SUMMIT 72

CBC’s original four-part documentary series
marking the 50th anniversary of the iconic
1972 Canada-Russia Hockey ‘Super Series’
officially authorized by Team Canada 72

Enhanced Photo from the original 16mm film of Team Canada’s series-winning goal.
Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame.

Premieres  Wednesday September 14, 2022
CBC and CBC Gem | 8:00pm (8:30 NT)

CUTLINE: Enhanced Photo from the original 16mm film of Team Canada’s series-winning goal.  Courtesy Hockey Hall of Fame.

The 1972 Canada-USSR Summit Series of Hockey changed the game forever, playing out dramas of national identity, pride, politics, and ideology while the world watched, enraptured, during the Cold War.

Commissioned by CBC, SUMMIT 72 premieres  on Wednesday September 14, 2022 on CBC and CBC Gem, with the remaining three episodes playing out the following consecutive Wednesdays, at 8:00 p.m. local time (8:30 NT). 

SUMMIT 72 series tells the definitive story of the legendary 1972 eight-game ‘Super Series’ through a modern lens, and explores its legacy and lasting influence on Canadian national identity, framing it against the political and cultural climate of the times in both countries. In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the tournament and with exclusive rights granted from Team Canada ‘72, multiple award-winning filmmakers have collaborated to create this definitive 4 x 60-minute documentary series. Series producer, Nicholas de Pencier, shares writing and directing duties across all episodes with the A-list team of author, musician and director, Dave Bidini; multi-award-winning writer, producer and director, Robert MacAskill; and 9-time Emmy Award-winning journalist and news anchor for Chicago’s ABC News, Ravi Baichwal.

With never-before-seen 16mm archival footage restored in stunning 4K high resolution, SUMMIT 72 brings an unforgettable moment in Canadian history to life on screen. Audiences get to relive—or experience for the first time—the adrenaline-fueled, edge-of-your-seat drama of one of the most monumental cultural proxy battles of the Cold War and trace its many reverberations in the zeitgeist right up to the present day.

“The 72 Summit Series is in our DNA as a nation,” says de Pencier. “It was a life-altering experience for the players and their fans from both sides of the Iron Curtain, that changed the cultural, political, and sports landscapes in ways that no one could have foreseen at the time. It is a story that endures and needs to be told through the prism of the present day to understand what it meant, how it changed hockey, and how it changed Canada. I’m honoured to be working with some of the best creative minds in the country, and that the players have trusted us with their story.”

Team Canada players and hockey legends, including Phil Esposito, Ken Dryden, Serge Savard, and Paul Henderson participate with exclusive interviews, as have Vladislav Tretiak, Boris Mikhailov, and other key members of the Soviet team. 

“History has decided that the Summit Series is the most important moment in hockey history,” says Hockey Hall of Famer Ken Dryden. “To tell the bigness of this story, the 1972 players wanted to work with our best documentary storytellers. Someone who understands it, and can express it, so that everyone can understand it and feel it too. That’s why we’re excited to work with Nick de Pencier and his team.”

A CBC original documentary, SUMMIT 72 is produced by Mercury Films in association with Impossible Objects. Nicholas de Pencier, Robert MacAskill and Naveen Prasad serve as producers, while Mercury Films’ Jennifer Baichwal, and Impossible Objects’ Prasad serve as Executive Producers. For CBC, Sally Catto is General Manager, Entertainment, Factual, & Sports; Jennifer Dettman is Executive Director, Unscripted Content; Sandra Kleinfeld is Senior Director, Documentary; and Mike Miner is Executive in Charge of Production, CBC Docs. 

SUMMIT 72 is produced with the support of The Rogers Documentary Fund, The Rogers Cable Network Fund and The Canadian Media Fund.

A French-language version of the series is also being produced. Additionally, a limited-edition collector’s box set of the series will be released for the 2022 holiday season by Unobstructed View, who will also handle international sales.

Mercury Films is the production company of filmmakers Jennifer Baichwal and Nicholas de Pencier who have been making award-winning, critically acclaimed documentaries for over twenty-five years. Their subjects are varied and eclectic and try to extend formal boundaries without being inaccessible. A select documentary filmography includes: Let It Come Down: The Life of Paul Bowles (International Emmy); The Holier It Gets (Best Canadian and best Cultural Film, Hot Docs); The True Meaning of Pictures (Best Arts Doc, Geminis); The Hockey Nomad (Best Sports Doc, Geminis); Manufactured Landscapes (Best Canadian Film, TIFF); Act of God (opening night film, Hot Docs); Payback (Sundance); Watermark (Berlin, Best Canadian Film, TFCA, and Best Feature Doc, CSA); Black Code (TIFF); Long Time Running (TIFF Gala); and ANTHROPOCENE: The Human Epoch (TIFF, Sundance, Berlin, Best Canadian Film, TFCA, and Best Feature Doc, CSA). More information can be found at www.mercuryfilms.ca.

Co-founded by media executive Naveen Prasad, Impossible Objects Inc. is a film and television company focused on developing, financing, and producing content across all media. Prasad’s film & TV credits include Executive Producing the first Canadian Netflix Original series BETWEEN, as well as RIVER, which won Best First Feature Film at the 2016 Canadian Screen Awards©.  He also Executive Produced the documentary LONG TIME RUNNING which had a Gala Presentation at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival.  Prasad also Executive Produced the critically acclaimed VICE TV and Crave Original docuseries DARK SIDE OF THE RING, the CBC original series GOOD PEOPLE, the Crave original feature RAT PARK, the 4-part investigative series WAR CONTINUED for CGTN, and the Critics’ Choice© nominated lifestyle series SHINE TRUE for both FUSE and OUT TV. He is also the Executive Producer of the upcoming feature drama ALL MY PUNY SORROWS which recently had its world premiere as a Special Presentation at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival.

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