Lost Flight of the Eagle
Film Locations Guide - Book and CD-ROM
Before They Sleep
Above and Beyond: Dramatic Mini Series
Making Love in St. Pierre
Cliffs of Courage
Mina's Unknown Journey
Misery Harbour
EDAC 2003 Marketing Canada Awards
Lost Flight of the Eagle
Producers:
East Coast Productions
Status:
Currently in post-production; scheduled for release in May, 2008
Production Notes:
One-hour television documentary
Written, directed and produced by David Hebbard
Research: Darrell Hillier
Archaeological survey: Dr. Michael Deal
East Coast Productions is a Newfoundland owned and operated video production company established in 2003, offering high definition video and post production, photography, print and radio production.
Tag line:
Lost Flight of the Eagle chronicles the 1945 crash of a B-24 Liberator near Gander and the modern archeological survey of the site, ultimately revealing a top secret cargo that might have hastened the end of the war.
Synopsis:
On the night of February 14, 1945, a lone B-24 Liberator heavy bomber lumbered through the snow-choked skies over the military air base at Gander, Newfoundland. With conditions worsening by the minute, Approach Control was strongly advising in-bound aircraft to divert to their alternate airfields; but for Liberator No. 44-42169 and its veteran pilot, Colonel William C. Dolan, this was not an option. This flight was too important.
Dolan descended in near whiteout conditions, advising Approach Control that he was landing. It was the bomber’s last transmission. For several weeks it lay undetected in the snow-covered Newfoundland wilderness, and more than sixty years would pass before parts of its top-secret cargo would be recovered - a cargo of such scientific importance at the time that it could hasten the end of World War Two.
Written, produced and directed by David Hebbard of East Coast Productions, Lost Flight of the Eagle includes historical documents, interviews, rare archival footage, computer animation and the first advanced archaeological survey done in Newfoundland of a World War Two crash site. Cameras are rolling as archaeologist Dr. Michael Deal and his team from Memorial University uncover parts of the bomber’s top-secret cargo.
Click here to view the trailer as a Windows Media file (2.14MB).
Additional Information:
Contact: lostflight1945@yahoo.ca
FILM LOCATIONS GUIDE - BOOK AND CD-ROM
The Town of Gander’s Film Development Officer in partnership with the Kittiwake Economic Development Corporation and funding from Human Resources Development Canada (HRDC) has created a film locations guide and accompanying CD-ROM to promote the film industry on the Kittiwake Coast. In conjunction with local municipalities, we aim to promote the shooting of commercials, television productions, documentaries, and feature films in this region.
The Kittiwake Coast has a number of advantages for attracting film production: adequate accommodations for large scale productions in some areas; beautiful, diverse settings that serve as adequate doubles for Ireland, Scotland, the Eastern Seaboard and Northern Outposts; vibrant community theatre, a low Canadian dollar and a supportive community. Location scouts have already expressed their love of the Twillingate-New World Island area, the stretch of Route 325 from Musgrave Harbour to Lumsden begs the production of car commercials, the barrens of Fogo Island double as Scottish heath barrens, the hyper oceanic coast of Windmill Bight mirrors the beaches of Northern California, and the landscape of Eastport and outport Maine are similar in appearance.
We have embarked on a project to bring these assets and opportunities to the global film community. To that end, this promotional Film Locations Guide and accompanying CD-ROM, including; community profiles, lists of resources and amenities and a spectacular locations library with dozens of pictures of suitable shooting areas around the coast.
BEFORE THEY SLEEP
Producers:
Red Ochre Productions, BluSea Entertainment
Status:
In development, script completed, currently seeking director, talent
Production Notes:
Before They Sleep is a feature film
in development based on the 1985 Arrow Air Disaster, intended for worldwide
cinematic release. Major roles are being offered to top actors in the
international film industry. Production crew will combine the experience
of national and international talent. Before They Sleep will be filmed
on location at Gander, Newfoundland, Canada.
Tag line:
Based on actual events, this is a mother's search for peace, in a world
where peace exacts the highest price.
Synopsis:
Before dawn on the morning of December 12,
1985, an Arrow Air DC-8 rolled off the runway at Gander International
Airport, in eastern Canada, and crashed into the hillside near Gander
Lake. All 256 souls on board were killed: 248 American soldiers and 8
civilian flight crew.
The soldiers had been in the volatile Middle East where they were part
of the Multinational Force and Observers based in the Sinai. Their six-month
tour was completed and they were heading home to Fort Campbell, Kentucky,
for Christmas.
The soldiers had been stationed at the MFO South Camp at Sharm El Sheik
on the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula. Their journey home began with
a short flight to Cairo International Airport. From there, they boarded
the DC-8 and flew to Cologne, Germany, for refueling and a complete crew
change.
