Stephen Chung’s 'It’s All Gonna Break' Documentary Capturing Broken Social Scene’s Indie Legacy Heads to Theaters

It’s All Gonna Break by Stephen Chung (screenshot / Cargo)

It’s All Gonna Break by Stephen Chung trailer and release date — It’s All Gonna Break by Stephen Chung (screenshot / Cargo)

The documentary It’s All Gonna Break offers an intimate portrayal of the rise of Broken Social Scene, the influential Canadian indie-rock collective. Through rare archival footage and candid interviews, the film captures the band’s evolution from Toronto’s underground music scene to international acclaim.

Directed by Stephen Chung, a filmmaker and longtime friend who was was there from the beginning, the documentary premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival and opens in theaters starting May 30th, 2025.

Here is the synopsis: Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning helped turn Toronto into an indie-rock mecca in the mid 2000s. Not unlike the story of Seattle’s grunge explosion: Cobain in flannel. Or the New York revival led by The Strokes. The movement they created marked the apex of Toronto’s metamorphosis from a sleepy metropolis to a beacon of hipster cool largely driven by the city’s endlessly inventive music scene.

One of the band’s friends, Stephen Chung, had a camera. He wasn’t setting out to make a documentary—he was a participant, immersed in the expansive Broken Social Scene family of wildly talented artists. Before the iPhone era, Chung captured the raw, unguarded chemistry of the band: late-night jams in cramped apartments before soaring rents, the boundless creative energy of the time, and the beautiful chaos of something none of them saw coming—Lollapalooza, Letterman, film soundtracks, critical acclaim, and global success.

For years, the footage sat unseen, tucked away until the moment was right.

Now, with fresh interviews from Kevin Drew, Brendan Canning, Leslie Feist, Emily Haines, and band members, It’s All Gonna Break opens the time capsule of never before-seen footage that captures the intimacy and magic of the era. This isn’t just a retrospective—it’s a front-row seat to Broken Social Scene’s rise, their reckoning with fame, their defiance of convention, and how they came to define a generation of indie rock. Chung’s kaleidoscopic visual diary is a remarkable coming-of-age story of friends and artists forging their path, growing up together, and creating something unforgettable on their own terms.

Critics have praised It’s All Gonna Break for its heartfelt portrayal of the band’s early years. Exclaim! review highlighted how the film “Mixing footage from the band’s formative years with current-day interviews, filmmaker Stephen Chung chronicles their genesis, from Kevin Drew and Brendan Canning’s early projects to their initial meeting, the slow absorption of players into the BSS orbit, and their eventual explosion into international indie rock stars.”

Watch the official trailer for It’s All Gonna Break.