History Revealed...

A fortunate opportunity in a land of prosperity

4/5/2016

It's been a while since we've last chatted, but it has not been a winter lost in vein - in fact, just the opposite. We had, around the time of early November, began to consolidate and verify some of the research we have been doing for the past 2 years - ensuring that the stories we had were verifiable (as far as it was possible to know, of course). These types of stories and information has been hidden, as we've said many times; but there is a level of certainty you can achieve when you do the right information. That process has taken about 4 months to craft into what we now can see as the film, and begin to see how the story will flow throughout.

At that same time in November, we had also just opened up a treasure chest of historical images, and used the remaining funds we had to digitize as many of them as possible to cinema-level quality. The money was well-spent, too - over 50 images obtained are now ready for insert into the film. If you've been following our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/thelightdocumentary) you will have been seeing our releases of some of those pictures as we go. They've been truly eye-opening, a glimpse into a past that makes the stories of our heroes' lives make so much more sense - this is how the world looked to them. Here's a tiny selection of some of those pictures.

London was very much a frontier, "boom and bust" type of area throughout the duration of these images, but what becomes more clear in the research is that the opportunity that presented itself in the early to mid 1850's was one of the best for immigrants. In this time AT + AB Jones do exceptionally well; Lewis Chambers establishes his gospel in the region; Jon Mason elevates himself economically; and Henry Dormer arrives as a young man and immediately begins to make his presence felt. London and the region of Southwestern Ontario experience huge growth, especially as many farms begin to set up in the area, tearing down the wild forest to plant seeds of hope for their future generations.

The movement of Blacks into London is particularly interesting because London's reputation quickly spread as being a place with a need for good labour force to help grow the city. The bonus of being in a land with the same protections as British Subjects also helped, but the city has a wave of blacks move into the city - and immediately settle in the Hollow, a swampy area at the time but made extremely valuable when the Great Western Railway came to build the tracks just a few blocks from the station...

At this same time, the United States wasn't so "United". Even in the North, "free" states, the Fugitive Slave Act pushed through congress made it legal for blacks to be abducted and sold into the Slave Trade in the Slave states. Needless to say, that made the booming area of "the Southwest Peninsula" just beyond the borders and lost somewhere in the woods by legend, a very enticing place.

Over on the donate page, you'll also see some changes coming to that page. We have been able to partner with a charity in the states that can offer Tax-Credits to US citizens for their donations to the film. We encourage you to check it out if you're interested in telling Black History!

And for everyone else, Canadians and all interested in helping this film get made: If you want to support our film, we've made a fun, and easy way to do so and get something simple out of it: We've started a postcard list! For as little as 10 dollars we will send you some custom designed film postcards periodically with updates to the film's progress. Check out the explanation on the donation page, and join in the fun!

