In celebration of The Tragically Hip’s 40th anniversary, the quintessential Canadian band receives a deserved tribute in a docuseries helmed by Mike Downie, brother of the band’s late frontman Gord Downie. VIFF is honoured to have Mike and The Tragically Hip – Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, and Gord Sinclair – join us for this special evening as we share the first two episodes of this definitive series, a love story between a band and the country they call home.
Drawing from archival and personal footage and featuring previously unseen performances, unreleased music, and unprecedented access to The Hip, No Dress Rehearsal is far from hagiographic. Instead, the series candidly and compellingly documents four decades of hits and misses, friendship and frustration, triumph and tragedy. Generous and unguarded, The Hip proves themselves to truly be a band of brothers. And they’re every bit as captivating onscreen as they were onstage.
Q&A with director Michael Downie and Gordon Sinclair, Jake Gold, Johnny Fay, Leslie Gailbraith, Paul Langlois & Robert Baker
Media Partner
Canada
2024
English
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Credits & Director
Executive Producer
Jake Gold
Producer
Bryn Hughes, Kim Creelman, Dave Wells, Kalin Moon, Mike Downie, Rob Baker, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois, Gord Sinclair
Cinematography
Chris Romeike
Editor
Peter Denes
Original Music
The Tragically Hip
Mike Downie
Mike Downie is a multi-award-winning documentary filmmaker and co-founder of the Gord Downie & Chanie Wenjack Fund. Downie is a writer, director, and producer of numerous documentaries including Finding the Secret Path (2018), Invasion of the Brain Snatchers (2013), and The Hockey Nomad (2003). Before his career in film and television, Downie worked as a deep shaft miner in Northern Ontario; a medical researcher at McGill University; a junior economist in Toronto; and as a windsurfing instructor in the US Virgin Islands. He holds a BSc from Queen’s University and an MBA from York University’s Schulich School of Business.
Photo by Ian Patterson
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