The film first premiered on January 4, 1995 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, though it did not compete. In May 1995, the film was shown during the International Critics' Week at the 1995 Cannes Film Festival, where it was hailed (along with "Rude") as ushering in a new Black Canadian film aesthetic. It was then released worldwide on September 25, 1995, with a domestic Canadian distribution through Xenon Entertainment and an international distribution through Norstar Entertainment. On September 23, 1997, the film was released on VHS and in June 2003 on DVD.