CBC’s Black Life: Untold Stories (pictured) and Telling Our Story, and Crave original comedy Bria Mack Gets a Life will make their world premiere in the Toronto International Film Festival’s (TIFF) Primetime programme.

The Primetime lineup includes a total of nine series from around the world “all spotlighting underrepresented voices from an exciting new wave of storytellers,” said Anita Lee, chief programming officer, TIFF, in a statement.

Leslie Norville’s Black Life: Untold Stories (8 x 60 minutes) explores the history of Black experiences in Canada and celebrates the contributions of Black Canadians.

The docuseries is produced by Studio 112 in association with Northwood Entertainment, and Ugly Duck Productions. Norville is the series showrunner, as well as an executive producer alongside P.K. Subban, Miranda de Pencier, and Nelson George, while Sandy Hudson serves as co-executive producer.

The English-language version of Telling Our Story (4 x 60 minutes) by Abenaki director and Terre Innue president Kim O’Bomsawin is another unscripted CBC commission making its world premiere.

Slated for CBC Gem, Telling Our Story tells the stories of 11 First Peoples in Quebec through their point of view. Francine Allaire is the series producer and also serves as co-executive producer alongside series director O’Bomsawin, Alexandre Bacon, Ian Boyd, Josée Rock and Florent Vollant.

Crave’s comedy series Bria Mack Gets a Life (6 x 30 minutes) from creator and showrunner Sasha Leigh Henry centres on a Black woman as she wades through adulthood in a predominantly white world, with the support of an imaginary hype girl.

Bria Mack Gets a Life is directed by Henry, a 2022 Playback 10 to Watch alum, and Kelly Fyffe-Marshall and produced by New Metric Media. New Metric president Mark Montefiore and Tania Thompson are executive producers, while Angelique Knights and fellow 10 to Watch alum Tamar Bird are producers.

TIFF will run from Sept. 7 to 17.

Photo courtesy of TIFF