For Viola, the free, community-focused screening series returns to the Hot Docs Cinema with a pair of films celebrating two historically Black communities, each now threatened by encroaching gentrification:

Henri Pardo’s DEAR JACKIE is a luminous love letter to Little Burgundy, a hood once known as the Harlem of the North.

TALLAWAH ABROAD, directed by Sharine Taylor, pays well-deserved tribute to Little Jamaica, one of Canada’s longest-established Caribbean enclaves.

Book your tickets and join the screening Saturday, February 25 at 9pm, followed by a filmmaker Q&A hosted by Angelyn Francis.

For Viola is a 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.