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2026 Canadian Screen Awards nomination announcement for Best Biography or Arts Documentary Program or Series.

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Award badge with laurel branches and text indicating 'Pan African Film Festival Best First Feature Documentary 2026'

Award badge for the 2025 Caribbean Talents International Film Festival, Audience Choice Award, featuring laurel branches surrounding the text.

Nomination laurel wreath for the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards.

A black and white award badge with laurel branches on each side, titled 'Nominee Yorkton Film Festival Best of Fest 2025'

Black background with white laurel branches on sides, text reads 'Winner Yorkton Film Festival Documentary Arts/Culture 2025'.

Black background with a white laurel wreath surrounding the text 'Official Selection WIFF 2025'.

Laurel wreath surrounding text that reads 'Toronto Pan Afrikan Film Festival 2025'.

Graphic with white laurel and text about the Available Light Film Festival 2025 official selection.

A white laurel wreath surrounding the text 'Austin Edition The Pan African Film Festival 2026'.

Official selection laurel wreath for Junction North International Documentary Film Festival 2025.

Winner: Best First Feature Documentary, Pan African Film Festival 2026
Winner: 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 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: Black Film Festival of New Orleans 2025
Official Selection: Windsor International Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Available Light Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Yorkton Film Festival 2025
Official Selection: Caribbean 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
Official Selection: Junction North International Doc Film Festival 2025

BOOK A screening OF PLAY IT LOUD!

“This documentary is a beautiful testament to a story & a journey – every Canadian music fan needs to see it”

– Tom Power, CBC’s Q

8/10
“An entertaining celebration of one of the key architects of the Toronto sound”

– Exclaim! Courtney Small

“The perfect guide to this seriously grooving reclamation of Canadian soul and funk history”

– VIFF

“Beloved Toronto music legend Jay Douglas is finally getting his flowers”

– JAZZ FM

“Play It Loud! will stir your soul to seek out these artists and this incredible sound”

– Record World International

“A landmark event in Canadian music history”

– Reggae North

“A music scene that was almost unrivalled in North America”

– Caribbean Camera

“Jay Douglas is the Lou Rawls of Jamaican music”

– Sly Dunbar

FEATURING

Jay Douglas with a hat on stage, smiling and looking at the camera, with a glass of water on a small table beside him, in a dimly lit Concert Hall with red curtains in the background.

JAY DOUGLAS

Sly Dunbar wearing a black beanie, glasses, and a red plaid shirt in Anchor Studios music studio with sound equipment and speakers.

SLY DUNBAR

MUSICIAN & PRODUCER, “SLY & ROBBIE”

Jackie Richardson with gray curly hair smiling and laughing while sitting on a couch in a dimly lit room with colorful decor.

JACKIE RICHARDSON

SINGER, THE TIARAS, THE COUGARS

Close-up of Lillian Allen with short, gray, curly hair, smiling and looking to her left, in a dimly lit art studio at OCAD.

LILLIAN ALLEN

JUNO WINNING SINGER, SONGWRITER, TORONTO’S POET LAUREATE

A man wearing sunglasses, a cap, and a leather jacket is in a music studio surrounded by keyboard, synthesizer, and audio equipment.

ADRIAN MILLER

SINGER, EARTH, ROOTS AND WATER, 20TH CENTURY REBELS

Grub Cooper of Fab 5 wearing sunglasses, a black cap, and a black shirt with a gold chain, speaking or singing in a dimly lit room in Kingston, Jamaica.

GRUB COOPER

MUSICIAN & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, FAB FIVE BAND

DJ Supreme La Rock with tattoos on his arm, wearing a navy blue and red striped shirt, smiling and winking in a dimly lit radio studio at KEXP Seattle with audio equipment in the background.

DJ SUPREME LA ROCK

DJ & RADIO HOST, “SUNDAY SOUL”, KEXP

Close-up of Dr. Carlene Davis with braided hair and earrings, outdoors with green blurred background at 10A Studios, home of the film Rockers, in Kingston, Jamaica.

DR. CARLENE DAVIS, OD

REGGAE AND GOSPEL SINGER

Drummer Everton Pablo Paul talking and gesturing with hands, seated in a dimly lit venue with blue and purple stage lights, drums in the background, a dark curtain, and a glass of water on a table in front of him.

EVERTON “PABLO” PAUL

DRUMMER, THE COUGARS, WAYNE MCGHIE’S SOUNDS OF JOY

Rollie Pemberton, AKA Cadence Weapon, with a beard and dark hair, smiling, sitting in a music studio with wooden walls. There is a keyboard to his left, large studio speakers to his right, and a pair of headphones on the table in front of him.

ROLLIE PEMBERTON

CADENCE WEAPON, RAPPER, MUSICIAN, AUTHOR

VJ Michael Williams on Much Music, with gray dreadlocks and a plaid scarf sitting in a music studio with audio equipment and speakers in the background.

MICHAEL WILLIAMS

TELEVISION HOST & VJ, MUCH MUSIC

AND THE MUSIC OF

JAY DOUGLAS

BOB MARLEY AND 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

AND MANY MORE