Knox won the Canadian Film Award for Best Actress , and Mackey won a special jury award for the film . Despite favourable critical response and Knox 's award win the film received only limited release ; apart from the Stratford Film Festival , the film was never screened theatrically outside of Toronto , and even CBC Television rejected the film at the time as too experimental for a mass-market network television airing . Although the film was strongly championed by '' The New York Times '' film critic Bosley Crowther , Mackey was also unable to secure a distribution deal in the United States . The film was screened at the 1984 Festival of Festivals , and was later broadcast on CBC and TVOntario in the 1980s , but was generally not widely seen until it was released on DVD in 2006
1984 Festival of Festivals
1984 Toronto International Film Festival
The Only Thing You Know