TORONTO – The Tragically Hip’s 2016 cross-Canada tour, which culminated in a charged and powerful concert in their hometown of Kingston, Ont., aired nationally by CBC, captured the heart of the country, so Bell Media is teaming up with Banger Films, in association with Shed Creative (a division of Universal Music Canada), and one of the country’s most celebrated documentary filmmaking teams, Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier, to take viewers on-stage, in the crowd and behind-the-scenes of this historic tour.
Commissioned by Bell Media and coming to multiple Bell Media channels and platforms in 2017, Man Machine Poem (working title) is a feature documentary that follows The Tragically Hip’s momentous cross-country tour after the band’s announcement that lead singer Gord Downie has incurable brain cancer.
The documentary event special (all shot in 4K) will premiere exclusively across an array of Bell Media TV and on-demand platforms, including national pay service The Movie Network, leading specialty channel MUCH, and to a mass audience on Canada’s most-watched network, CTV, before moving exclusively to CraveTV, says the Bell Media press release.
“We are incredibly honoured to share this amazing moment in Canadian history with the band and viewers across the country,” said Randy Lennox, president, broadcasting and content, Bell Media, in the press release. “Man Machine Poem comes from a dream team behind the camera and we know they’ll show Canada a side of The Hip we’ve never seen before.”
“We have filmed hundreds of hours of footage from the tour and beyond,” said Scot McFadyen, co-founder of Banger Films, in the release. “This stands to be a powerful cinematic music doc that captures a nation’s love for a band whose music and lyrics embody the Canadian spirit.”
Capturing these iconic performances and the profound reactions from fans, the documentary encourages viewers to stop and reflect on the shared experience and collective appreciation for this music that somehow embodies what it means to be Canadian, adds the release.
