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Director X's Across The Line confronts narrative of enlightened Canada

Drake and Rihanna collaborator Director X enters a new arena for his feature debut, Across The Line — a film about hockey and racism in small town Halifax.

The Underground Railroad didn't stop in paradise. Director X takes a long hard look at the legacy of racism in Nova Scotia with his debut feature film Across The Line.

The story, inspired by true events in North Preston, takes place in 1989, but "the history's deep," says X. "We have a narrative in Canada that we've never been racist. We're where you came to escape racism." 

The director joins Shad to discuss coming of age in a hostile environment, how bigotry runs the gamut from the blatant to that "little bit of doubt," and how his work on some of today's hottest music videos (Drake's Hotline Bling, Rihanna's Work) prepared him to shoot his first feature film. 

Stephan James portrays Mattie Slaughter in the new film Across The Line, helmed by Director X. (Dan Callis/Blue Circle Films)


WEB EXTRA | Watch the trailer for Across The Line below.  The film begins its theatrical roll out across Canada on April 8 in Vancouver, Ottawa, Surrey, Kingston, Kelowna, St. Catherines and Whitby.

It opens in Toronto and Halifax on April 15.