The flight then departed for Gander, Newfoundland, for a second refueling.
It arrived at 5:34 a.m. local time December 12 and the soldiers were permitted
to deplane and walk about the terminal. At 6:44 a.m. the jet rolled out
on Runway 22 for the final leg of the journey. Two minutes later, a fireball
and mushroom cloud signaled the end of the flight.
It was the largest single-day loss of life in the history of the U.S.
Army’s 101st Airborne Division and remains the worst-ever air disaster
on Canadian soil.
In Fort Campbell, Kentucky, a vague, breaking news report tells Rita Jenkins her son is dead. Her own life will never be the same. From the Canadian producer of Misery Harbour, this is the compelling story of a mother's search for peace, in a world where peace exacts the highest price.
Additional Information:
Website: www.beforetheysleep.com
Contact: Greg Blumer & Greg Seaward - blusea@beforetheysleep.com
ABOVE AND BEYOND
Producers:
Pope Productions (Rare Birds, My Left Breast)
Status:
Completed, released
Production Notes:
Dramatic Miniseries - 2x2 hours, in association with
CBC Television: Movies and Miniseries Department. Contributors to the
project include award winning writer/filmmaker John Doyle and performer/filmmaker Lisa Porter.
Tag line:
The story of Gander's role in the Second World War will reveal one of
the best-kept secrets of this continent's history.
Synopsis:
Summer 1940. As the Battle of Britain rages,
the Allies scramble to replenish their decimated air force. Churchill's
Minister of Aircraft Production, Lord Beaverbrook hatches a plan to fly
North American built planes across the forbidding North Atlantic Ocean
- an obviously faster alternative to the current method of sending them
by ship. Many, including the RAF and the Air Ministry, say it is too dangerous,
the risk too high. But the situation is desperate and, through the CPR's
Air Services, the Atlantic Ferry Organization (Atfero) is born. On November
20, seven Lockheed Hudsons take off from a lonely airport in central Newfoundland
to make their way across the icy water. With the mission's success, Gander
is set to be transformed into a major hub of air travel, seeing over 20,000
planes delivered over the course of the war.
The stage is set for a panoramic view of the most remarkable era of the twentieth century. Occupied by RAF, RCAF and USAAF personnel as well as a host of civilians, Gander played a crucial role in the defeat of the Axis forces. The audience will get to know a host of engaging characters whose complexity deepens as the series progresses. The plotlines intertwine personal lives with Base Operations, and reveal events on the international stage from this unique perspective on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. This series will be packed with action, intrigue, romance and surprises as it weaves a fascinating tale of human perseverance.
Through the eyes of the men and women of Gander and the surrounding area, we experience the triumphs and tragedies of war. We get an intimate glimpse of the machinations of an international military operation along with the personalities that made it a success. The war challenges everything: families are torn apart and brought together; questions of nationhood and patriotism come to the forefront as the allied countries must come to terms with their collective history; romance blossoms in the heady atmosphere of sweeping change. With grace and humour, (and sometimes without) our protagonists struggle to come to grips with the upheavals of war. The story of Gander as it unfolds in this dramatic mini series reveals one of the best-kept secrets of this continent's history.
Additional Information:
Contact: Paul Pope - ppope@nfld.net
MAKING LOVE IN ST. PIERRE
Producers:
Red Ochre Productions Ltd., Plain Sight Pictures
Director:
John Vatcher
Status:
Completed - Premiered at the Nickel Independent Film & Video Festival, June 26, 2004.
Production Notes:
Filmed on location at St. Pierre, St. John's and the Burin Pennisula.
Synopsis:
The time is winter, 1993. The place is a small fishing village in Newfoundland.
Sebastian, a handsome, hardworking fisherman in his early thirties, is in a
slump of bitterness and despair. The previous spring, the Government had shut
down the cod fishery on the Atlantic coast, putting Sebastian and anyone
involved in the fishery out of a job.
One day, to rekindle their strained relationship, Sebastian's girlfriend, Jenny, suggests a trip to Halifax. However, a twist of events finds the couple headed, not to Halifax, but to the French Island of St. Pierre, off the Newfoundland coast. No sooner are they on the French island than they become entangled with another couple, Marie and Michael. What ensues puts Sebastian and Jenny's relationship to the test, and prompts Sebastian to make a decision the alters his life...
Making Love in St. Pierre is not only a love story, but a portrait of an entire people attempting to rediscover who they are when the very thing that gives them their identity is suddenly taken away.
