Dear Jackie Explained

Dear Jackie
Director:Henri Pardo
Producer:Katarina Soukup
Music:Ramachandra Borcar
Cinematography:Vanessa Abadhir
Alex Margineanu
Editing:Dominique Sicotte
Studio:CatBird Films
Distributor:Cinema Politica
Runtime:90 minutes
Country:Canada
Language:English
French

Dear Jackie is a Canadian documentary film, directed by Henri Pardo and released in 2021.[1] Conceived as a love letter to Jackie Robinson, the film explores the way the city of Montreal used its embrace of Robinson, when he played for the Montreal Royals in the 1940s, to construct a mythical image of itself as a post-racial city that had moved beyond anti-black racism, even while Black residents of the city's Little Burgundy neighbourhood were still suffering profound effects of racism in reality.[2]

The film premiered at the 2021 Montreal International Documentary Festival,[3] where Pardo won the Magnus Isacsson Award for socially conscious works by emerging Canadian filmmakers.[4] It had a commercial release in June 2022.[2]

The film was a nominee for the Donald Brittain Award for best social or political television documentary at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards in 2023.[5]

Notes and References

  1. Charlie Smith, "DOXA Fest: Dear Jackie demolishes a Canadian myth about racial benevolence". The Georgia Straight, May 14, 2022.
  2. Justine Smith, "Dear Jackie highlights the history of the Black community in Montreal". Cult MTL, June 17, 2022.
  3. Alex Rose, "Montreal documentary film festival RIDM starts today!". Cult MTL, November 10, 2021.
  4. Justin Anderson, "RIDM award winners revealed". RealScreen, November 22, 2021.
  5. Pat Mullen, "2023 Canadian Screen Award Nominations for Documentary". Point of View, February 22, 2023.