Play De Record documentary “Drop The Needle” set for summer release under a new distribution deal with Toronto’s LevelFILM.
After almost a year since announcing the Play De Record documentary Drop The Needle, Canterbury Productions has announced a new distribution deal with LevelFILM. The Toronto entertainment distribution company has had an impressive run, bringing titles like Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, The Souvenir Part II, Akilla’s Escape, and more recently Scarborough which walked away with eight Canadian Screen Awards this year, including Best Motion Picture, to audiences.
A music fan in his own right, the film was a perfect fit for levelFILM’s Robin Smith.“I’ve always been a rabid music fan and grew up with iconic records stores such as Play De Record but it was only after watching Rob’s film that I realized how essential this story is to our shared music history and how this under-represented music genre gave birth to so much amazing talent,” says Smith, Head of Factual Content with levelFILM. “We are super excited to work with Rob and his team to bring this essential story to audiences later this year.”
Directed by Rob Freeman, co-produced by Freeman and Neil Acharya, and executive produced by Sandy Hunter of Cazador Inc., Drop The Needle tells the story of the downtown Toronto record store that became a stable in Toronto’s underground music scene. Interviewees include Kardinal Offishall, Skratch Bastid, Russell Peters, Marcus Visionary, Starting From Scratch, DJ Power, Mastermind, Jason Palma, DJ Matt C, MelBoogie, DJ Kemo, Nick Holder, Saukrates, Jester and many more.
It was only during production for the film that owner Eugene Tam really understood the impact his store had on the local scene.
“People would always tell me, ‘The store is an institution'”, he explains. “It’s only when we started doing this documentary that I thought, ‘Maybe we did have something to do with it.'”
As a part of the deal Drop the Needle will be released in theatres and online this Summer so stayed tuned. In the meantime, tap the header above check out the trailer for Canterbury Productions’ Drop The Needle.
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FILM PREVIEW – PLAY DE RECORD TO BE IMMORTALIZED IN UPCOMING DOCUMENTARY DROP THE NEEDLE