A years-long labor of love for writer-producer Ken Pittman, it finally reached production with producer-director John Vatcher at the helm. One of the most awaited Newfoundland films of recent years, the Nickel was proud to present the World Premiere of Making Love in St. Pierre.
Additional Information:
Contact: Ken Pittman - red.ochre@nf.sympatico.ca
CLIFFS OF COURAGE
Producers:Plain Sight Pictures, Red Ochre Productions Ltd.
Status:
In Development
Production Notes:
To be filmed on location at St. Lawrence and Lawn
Synopsis:
It is February 18, 1992. A banquet hall is filled with mostly older people.
The banner behind the podium announces: "50th Anniversary - Truxtun
and Pollux". Across the crowded room, an elderly woman spots a tired,
but familiar face. He recognizes her, too. As she approaches, they study
each other and begin to smile, recalling the people they were so many
years ago...
It is February 18, 1942. Eighteen-year-old Russell Gibson is a Mess Attendant, Third Class, aboard the U.S. destroyer Truxtun. He joined the United States Navy to escape Klan law in rural Georgia, but continues to suffer racial abuses within the segregated naval system. Worlds away, Emma Walsh is a budding photographer in the quiet coastal community of St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, inquisitive about the world outside.
The inhabitants of St. Lawrence lie sleeping, bundled against the howling winter storm. There is no such protection for the convoy of three American warships en route to the naval base at nearby Argentina. Lost in the savage night, the USS Truxtun and the USS Pollux are hurled against the steep, 300-foot cliffs of Chambers Cove. Two hundred and three young sailors die, drowning and freezing to death in a futile attempt to abandon the foundering vessels.
One sailor scales the ice-covered cliff and gets help. In an extraordinary rescue effort, over 150 men are pulled to safety. Russell Gibson is one of them.
The only black survivor of the wreck, Russell regains consciousness, terrified to be in this strange place, surrounded by white faces. He soon realizes, however, that these people do not care about the color of his skin, as long as it is warm with life.
Emma's family nurses Russell back to health. Their compassion not only saves Russell's life, but gives him new hope and purpose. He returns to his naval duties a very different man.
Emma and Russell continue to correspond, sharing the memory of that tragic night and the magnificent courage of the rescuers and sailors. It is this memory that helps each chart a new course through life.
Russell now fights a personal war, challenging a naval system that discriminates against him at every turn. In 1954, Russell writes to Emma that he is finally beginning to surmount the racial obstacles that prevent his ascent through the ranks. Emma's return letter tells Russell of the death of her young husband, a pilot shot down overseas. And so they share their joys and sorrows.
Russell eventually rises to the rank of Sonar Technician, First Class. Night classes at MIT enable him to become a teacher and later get a high-paying job with a Boston engineering firm. Now alone, Emma leaves St. Lawrence to seek her fortune in far-away New York.
In the 1960s, Russell follows Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the civil rights movement in a struggle for change. Emma, meanwhile, has returned to St. Lawrence as a writer and photographer, only to find her own community struggling for its life - the men who once risked their lives to save the Truxtun and Pollux crews are now succumbing to miner's disease.
Through their lifelong correspondence, Russell and Emma find the courage to take back their lives and the strength to change their separate worlds.
It is February 18, 1992. Russell and Emma search each other's face for the youth they once had as they sit together for the first time in 50 years. They talk with the ease of friends who have never been apart...
Additional Information:
Contact: Pamela Way & Carol Anne Haley -
glada90@hotmail.com
MINA'S UNKNOWN JOURNEY
Producers:
Red Ochre Productions Ltd.
Status:
In Development
Production Notes:
To be filmed on location in Labrador
Synopsis:
At the back of the room, in the shadows, stands Mina Hubbard, 34 years
old, fine features, attractively dressed, still grieving the death of
her husband who died the previous year. Behind her on the wall, a poster
announces, ‘Book Launch, September 12, 1904, Lure of the Labrador
Wild, by the well-known adventurer and editor of “Sportsman”
Magazine, Dillon Wallace.’The attentive audience, as well as readers
throughout New England, eagerly await the new Wallace book which is to
give a detailed account of the tragic trek of Wallace and Mr. Leonidas
Hubbard into the wilderness of Labrador, the previous year. An excursion
which resulted in Hubbard’s death from starvation and exposure.
Standing shyly beside Wallace, at the podium, is George Elson; a dark, good-looking man in his mid 30s. George Elson features prominently in the book, as he was the hired guide on the ill-fated trip. He’s obviously not comfortable in this formal setting. Elson, trapper, guide, and part Cree Indian, provides just the right touch of the romantic world of explorer and adventurer.
