Apr 22, 2026

World Premiere this week as Hot Docs Opening Night selection

Toronto, ON - April 22, 2026 – Director and producer Michelle Mama (GAY AGENDA), alongside producers Bill Taylor and Allison Grace (Here’s the Thing Productions), and distributor Motion 58 Entertainment today announced that Canadian trailblazer Peaches has joined ANTIDIVA: THE CAROLE POPE CONFESSIONS as an Executive Producer. The documentary explores the life and legacy of JUNO Award-winning artist and queer icon, Carole Pope.

The announcement comes ahead of the film’s World Premiere at Hot Docs this week, opening the festival at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema on Thursday, April 23. Carole Pope will be in attendance, with a special message from Peaches ahead of the screening.

"Carole Pope shaped who I am today. She was one of the first out lesbian queer musicians on mainstream radio. It was a revelation to me,” said Peaches. ”I was obsessed! She sang about desire and playful BDSM delivered with dry wit, hot sexy non-binary style, and great dance beats."

“Peaches joining the film as Executive Producer feels like a natural extension of her deep connection to Carole’s legacy,” said filmmakers Michelle Mama, Bill Taylor and Allison Grace. “She shares a fearless artistic spirit with Carole, and her involvement adds another dimension to a story rooted in defiance, visibility, and queer expression.”

In Toronto’s vibrant music, art and fashion scene of the 1970s and 1980s, Carole Pope made her mark with the post-punk band Rough Trade, which produced bold, boundary-breaking music delivered with a sexy punk edge. “High School Confidential,” the band’s breakthrough hit, did something not many had done before: it featured an openly queer performer fearlessly expressing lesbian desire on daytime radio.

Now in her late 70s, Pope continues to channel her creativity into new forms. Her latest project is a musical that draws on her life and career with Rough Trade, as well as the story of her beloved late brother Howard, himself a celebrated musician and AIDS activist.

Told with refreshing candour and drawn in part from Pope’s autobiography, her story pulses with backstage seductions and on-stage swagger. Featuring interviews with celebrity friends like Peaches, k.d. Lang, Jann Arden, George Stroumboulopoulos, Rufus Wainwright, Sebastian Bach and Jeanne Beker, Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions is a long overdue cinematic tribute to a fierce and talented queer maverick.

Commissioned by documentary Channel, Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions is a GAY AGENDA film in association with Here’s The Thing Productions, with distribution by Motion 58. The film was made possible with the support of the Canada Media Fund POV Program, the Ontario Creates Film Fund, the Hot Docs-Slaight Family Fund, Telefilm Canada Theatrical Documentary Program and the Rogers Documentary Fund, in association with CBC and documentary Channel.

The film will be hitting select Canadian theatres this summer and premiere on documentary Channel, Sunday, July 19 at 9 pm ET, and on CBC Gem Friday, July 24.

About Peaches (Executive Producer)
Born Merrill Nisker, Peaches first catapulted to international stardom with her 2000 debut, The Teaches of Peaches, which introduced the world to her sexually transgressive, fiercely assertive, and utterly captivating stage persona. The album's ubiquitous lead single "Fuck the Pain Away" became a bonafide smash and a genuine pop culture phenomenon. Them Magazine praised Peaches saying “20 years after The Teaches of Peaches, the world is still catching up with the artist’s brash, irreverent, and sexually self-assured life philosophy.” In the years that followed, Peaches would go on to release five more trailblazing albums—prompting the The New York Times to dub her a “heroine” and Uncut to rave that she brings together "high art, low humour and deluxe filth [in] a hugely seductive combination”—and collaborate with everyone from Iggy Pop and Daft Punk to Christina Aguilera and R.E.M., to Kim Gordon and Yoko Ono. Her music has been honored with the prestigious Polaris Heritage Prize, featured in cultural watermarks like Lost In Translation, The Handmaid’s Tale, South Park, and Broad City, and studied at universities around the world. In addition to her musical output, Peaches has directed over 20 videos, co-curated a photo book of her life, created a host of immersive installations and performative works, and penned the electro-rock opera Peaches Does Herself, which was adapted into a film shown at over 70 festivals. The subject of two acclaimed documentaries—Teaches of Peaches (2024, directed by Judy Landkammer and Philipp Fussenegger) and Peaches Goes Bananas (2024, directed by Marie Losier)—she has also played the title role in Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo and Brecht’s The Seven Deadly Sins and continues to perform her widely lauded one-woman show, Peaches Christ Superstar. Her aesthetic also provided the main influence for designer Anthony Vaccarello’s AW21 Saint Laurent collection. In 2026, she released No Lube So Rude, her first full-length album in over a decade to widespread international acclaim, and made her television score debut for Dan Levy’s Big Mistakes on Netflix.

About Michelle Mama (Producer/Director)
Michelle Mama is an award-winning, five-time Canadian Screen Award nominee who has been producing and directing in the factual and doc space for over two decades. Her most recent credits include executive producing doc feature Summer Qamp, Canada’s Drag Race Season 3 and “Canada vs. The World” (Crave), directing the trans makeover series Shine True (VICE), and show-running two seasons of the award-winning arts documentary series In The Making (CBC). Michelle most recently directed celebrated comic Mae Martin hosting a special episode of The Nature of Things “Fluid: Beyond the Binary” (CBC) and had the pleasure of directing two 2024 Governor General Award films, produced by the National Film Board, honouring comedy icon Andrea Martin and puppeteering legend Ronnie Burkett.

About Bill Taylor (Producer)
Bill Taylor is an award-winning Toronto-based writer, director and producer. His work includes feature documentaries, doc series, and scripted film and television. He began his career as a writer-director, with films screening at festivals worldwide, including Silver Road and Don’t Get Killed in Alaska, before expanding into producing. Blending a sharp producing sensibility with a writer-director’s creative vision, he is committed to telling emotionally resonant, socially conscious stories across genres and platforms.

About Allison Grace (Producer)
Allison Grace is an award-winning producer with five Canadian Screen Awards and a reputation for developing exceptional talent and non-fiction formats and doc series that sell globally. With more than 25 years of experience, she has served as executive producer for hundreds of hours of television aired in Canada, the U.S., and international markets. She previously held the position of VP of Content at Proper Television (Boat Rocker) for over a decade producing high rated hit documentary and unscripted series. Through her company, Here’s The Thing Productions Inc., Allison supports bold female led scripted and unscripted content and works with up-and-coming creators to showcase new and original voices on screen.

About Motion 58 Entertainment
Motion 58 Entertainment, led by Josh Epstein and Kyle Rideout, is Canada's newest film distributor specializing in bold storytelling and high-concept event cinema. With roots in production, the company’s credits include Eadweard, Adventures in Public School, and the upcoming Firesky. Motion 58's first theatrical releases include the VIFF Audience Choice winner Angela’s Shadow and the Hot Docs opening night film Antidiva: The Carole Pope Confessions which is set to hit theatres this summer.