Movie: Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul

Top 10 Billed Cast

Jay Douglas
Jay Douglas

Jay Douglas

Jackie Richardson
Jackie Richardson

Jackie Richardson

Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar
Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar

Lowell 'Sly' Dunbar

Rollie "Cadence Weapon" Pemberton
Rollie "Cadence Weapon" Pemberton

Rollie "Cadence Weapon" Pemberton

Lillian Allen
Lillian Allen

Lillian Allen

Klive Walker
Klive Walker

Klive Walker

Nicholas Jennings
Nicholas Jennings

Nicholas Jennings

Carlene Davis
Carlene Davis

Carlene Davis

Grub Cooper
Grub Cooper

Grub Cooper

Supreme La Rock
Supreme La Rock

Supreme La Rock

  • HomePage

    Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul

  • Overview

    In early 1960s Toronto, a white, Anglo-centric city, an underground music scene emerged from the Jamaican diaspora, led by newcomers like Jackie Mittoo, Wayne McGhie, and a young Jay Douglas. Battling racism and indifference, they left a lasting but underrecognized mark on Canadian music and culture. Nearly 60 years later, Jay Douglas still champions Jamaican music and is finally receiving long-overdue recognition. Play It Loud is a feature documentary that tells the little-known story of how Jamaican music became a vital, unlikely part of Canadian culture. It traces a cultural migration that made Canada a global hub for Jamaican music - celebrated abroad but overlooked at home. Told through the life and music of beloved singer Jay Douglas, born Clive Pinnock in rural Jamaica, the film follows his journey from teen performer to enduring icon.

  • Release Date

    2024-12-04

  • Average

    0

  • Rating:

    0.0 starts
  • Tagline

    Play it Loud is a feature documentary that tells the little known story of how Jamaican music became a critical and unlikely part of Canadian culture, told through the life, music, struggles and triumphs of beloved singer Jay Douglas.

  • Genres

  • Languages:

    English
  • Keywords

Similar Movies

When We Were Kings
75%

When We Were Kings(en)

1996-10-25

It's 1974. Muhammad Ali is 32 and thought by many to be past his prime. George Foreman is ten years younger and the heavyweight champion of the world. Promoter Don King wants to make a name for himself and offers both fighters five million dollars apiece to fight one another, and when they accept, King has only to come up with the money. He finds a willing backer in Mobutu Sese Suko, the dictator of Zaire, and the "Rumble in the Jungle" is set, including a musical festival featuring some of America's top black performers, like James Brown and B.B. King.

Keep on Burning: The Story of Northern Soul
0%

Keep on Burning: The Story of Northern Soul(en)

2012-12-03

Keep on Burning tells the fascinating story of the world's most enduring underground music movement: Northern Soul. Featuring key DJ's, journalists and promoters, including soul radio pioneer Tony Blackburn, Marc Almond and key DJ's, journalists and promoters.

The Pretendians
80%

The Pretendians(en)

2022-09-30

Anishinaabe author Drew Hayden Taylor investigates how — and why — Indigenous identity, culture and art are being appropriated by those who are not First Nations.

Biopic
0%

Biopic(en)

2022-09-09

A biopic of the legendary Paul Bellini, by Bellini, of Bellini, for Bellini.

Ma Nishma Manitoba
0%

Ma Nishma Manitoba(en)

2021-07-12

From challah to immigration to the wandering Jew, Ma Nishma Manitoba is a mid-length documentary that explores Manitoban Jewish stories of identity and history. Filmmakers Johanna and Sara put their own experiences in local context by chatting with several Jewish Manitobans, including a rabbi, politician, artist, Israeli immigrant, and others. Archival materials, illustrations, and stop animations connect history with present-day opinions and stories, as Sara and Johanna explore what being Jewish in Manitoba means to them and others.

The Wigan Casino
0%

The Wigan Casino(en)

1977-12-12

Documentary covering the famous Wigan Casino northern soul venue and the working class kids who spend all their money not on alcohol but on records and dancing all night.

The Fence
0%

The Fence(en)

2020-12-06

Two thousand Canadians suffered the longest incarceration anywhere in the Second World War, a bitter four-year period inside Japanese POW camps in Hong Kong and Japan.

Bowling for Columbine
75%

Bowling for Columbine(en)

2002-10-09

This is not a film about gun control. It is a film about the fearful heart and soul of the United States, and the 280 million Americans lucky enough to have the right to a constitutionally protected Uzi. From a look at the Columbine High School security camera tapes to the home of Oscar-winning NRA President Charlton Heston, from a young man who makes homemade napalm with The Anarchist's Cookbook to the murder of a six-year-old girl by another six-year-old. Bowling for Columbine is a journey through the US, through our past, hoping to discover why our pursuit of happiness is so riddled with violence.

