Play It Loud! How Toronto Got Soul
2025  |  1h 24m
Stream in Canada on all TVO platforms
and on Youtube
Canadian Screen Award nominated 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.
Early 1960’s Toronto was a mostly white, Anglo-centric city. Beneath this veneer of conservative respectability, an exciting underground music scene emerged, created by a Jamaican diaspora including newcomers like Jackie Mittoo, Wayne McGhie and a teenage Jay Douglas. Battling racism and indifference, they made an indelible, but little appreciated mark on Canadian music and culture. Six decades later, Jay Douglas is still carrying the torch for Jamaican music, and enjoying the recognition and respect he has long craved.
For more info or book a screening: graeme@bonfireoriginals.com
Winner: Best First Feature Documentary, Pan African Film Festival 2026
Winner: Best Documentary, Arts/Culture, Yorkton Film Festival 2025
Winner: Best Documentary, Windrush Caribbean Film Festival 2025
Winner: Audience Choice Award, Caribbean Tales International Film Festival 2025
Winner: Best Feature Documentary, Black Film Festival of New Orleans 2025
Nomination: Best Biography or Arts Documentary, Canadian Screen Awards 2026
Nomination: Best of the Festival, Yorkton Film Festival 2025
Nomination: Director Non-Fiction, Yorkton Film Festival 2025
Nomination: Research, Yorkton Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Pan African Film Festival (L.A.) 2026
Official Selection: Pan African Film Festival x Austin Film Society 2026
Official Selection: Yorkton Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Caribbean Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Black Film Festival of New Orleans 2025
Official Selection: Windsor International Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Available Light Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Windrush Caribbean Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Toronto Pan Afrikan Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Caribbean Tales International Film Festival 2025
Synopsis
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. The film reveals a social and cultural migration that made Canada a mecca for Jamaican music, recognized around the world, but little heralded at home. We tell This story is told through the life, music, struggles and triumphs of beloved Jamaican Canadian singer Jay Douglas. Born as Clive Pinnock, in rural Jamaica to a single mother, Douglas began performing professionally at 17 and has never stopped. Today, nearly sixty 60 years later, he’s more popular than ever.

Douglas’ life mirrors the emergence of Jamaican popular music, both in its birthplace, and his adopted country. He’s a witness and participant to the birth of ska and reggae, the Jamaican diaspora in the UK and Canada, and the emergence of a uniquely Canadian Black music culture. Through Jay’s personal story, the film will tell an important and largely unknown tale of cultural transformation.

Featuring
Jay Douglas, Sly Dunbar, Everton “Pablo” Paul, Lillian Allen, Jackie Richardson, Grub Cooper (Fab 5), DJ Supreme La Rock, Carlene Davis, Adrian Miller, Michael Williams and Cadence Weapon.
And the music of
Jay Douglas, Bob Marley & The Wailers, James Brown, Wayne McGhie, The Cougars, Jackie Mittoo, Leroy Sibbles, Bo Diddley, The Sheiks, Eddie Spencer, Trevor Dandy, Jo-Jo Bennett & The Fugitives, Jennifer Lara, Stranger Cole, and more.
Director Graeme Mathieson
Executive Producers Clement Virgo,  Andrew Munger
Executive Producers for TVO Alexandra Roberts, Jane Jankovic
Directors of Photography Keenan Lynch, Kiarash Sadigh
Editor Brina Romanek
Writers Graeme Mathieson, Brina Romanek, Andrew Munger
Sound Design Daniel Pellerin
Producer Andrew Munger
Line Producer Colette Vosberg
Consultants Klive Walker, Nicholas Jennings, Matt Sullivan
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