Wallace is aglow with satisfaction as he provides his audience with just the right amount of background on the story and the right amount of admiration for his ill-fated friend and fellow adventurer. Mina, keeping out of Wallace’s sight, grows more and more agitated as he speaks. She and George Elson make eye contact. She can take Wallace no longer and hurries out of the room. George abruptly leaves Wallace’s side and goes after her. George is taken aback, not by her obvious beauty, but by how she holds herself, the confidence she exudes. George reveals to Mina, for the first time, her husband’s intimate feelings for her, and his wish that she could have been with him to witness the beauty of Labrador. Leonidas felt that Mina was fully capable of handling the harsh environment, that she should have accompanied him.
Mina is compelled to complete the journey that eluded her husband, that fate brought her and George together. Though reluctant at first, if Mina were to pursue this mission, George would be the one to guide her through the wilderness, he wouldn’t have it any other way. As lead guide, the team of five had a fighting chance, though Mina believed some of his choices incorrect, and should have been handled differently. She didn’t hesitate to address his mistakes, in private, or in conversation with members of the team present.
The tension between Mina and George was not lost on the team, especially Gilbert Blake, a young, half-Inuit trapper, who was hand picked by Mina to become the final member of the team. Bewildered by her choice, George thought a seasoned trapper more appropriate for this formidable journey. Even Mina is unable to explain why she had chosen Gilbert, something about his look, the way he conducted himself.
The team battles on, overcoming treacherous rapids, the force of the water charging down through the mountains make it next to impossible to keep the canoes afloat. The men are ever watchful that the river does no harm to their charge. Mina sensing this, sits up bold, each time the canoe lurches; each time the spray douses her face she spits it away defiantly. She is amazed at the skill and endurance of her guides, not to mention their fearlessness against a river that would drag them off a rock and into the torrent without a moment’s notice. They in turn are impressed with her sheer determination, her defiance, her will to prevail.
Additional Information:
Contact: Ken Pittman - red.ochre@nf.sympatico.ca
MISERY HARBOUR
Producers:
Motlys (Norway), Red Ochre Productions (Canada)
Director:
Nils Gaup
Cast:
Nicolaj Coster Waldau, Stuart Graham, Annake Von
Der Lippe, Graham Greene
Status:
Released internationally to cinema, video and television
Production Notes:
Filmed on location in Scandinavia,
St. John's and Gander
Tag line:
"Love and murder, murder and love. These
are the only things worth writing about" - Aksel Sandermose
Synopsis:
Misery Harbour is freely based on the life
and writing of the controversial Danish/Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose
(1899-1965). The author claimed all his life that he killed a man in Newfoundland.
This murder played a significant role in many of his famous novels. No
one has been able to trace the murder on Newfoundland or find police reports
to confirm his story.
Oslo, Norway 1932. Espen Arnakke is a writer and a man haunted by his
past. A humiliating encounter with Johan Hoeg, a literary rival, reopens
old wounds and in an attempt to redeem himself in the eyes of Jenny, the
woman he loves, he tells her his story ...
Jante, Demark 1915. The young Espen is full of romantic ideas of becoming
a writer and desperate to escape a life of grinding poverty in the local
ironworks. An offer of work on board a departing ship by Irish sailor
John Walkfield, seizes Espen's imagination and he jumps at the chance
of adventure on the high seas.
Espen idolises John, his liberator and his friend, but en route to the
redwood forest of Newfoundland, he discovers that John is not what he
seems. When Espen is caught smuggling food supplies on board ship, John
betrays him to the sadistic captain and Espen is brutally whipped.
Confused and afraid, Espen risks his life and jumps ship. Washed ashore, he finds himself in a little village called Misery Harbour, where he finds work but he is horried to find that John Wakefield is there too.
Oslo, 1932. Listening to his tale, Jenny doubts Espen is capable of murder. Realising how much he needs Jenny, Espen retells the conclusion to his story and this time resolves to tell the truth; but the truth cannot only be stranger than fiction, it can be incomparably worse.
Additional Information:
Contact: Ken Pittman - red.ochre@nf.sympatico.ca
EDAC 2003 Marketing Canada Awards
The Gander Film Development Office has been honored for its marketing efforts by the Economic Developers Association of Canada, receiving three first place trophies in EDAC's 2003 Marketing Canada Awards program. The FDO garnered the awards October 5th, during EDAC's 35th Professional Development Conference.
Gander's Economic Development Department submitted a total of 14 entries in seven categories, with submissions advancing as finalists in four of those categories. Winning entries included Gander's Film Development Promotional Campaign, its Film Locations Guide and Film Locations Guide CD-ROM, as well as a biotech-based print advertisement entitled, "We want to get into your genes."
©2003 Town of Gander Media Centre | Site Info