Films We Like is happy to announce the acquisition of the Canadian rights to the powerful and stunning black-and-white film DEAR COMRADES! directed by Andrei Konchalovsky, winner of the Special Jury Prize at the VENICE FILM FESTIVAL and Russia’s official entry to the Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Films We Like is thrilled to announce the acquisition of the VENICE FILM FESTIVAL multiple-award winning film LISTEN from director Ana Rocha De Sousa.
Opens Thursday, Nov. 19 – Dec 31, 2020 - ONLY at select DONUT SHOPS across CANADA
Toronto – Glory Hole Doughnuts
Vancouver – Cartem Donuts
Calgary – Hoopla Donuts
Saskatoon – Darkside Donuts
Winnipeg – Oh Doughnuts
Halifax – Vandal Doughnuts
Everything you thought you knew about the donut begins with Ted Ngoy. This is the unlikely story of a Cambodian refugee arriving in America in 1975 and building a multi-million-dollar empire baking America’s favorite pastry, the donut.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to Alice Gu’s THE DONUT KING, winner of the Special Jury Award for Documentary Feature at SXSW 2020.
The Donut King, Ted's story is one of fate, love, survival, hard knocks, and redemption. It's the rags to riches story of a refugee escaping Cambodia, arriving in America in 1975 and building an unlikely multi-million dollar empire baking America’s favourite pastry, the donut. Ted sponsored hundreds of visas for incoming refugees and helped them get on their feet teaching them the ways of the donut business. By 1979 he was living the American Dream. But, in life, great rise can come with great falls.
This presidential portrait shows how Jimmy Carter’s lifelong passion for music gave him an unexpected edge as a presidential candidate. Through folk, soul, gospel, jazz, and rock ‘n’ roll, Carter tapped into a force that transcended racial and generational divides, and often party lines. Carter’s appreciation for all genres of music and friendships with the likes of Bob Dylan, the Allman Brothers, and Willie Nelson helped to define his campaign.
Oliver Sacks: His Own Life explores the life and work of the legendary neurologist and storyteller and author (Awakenings, The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat), as he shares intimate details of his battles with drug addiction, homophobia, and a medical establishment that accepted his work only decades after the fact. Sacks was a fearless explorer of unknown mental worlds who helped redefine our understanding of the brain and mind, the diversity of human experience, and our shared humanity.
“THE OLD, WEIRD AMERICA: HARRY SMITH’S ANTHOLOGY OF AMERICAN FOLK MUSIC” & “THE HARRY SMITH PROJECT LIVE” available for the first time on AppleTV starting on Sept 8 , 2020.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to Emmanuel Courcol’s THE BIG HIT, an uplifting French comedy inspired by true events.
Following its Venice Film Festival World Premiere and North American Premiere at TIFF in 2019 Manele Labidi’s ARAB BLUES begins streaming July 31, 2020 at the TIFF Bell Lightbox.
Films We Like in association with Hollywood Suite presents CREEM: AMERICA’S ONLY ROCK ‘N’ ROLL MAGAZINE. Director Scott Crawford’s feature documentary CREEM: America’s Only Rock ‘n’ Roll Magazine rips back the curtain on legendary rock rag CREEM Magazine's wild and disruptive newsroom; a dysfunctional band of unruly outsiders who weren’t all that different from the artists they covered.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to TINY TIM: KING FOR A DAY, a new biographical documentary by Johan von Sydow about musician Tiny Tim, narrated by Weird Al Yankovic. With exclusive access to Tiny Tim’s intense diaries, the playful and powerful animations and the interviews with his family and friends, makes this film not only a captivating portrait of one of the oddest stars the world has ever seen, but also a psychological drama, examining the borderline between insanity and geniality.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to Mary Wharton’s Jimmy Carter: Rock & Roll President, selected as the opening night film of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival.
Canadian distribution company Films We Like has acquired Berlin award-winner Digger, the debut feature from director Georgis Grigorakis and producer Athina Rachel Tsangari.
