Tickets: FREE

While this film is presented free of charge, if you wish to extend your support, please consider a donation of $10 in recognition of the value of the work presented, and in honour of Viola Desmond, featured on the $10 banknote, at checkout. Half the proceeds will be shared directly with the filmmakers, who also receive screening fees.

Dear Jackie | D: Henri Pardo | Canada | 2021 | 90 min

In 1946, Jackie Robinson did the impossible and broke the colour barrier in Major League Baseball. But did Montréalers use this historic moment to perpetuate a myth of a post-racial society? The film addresses Robinson directly and recounts the current situation of the Black community in Little Burgundy, once known as the “Harlem of the North.” Through eloquent interviews, testimonies, and powerful verité moments in black and white, Dear Jackie paints a portrait of racism and racial inequality in Montreal and Quebec as a whole.

In English and French with English subtitles.

Screening with

Tallawah Abroad | D: Sharine Taylor | Canada | 2019 | 7 min

Little Jamaica, a neighbourhood in Toronto’s west end, was a once thriving hub for Black and Caribbean business owners until the ills of gentrification reared its ugly head. Vernal Small, the owner of the 47-year-old business Jamall Caribbean Custom Tailor, is now tasked with confronting how the construction of the incoming light rail is shifting the dynamic of his community, changing their future and slowly erasing their presence in the process.

In English and French with English subtitles.

Join Dear Jackie director Henri Pardo (via Zoom), Tallawah Abroad director Sharine Taylor and moderator Angelyn Francis for a post-screening Q&A.

For Viola: Hot Docs' screening series centering Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour (BIPOC)-led stories and filmmakers, named in honour of Canadian civil rights icon Viola Desmond. This series seeks to affirm Hot Docs as a space of inclusion for BIPOC creators and audience members alike. In order to minimize barriers to audience participation, all screenings in this series are free of charge.

For Viola is supported by

Meet the For Viola programmers in this video.

Read Hot Docs' Anti-Racism statement here.