My Prairie Home at Sundance—and in your living room!
By Jovana Jankovic
Documentary, Films, News
Update (Jan. 28, 2014): the free online streaming period for My Prairie Home has now expired. You can still watch the trailer here, buy the DVD here, rent an online version here, or purchase a download here.
Can't make it to Park City, Utah for the prestigious Sundance film festival? No problem. Mark your calendars for the 26th and 27th of January (this coming Sunday and Monday) when we'll be offering free streaming in our online screening room of the new documentary-musical My Prairie Home for our Canadian audience (our international friends can pay to download or watch the film on demand starting on January 28th). The film will also be available for download on iTunes on the 28th.
A critical hit in the festival spotlight
My Prairie Home is a one-of-a-kind film. It's a musical and a documentary that follows transgender musician Rae Spoon as they travel back across the Canadian prairies where they grew up in a strictly Evangelical family troubled by mental illness. The film is peppered with strange, charming, and utterly indescribable musical sequences, in which Rae performs their songs to the accompaniment of… dancing deer?! Sure, why not? (Check out Rae's op-ed in The Huffington Post for more info—and note that Rae prefers the gender-neutral pronoun "they").
The film got a lot of love back when it premiered at the Vancouver International Film Festival in October. Positive reviews flowed in from The Globe and Mail and The Vancouver Sun, among many other outlets. Then, the film was selected to be featured as part of the influential Sundance Film Festival's World Documentary competition. Rae, director Chelsea McMullan, and producer Lea Marin packed their bags and headed for the snowy peaks of Utah. The film is not only featured in five screenings at various venues during the festival, but Rae also recently performed at the Sundance Celebration of Music in Film.
The film's Sundance tenure has produced much positive chatter, like this HitFix review and this IndieWire profile of director Chelsea McMullan.
L to R: Musician Rae Spoon, director Chelsea McMullan, and NFB producer Lea Marin answer audience questions at the Sundance Festival after a screening of My Prairie Home.
Take advantage of this opportunity to see My Prairie Home while it's still doing the festival circuit! Watch the film in our player below or at NFB.ca starting Jan. 26th. And if you'd like to see some lively behind-the-scenes production stills, check out cinematographer Maya Bankovic's My Prairie Home photo book.
Chelsea McMullan | Lea Marin | Maya Bankovic | My Prairie Home | Rae Spoon | Sundance 2014 | Sundance Celebration | Sundance Film Festival
A beautiful and insightful portrait of Rae Spoon. Well done!
— Michelina Williamson,	 January 27, 2014
What a great little film. I am glad I got to see it. Thank you NFB for the link. It would be my hope that many get to see it and draw inspiration from it.
Rae Spoon is a solid songwriter with a great voice all buoyed by strong musical arrangements. Nicely done.
— J. Eltis,	 January 27, 2014
Thanks J. Eltis, glad you enjoyed the film. Feel free to share widely with your networks! The film will be streaming online for free until midnight tonight (Jan. 27th, 2014).
— Jovana Jankovic,	 January 27, 2014
Hi Jdunn and Kay,
You can click on any of the hyperlinks of "My Prairie Home" in the text, which will take you to our online screening room for the film, or you can watch the film in the embedded player in this blog post.
I did find it! It is just above – it says Buy Film, but it is there to watch for free right now.
— Kay Hansen,	 January 27, 2014
Today is the 26 and I can't find my prairie home…any suggestions
— Jdunn,	 January 26, 2014
There is a short video clip of their song if you click on "Sneak a Peek at Rae Spoon's My Prairie Home", but I didn't find the full film either.
Indigenous Renaissance: 10 to Watch at the NFB
"Canada, are you ready to see what needs to be seen?" Indigenous filmmaking flourishes at the NFB.
Animation, Community, Production | June 19, 2019
We're celebrating Teacher Appreciation Week (April 22-28) on NFB.ca by offering our tireless, inspiration teachers 5 films they can download for just $0.99!
Education | April 22, 2019
NFB: Crucible for the Creative Feature Doc
More popular than ever but notoriously hard to finance, the creative feature documentary is flourishing at the National Film Board.
Documentary, Production | October 16, 2018