, directed by Émile Gaudreault, 2009, Canada)
Begins streaming Friday, June 17
They are father and son. They are both cops. And they are about to work together as a team. Trouble is…neither can stand the sight of the other. Jacques (Michel Côté, C.R.A.Z.Y.) and Marc (Louis-José Houde, Bon Cop, Bad Cop) have been paired up in order to save the life of a brother officer who has been kidnapped by a biker gang. The success of their mission hinges on a lawyer in crisis. Charles Bérubé (Rémy Girard, Incendies) may be the bikers’ legal representative, but his conscience is giving him such a bad time that he looks ready to betray his clients to the forces of law and order. Jacques and Marc go undercover to get up close and personal with their target.
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THE BEST OF CBC
Past and current seasons of CBC series including ARCTIC VETS, PRETTY HARD CASES, 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 JULY
- DIANA: THE ULTIMATE TRUTH
- SORRY FOR YOUR LOSS
- STATH LETS FLATS Season 3
- THE DARK HEART
- BUMP Season 2
- RBG