Nanook of the North
71%

Nanook of the North(en)

1922-06-11

This pioneering documentary film depicts the lives of the indigenous Inuit people of Canada's northern Quebec region. Although the production contains some fictional elements, it vividly shows how its resourceful subjects survive in such a harsh climate, revealing how they construct their igloo homes and find food by hunting and fishing. The film also captures the beautiful, if unforgiving, frozen landscape of the Great White North, far removed from conventional civilization.

Inbound
55%

Inbound(en)

2025-02-21

Documenting the shared trajectory between Canada’s rise as a global basketball powerhouse and the circumstances that helped shape the country’s multicultural identity.

Four Nations Facing Off
0%

Four Nations Facing Off(en)

2025-02-11

In perhaps the most emotional release of the year, Captain Canada aka Sidney Crosby lets us know that Four Nations are... what? Watch this 1hr long masterpiece, created by FierySharky (Twitter), in order to find out.

Cincinnati's Rock 'N Roll Legends
56%

Cincinnati's Rock 'N Roll Legends(en)

1995-01-01

An excellent comprehensive look at all the music that came out of Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati "Rock Legends" "James Brown" "King Records" "Pure Prairie League" "Lemon Pipers" "Syd Nathan" WEBN "Bootsy Collins" "Lonnie Mack" "The Who concert 1979" "Rick Derringer"

Frog Dog Log: Live à Laval
100%

Frog Dog Log: Live à Laval(en)

2019-12-12

Dog attempts to sleep in the hills of Laval, Québec, Canada.

Karihwanoron: Precious Things
0%

Karihwanoron: Precious Things(en)

2017-04-18

Yagorihwanirats, a Mohawk child from Kahnawake Mohawk Territory in Quebec, attends a unique and special school: Karihwanoron. It is a Mohawk immersion program that teaches Mohawk language, culture and philosophy. Yagorihwanirats is so excited to go to school that she never wants to miss a day – even if she is sick.

James Brown: Soul Survivor
75%

James Brown: Soul Survivor(en)

2003-10-29

James Brown's legacy has influenced rap, soul, funk and R&B. But along with his huge talent, there's a dark side to Brown's success that includes stints in prison and unceasing tabloid speculation. This in-depth documentary takes a look at the meteoric highs and deep lows of Brown's career, offering some fascinating insights from the Godfather of Soul himself, as well as interview footage with Chuck D, Little Richard, Wyclef Jean and many others.

Declutter
0%

Declutter(en)

2017-06-06

One Saturday morning, filmmaker Madison Thomas has a revelation: she’s just like her mother. As she thinks about a friend going through tough times, she feels the sudden urge to clean. Through the scrubbing and wiping and rinsing, Madison's thoughts drift to her mother — and her obsessive need to tidy. Madison’s mother survived a traumatic childhood: her own mother never reconciled what she went through at residential school. Cleaning offers moments of control that she didn’t have as a child. She’s fought hard, against all odds, to become a strong woman. They say trauma is in the genes, that it’s passed from one generation to the next. But strength is inherited too. Through rituals as simple as spending time together and smudging, Madison and her mother are beginning to mend the cycle of pain in their family. Declutter is an intimate look into a private moment between mother and daughter and the strength that carries them both.

The Harder They Come
65%

The Harder They Come(en)

1972-08-01

Ivanhoe Martin arrives in Kingston, Jamaica, looking for work and, after some initial struggles, lands a recording contract as a reggae singer. He records his first song, "The Harder They Come," but after a bitter dispute with a manipulative producer named Hilton, soon finds himself resorting to petty crime in order to pay the bills. He deals marijuana, kills some abusive cops and earns local folk hero status. Meanwhile, his record is topping the charts.

River Road
44%

River Road(en)

2021-09-14

A rock musician and a free-spirited woman start an intense relationship which soon spirals into a world of drug addiction and crime.

Reggae Music
0%

Reggae Music(en)

1981-01-01

Documentary about reggae in Jamaica and its history. Filmed in 1979.

Mommy, What's a Funkadelic?
0%

Mommy, What's a Funkadelic?(en)

George Clinton's somewhat absurdist take on Parliament-Funkadelic history. Features never-before-granted access to his archive and spotlights his alter egos and friends