National Canadian Film Day Goes Virtual

Today (Wednesday) the annual National Canadian Film Day – presented by Reel Canada – will be completely virtual this year, contrasting the usual one-day event that involves screenings across Canada celebrating the country’s industry.

A special livestream hosted by Peter Keleghan and Ali Hassan will take place today at 6 pm – 10 pm EST on Youtube and is set to include a number of star-studded guests including Ethan Hawke, Sandra Oh, Jay Baruchel, Robbie Amell, and Colm Feore. 

The day event includes a curated selection of Canadian film exhibited across a number of broadcasting platforms. Netflix
NFLX
, CBC, Encore+, Netflix, Hollywood Suite, Crave, the National Film Board of Canada and more are all supporting the initiative. 

The experience, which is sponsored by a number of entities including Netflix, CBC, TD Canada, Telefilm Canada, and the Canadian government will also feature family-friendly programming catered to children under lockdown during the pandemic to help assist people in learning remotely. 

To celebrate more Canadian film 24 distributors have combined to bring selected titles to Apple TV, Rogers, Bell, Telus, Cineplex Store, Google Play, YouTube, and Vimeo on-demand, as well as Éléphant — m é moire d’une cinema qu é bé cois for French-language content.

Special programming will also be available to over 150 retirement homes and care facilities. 

“While there is a huge selection of pop-up home entertainments happening, we believe that Canadians are hungry for an opportunity to be part of something larger, and especially something Canadian. It’s a chance to come together and give each other a big virtual hug,” said Jack Blum, Executive Director of Reel Canada, in a statement. 

“And we’ve been thrilled by the warm response our plans have received from filmmakers and community partners alike.”