DONATE HERE

-Mark

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Crossing the Niagara

10/14/2015

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A fantastic week for the film’s progress! While we continue to search for funds and sponsors of the project, it seems we’ve made some serious inroads on both sides of the border; in the US we’ve reached an agreement with a charitable organization that they will provide sponsorship of the film – allowing us to ultimately offer tax credits to US citizens that donate! While we’re still working out the final details for it to become official, our application was accepted and the organization was excited to offer their support, especially considering their mission states they look to support historical films and projects. A huge piece of the puzzle for us, as it has opened the gates for many US grants and other funding opportunities, ones that were previously off-limits or just out of reach. We’ll certainly be putting this to good use! And our American friends and followers – we’ll be letting you know precisely when we can open the doors to tax-receipt eligible donations. Canadians – it won’t be far behind either!
                Meanwhile on the northern side of the border, we’ve been in talks with a couple organizations about potential sponsorship of the film, while another organization has told us of possible donations that could be coming our way soon – giving us another huge boost!
                In turn, we’ve began to schedule our US research trips and push our “remote” research further. I’m excited to announce that in November we will be undertaking our first research trip to Baltimore – one that we’ve already started lining up places to visit and people to talk with – and should be able to start collecting materials and fitting puzzle pieces together in a much more concrete way. Given what we’ve discovered so far in London and the area, there’s an aura of excitement around that trip to see what turns up in physical documents and pictures. A thrilling build of anticipation! Be prepared for a swath of information, posts, and photos around that time.
                Now all this cross talk of borders really got us researching the actual logistics of how John Mason and Lewis Chambers would have made it across to Canada from the US. In Southern Ontario, there is no land borders whatsoever (in fact, in Ontario overall, there’s also very few in general, and it’s up near Minnesota and Northern Ontario). Two Great Lakes stood as enormous barriers (Erie and Ontario), and huge, fast rivers cut through the land in between (the Detroit river near the Michigan/Amhertsberg crossing, and the Niagara River between Western New York and the “Niagara Frontier” in Ontario). In a time of little technology and dangerous desperation, we can only imagine what an Escaping slave would have felt, getting to the very edge of true freedom and seeing such an incredible obstacle. And with many slave catchers either hot on their heels or stalking around the border to try and catch any would-be border crossers, the biggest gambles may have been taken at that moment.
                This brought up the obvious question – how DID they physically get across the river? We focussed our searching on the Niagara River this week, as it was a question that didn’t have a simple answer. Initial searching uncovered a few Underground Railroad locations in Buffalo and Lewiston in New York – as usual, the US side of information is much more accessible than the Canadian side – but nothing concrete. In Fort Erie, there were talks of a park called “Freedom Park”, which legend has it was a major terminus for dropping off newly free Blacks, many of whom would be stepping onto Canadian soil for the very first time (often in the dark). Looking at modern photos, it seems this park is now a parking lot with a plaque or monument in the riverside portion of Fort Erie the town – but when looking towards the past, in the 1850s Fort Erie was almost quite literally a Fort that was south of Freedom Park – and the population of Fort Erie the town was a paltry and scattered 835, many of whom would have been farmers inland from the river or British Militia stationed near the border in the Fort itself. The area itself, of course more famously known for the battles fought on the riverbanks (and the numerous ancient forts that are peppered on either side of the Niagara) and the beautiful Niagara Falls approximately half way between the two lakes that the river connected, was mostly forested. The term “the Niagara Frontier” appears on many maps from that time, almost referring to the sparse, empty wilderness on the western side of the river. Conversely the Eastern banks of the Niagara housed a few growing communities such as Buffalo, Niagara Falls (NY) and Lewiston, a border town that was situated at the beginning of the portion of the river after the falls known as the Niagara Gorge.
                For Lewis Chambers and John Mason, swimming across simply wasn’t an option. The water was frigid and rapid, and the distance of a few hundred meters would have been immense to fight the cold that would shut down the body as one swam. Furthermore, at the Buffalo Crossing, getting swept away by the river would be dangerous even if one could keep their head above water and not freeze – the Falls would surely finish the job just a couple miles away. After the falls, it may have seemed more possible, but the massive gorge cut by the river over eons would have created large cliffs and swirling water, making it nearly impossible to go into without some kind of help.
                Help, however, was available. Research shows Lewiston was a strong abolitionist community with a “Station Master” (usually the leader of the community that helped the fugitives) that controlled multiple safe houses in the town, the most important of which was a four story home that was built into the gorge and had multiple levels, many with windows that pointed at the Canadian banks across the river. In a location that’s now known as “Freedom Point”, the station master often loaded up Escapees into a canoe and crossed the river to Canada, releasing them to true freedom for the first time in their lives. The community was very tight-lipped about their actions, never letting outsiders know the logistics or details – and that was critical in a time were sympathetics could also be charged with aiding Fugitive Slaves and fined or imprisoned.
                Meanwhile, just up from Buffalo was a ferry known as the “Black Rock”, which carted many travellers along a canal in the Niagara River that was forged between a long, narrow island and the mainland. Rumours surfaced that this ferry would stow away Escaping Blacks and ferry them across to Freedom Park in Fort Erie, which seems to be likely considering Freedom Park and the location of the Black Rock Ferry are directly across from one another (it is worth noting, however, that the ferry would have had to go around the Island in the Canal first, a distance that would have made the trip considerably longer).
                So, it seems likely that Lewis Chambers and John Mason would have used one of these two methods upon arriving in the area. They both arrived in London and area in the early 1850s, while the first rail bridge that crossed the Niagara River wasn’t complete until 1848 – and while it’s possible that they could have walked across the suspension bridge, logic would point that it’s probably where the heaviest concentration of slave catchers, police, and others that weren’t sympathetic would have been watching. Not to mention the possibility of a train coming while crossing, which would mean certain detection for any on the bridge. It’s possible that Chambers or Mason used it, but of all the crossings, it’s probably the least likely.
                Here’s a picture of that train bridge crossing the river over the gorge in 1855, which nicely illustrates the difficulty the natural landscape provided for any that would attempt to cross over.
                But where there’s a will, there’s a way, and it’s fantastic to uncover just another piece of a large, complex, and mostly hidden puzzle.

Mark

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Baltimore and London - a shared secrecy

10/1/2015

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Oct 1, 2015

What a whirlwind of information we’ve uncovered – and it was simply from peeling the very first lair of open from the next stage of our research.
While our London research is ongoing and exciting, we felt that it was time to really start diving into the US side of the story – the 1850s, as many would assume, was not exactly an ideal time to be a Black person living anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line, and it quickly spread to the entire country when the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, making it legal for escaping slaves to be caught by slave catchers and brought back south. And while the Fugitive Slave Act caused a whole plethora of changes and problems for so called “colored” people, it really could take over an entire blog post (and will, but not this one!). Suffice to say, the Fugitive Slave Act really made Canada the only “free” place a Black person could realistically go to. And upon its passing, Upper Canada (now present day Southern Ontario) experienced a big increase in the Black population, many of whom arrived via the various methods provided by the Underground Railroad.