Winner of the Art Cinema Award at the 70th edition of the Berlin Film Festival, Digger is an intense story of a farmers fight against a mining company who threaten a his homestead in Northern Greece and with an absent son who arrives to claim his inheritance of half the farm land.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to Helmut Newton: The Bad and the Beautiful by prolific documentary filmmaker Gero von Boehm.
Featuring: Grace Jones, Sylvia Gobbel, Isabella Rossellini, Anna Wintour, Nadja Auermann, Phyllis Posnick, Charlotte Rampling, Marianne Faithfull, Claudia Schiffer, Hanna Schygulla, Carla Sozzani, Arja Toyryla, June Newton
Films We Like in association with Hollywood Suite presents “MADE IN BANGLADESH” Opening June 5th at VIRTUAL CINEMAS Across Canada!
Shimu works in a clothing factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Faced with difficult and dangerous working conditions, she decides to start union with her co-workers. In the face of threats from the management and disapproval of her husband, Shimu is determined to go on. Together, the women must fight and find a way.
On June 5th 2020, support independent Canadian cinemas closed due to COVID-19. Proceeds from the virtual ticket purchases will help sustain programming and support efforts to reopen participating theatres.
Films We Like in Association with Hollywood Suite present THE GREY FOX.
Heat up your maple syrup topped popcorn and tune in April 22nd in support of independent Canadian theatres closed due to COVID-19. Proceeds from the virtual ticket purchases will help sustain programming and support efforts to reopen at participating theatres.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to Le Choc du Futur (The Shock of the Future) about the unsung women of the emerging electronic music scene in 1970s France.
In the Paris of 1978, old formulas do not charm listeners anymore and new music must arise. In a male-dominated industry, Ana uses her electronic gadgets to make herself heard, creating a new sound that will mark the decades to come: the music of the future.
The deal was negotiated by Films We Like president Ron Mann and Quentin Worthington of MPM PREMIUM representing the film.
About Films We Like
Founded by award-winning documentary filmmaker Ron Mann (Grass, Comic Book Confidential, Carmine Street Guitars) Films We Like is a boutique distributor of documentary, independent, and international films in Canada. Recent releases include Becoming Nobody, The Invisible Life of Eurídice Gusmão, and What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael.
With the indefinite closure of theatres nationwide due to the global outbreak of COVID-19, the Canadian film industry is facing an unprecedented challenge. We applaud the efforts of theatres that have made it a priority to pay their employees, but unfortunately many workers have been laid off or had their hours drastically cut. In the spirit of solidarity with our community, we at Films We Like would like to help those cinema workers who are in need... by encouraging you all to stay safe at home as much as possible. For the next few weeks, we will be offering a curated selection of our titles on AppleTV for a special 99¢ rental price. All proceeds collected during these dates will be donated to the Canadian Cinema Workers Fund, an independent fundraising campaign to help pay out-of-work cinema employees in Canada.
Films We Like has acquired Canadian rights to celebrated Chinese filmmaker Jia Zhangke’s Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue following its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival. Returning to documentary for the first time in a decade, the film follows a literature festival in the director’s hometown of Shanxi, China, featuring some of the country's most esteemed writers. With Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue, Jia masterfully crafts a sprawling exploration of 20th century Chinese society.
In a field that has historically embraced few women film critics, Kael was charismatic, controversial, witty, and discerning. Her decades-long berth at The New Yorker energized her fans (“Paulettes”) and infuriated her detractors on a weekly basis. Her turbo-charged prose famously championed the New Hollywood Cinema of the late 1960s and ‘70s (BONNIE AND CLYDE, NASHVILLE, CARRIE, TAXI DRIVER) and the work of major European directors (François Truffaut, Bernardo Bertolucci), while mercilessly panning some of the biggest studio hits (THE SOUND OF MUSIC, MIDNIGHT COWBOY, DIRTY HARRY). Her creepy battle with Andrew Sarris and his auteur theory was legendary, and her stint in Hollywood, trying her hand at producing, was a disaster.
