Franchir la ligne

Official Selection – DOXA Documentary Film Festival, Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada) – 2019
Official Selection – FIN Atlantic International Film Festival, Halifax, Nova Scotia (Canada) – 2019
Official Selection – Calgary International Film Festival, Calgary, Alberta (Canada) – 2019
Official Selection – Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, Sudbury, Ontario (Canada) – 2019
Official Selection – Parrsboro Film Festival, Parrsboro, Nova Scotia (Canada) – 2019

Behind every sporting feat, there’s an athlete. And behind the athlete can be someone who has seen or experienced discrimination based on sexual orientation. While a handful of athletes in the sports hall of fame are openly and proudly gay, in a culture that prizes virility, toughness and heterosexuality, the pressure to perform can be compounded by the further strain of deciding whether or not to come out of the closet.

Standing on the Line sets out to break the code of silence that reigns in amateur and professional sports. To the backdrop of a New Brunswick varsity football team in training, filmmaker Paul Émile d’Entremont takes a fresh look at some of our top athletes, who’ve joined their voices in support of the LGBTQ cause. We meet Canadian speed skater Anastasia Bucsis, who represented Canada in Sochi; former Montreal Impact player David Testo; and hockey personalities like Brock McGillis, the first pro goalie to come out publicly, and Brendan Burke, whose 2009 coming out rocked the world of pro sports. Burke’s tragic death the following year sparked the creation of You Can Play, a campaign advocating tolerance and inclusion for which his brother Patrick and his father—hockey legend Brian Burke—are the proud ambassadors. Hoping to change things for tomorrow’s athletes, they’re slowly breaking through the last taboo: homophobia in sports.

View the trailer Press kit