Learn to Swim
Learn to Swim is a Canadian drama about a stormy romance between two jazz musicians. Directed by Thyrone Tommy in his feature debut, the film stars Thomas Antony Olajide as Dezi and Emma Ferreira as Selma. It was written by Thyrone Tommy and Marni Van Dyk, produced by Alona Metzer, with Leilani Films as the production company and Mongrel Media as the distributor. The story follows Dezi and Selma as their relationship and music intertwine.
The 90-minute film premiered at the 2021 Toronto International Film Festival on September 11, in TIFF’s Discovery program. Olajide and Ferreira were named TIFF Rising Stars.
Music is central to the film, with contributions from Chester Hansen, Leland Whitty, and Tika Simone. The original song And Then We Don’t was written by Tika Simone and Casey Manierka-Quaile. Cinematography was by Nick Haight.
In 2022, Learn to Swim arrived on Netflix through Ava DuVernay’s ARRAY. It was nominated for the Directors Guild of Canada’s Discovery Award and was chosen for TIFF’s Canada’s Top Ten list for 2021.
At the 2022 Canadian Screen Awards, the film earned two nominations: Best Actor for Olajide and Best Original Song for And Then We Don’t, with the song winning the award.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:52 (CET).