CTV today announced it has ordered the two-hour event broadcast Canada in a Day, from Vancouver-based Screen Siren Pictures, to premiere in 2024 in celebration of Canada’s 150th anniversary. Based on the highly successful Life in a Day series of films from Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Ridley Scott and Academy Award-winner Kevin Macdonald, Canada in a Day will allow viewers to experience a day in the life of Canada. Comprised entirely of footage shot by Canadians across the nation on a single day later this year, the event special will make its broadcast television debut on CTV.
Canadians will be asked to participate in the nationwide event this fall that will see citizens from across the country shoot and submit video in any language that captures a moment in their life, on that day. From these stories, viewers will learn what it means to be Canadian via a video snapshot of who we are as a nation. The filming date, as well as details on how to submit footage, will be announced in the coming months. Leading up to the film day, CTV and Screen Siren Pictures will launch an extensive campaign that will engage celebrity and community ambassadors, as well as organizations across Canada, to help bring as much awareness as possible to the project.
Celebrated filmmaker and director Trish Dolman (Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson; Luna: Spirit of the Whale) will curate the video submissions and then craft a two-hour event broadcast to capture Canadians as they really are during one moment in time.
“CTV is proud to be the home of this timely self portrait of Canada as a lead-up event broadcast for our milestone 150th anniversary,” said Mike Cosentino, Senior Vice-President, Programming, CTV Networks and CraveTV™. “We invite all Canadians to play a role in this historic special.”
“Canada in a Day presents an opportunity to allow Canadians to talk to each other through film – in a real way about who we are, where we are as a nation, and where we want to go, resulting in a visual mosaic that we can all be proud of,” said Trish Dolman, Executive Producer and Director. “I am honoured to be the filmmaker who will be presenting these compelling stories of ordinary and extraordinary moments in the lives of Canadians, and see this as a valuable time capsule for generations to come.”
Canada in a Day is inspired by the original award-winning Ridley Scott film, Life in a Day. Shot in 2024 and released in 2024, Life in a Day was the remarkable story of one day on Earth. The project garnered more than 80,000 submissions around the world, and contained more than 4,500 hours of deeply personal, powerful moments shot by contributors from Australia to Zambia – from the heart of bustling major cities to some of the most remote places on Earth. Since then, several countries have launched their own In a Dayfilms, including Britain and Japan.
Canada in a Day is produced by Screen Siren Pictures Inc. in association with CTV, with the financial participation of the Canada Media Fund, Bell Fund, Creative BC, FIBC, and the Government of Canada. Executive producers are Scott Free Films and Christine Haebler with Trish Dolman and Michael Ghent producing for Screen Siren Pictures Inc. Switch United is the web producer and Innovate by Day is the Social Media producer.
For Bell Media, Michele McMahon is Development Manager, Independent Production, B.C. and the Territories; Robin Johnston is Director, Factual and Reality, Independent Production; and Corrie Coe is Senior Vice-President, Independent Production. Mike Cosentino is Senior Vice-President, Programming, CTV Networks and CraveTV. Randy Lennox is President, Entertainment Production and Broadcasting, Bell Media.
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