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IN THE BLACK

By Frances-Anne SOLOMON

CARIBBEANTALES MEDIA GROUP - as PROD

Drama - Development 2022

Businessman Denham Jolly’s 12-year-long journey to establish the first Black-owned radio station in Canada.

- Year of production
- 2022
- Genres
- Drama, Female director, True Story
- Countries
- CANADA
- Languages
- ENGLISH
- Budget
- 1 - 3 M$
- Duration
- 100 mn
- Director(s)
- Frances-Anne SOLOMON
- Synopsis
- Successful businessman Denham Jolly divides his days between his community newspaper and his lucrative nursing home business. Tensions between police and community are escalating in the wake of a steady barrage of lethal police shootings. Denham’s friend, activist Dudley Laws calls out Toronto’s police force as the “most violent in North America”. Jolly spends his evenings on the front lines of protest and in meetings to devise solutions that address the racial unrest.
  
  Jolly seizes the opportunity to apply for a commercial radio licence. It will create jobs, provide exposure for Canadian artists, and be a megaphone for the beleaguered community’s voice. But at the first hearing, the investment group, stunned, faces the question: What is Black music, Mr Jolly?
  
  And so begins Denham Jolly's battle to secure a licence for Canada’s first Black radio station. It is a journey that will take him from determined optimism through disappointment, betrayal, rage and despair. Like Samson to Goliath, he takes on the full force of the Canadian establishment, and the veiled but implacable racism that defines this country. He is guided along the way by the spirit of his mentor, Violet Williams. She reminds him that his fight is but a continuation of those who went before him to pave the way for Black freedom.
  
  After 12 years and millions of dollars, FLOW goes live and becomes one of the most commercially successful stations in Canada, launching the careers of many music talents including Drake, Michie Mee, and Jully Black.
- Beginning of shooting
- Feb 07, 2022
- End of shooting
- Mar 11, 2022