That had ramifications for two of main characters, Lewis Chambers and John Mason, both of whom arrived in the London area shortly after the Fugitive Slave Act was passed, and who both claimed to be from the Maryland and Baltimore area. And so we had turned our research lenses to focus on Maryland’s (now) most populous city, and what its society and culture was like during that era.

I think that like many others that don’t know the history of the Underground Railroad and US slavery, we just assumed that like all cities in the south, they all engaged in slavery practices and were all united in their support of slavery itself. The reality is far murkier.

For Baltimore and Maryland, it was much more complicated. Baltimore was founded on one of the inlets of the Chesapeake Bay, and as a port town its economy had close ties to shipping. As Africans were stolen from their homeland and sent to the Americas, Baltimore and its Fells Point became a natural stopping point for slave traders, many of whom came from other slave states with the intention of buying Africans and sending them south, often to New Orleans. Even after importing slaves became illegal, the domestic slave trade more than provided enough business for the area.

The slave trading industry flourished in the city, and many “facilities” for housing slaves were built along the main corridor between the port at Fell’s Point and downtown. These facilities were nothing more than slave pens, which was essentially a primitive jail where the slaves were held while they waited to be sold or shipped. Stories tell of a sad situation where many slaves were marched in chains down the street from the pens to the awaiting ships at the port while family members sobbed beside them, acutely aware that they would likely never see each other again.

All of this sounds deplorable, and upon quick glance it would be easy to condemn the entire area and its people for the practice. Of course, it’s just not that simple. Many of the city’s whites and religious were opposed to the idea of slavery or indifferent to the issue – however, as the march to the Civil War escalated, Maryland found itself caught in the middle – many were Abolitionists and pro-Union supporters, while others found themselves supporting the Confederate states. The supporters of each side were split county-to-county, and Baltimore quickly became a flash point for that tension. As a result, political alliances were formed and many voted in favour of the Confederate, pro-slavery party as that brought peace to the streets (at least temporarily). But when the Civil War began, Maryland officially became a Union state, although loyalties (and many battlegrounds) continued to be split across either side.

This, of course, is just an overview of the available information we’ve found. And while the fact remains that slavery existed in the city before the Civil War, much of that history has been tucked away, hidden from the public’s view. It’s in that attempt to hide their Black History in Baltimore, over what we suspect is because of its brutal and shameful past – one that the United States in general hopes everyone would forget, despite the impossibility of doing so – where we find strange similarities between Baltimore and London, Ontario.

Now, apart from the obvious connection of Lewis Chambers and John Mason, and the influx of blacks in the area after the Fugitive Slave Act was rigorously enforced, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of links between the two cities upon first glance. However, what we’ve discovered is that London and Baltimore both seem to try and keep their black history very quiet – albeit for different reasons – and much of that culture and past has been swept under the rug. In Baltimore, it seems to stem from a shared desire to not “rock the boat” and upset a delicate balance between blacks and whites in the area over what is indisputably a dark time in the city’s history. In London, however, the sweeping under the rug seems to appear unintentional (although that’s not true either) – hidden in history behind what’s often associated with a Canadian cultural phenomenon of being modest and trying not to boast. Despite the different reasons, the end result is the same – a slice of society and history unknown except by a select few historians.

It’s that unknown part that we plan on changing. We’ve barely opened the book and it’s revealed so much more that’s beyond the forward. And with a November research trip to Baltimore in the works, we’re expecting to pull page after page out into public awareness.

It’s too important to leave hidden.

Mark

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Regulations, Interns, and the Learning Curve

6/24/2015

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June 24, 2015

A lot has happened since we last spoke... an awful, awful lot. Earlier in the year, Steve and I sat down and discussed the proper approach to this film – after all, there is multiple ways to get a film created – but ultimately we decided upon the standard approach. And that approach began with us formally creating a film company and beginning the MASSIVE learning curve that comes along with it.

                And let me tell you, the learning has been constant, with each of us learning more every step of the way. And with that learning, of course, comes mistakes. See, when one creates a film company there’s a special type of share that comes with it – one that allows us (the creators) to raise funds but keep the creative control of the project (through voting in the company). In order to do that, there’s a collection of regulations over the types of investors that we can even approach – at least for an Ontario company. And those regulations are STEEP – assets or income per year that places an individual at or near the top 1% of earners in the country. Of course, those regulations are placed to protect investors (although I’m not exactly sure who they’re protecting), so we understand why they’re there – but it took us a bit of time to learn this information.

                As a result, we had to alter our approach to fundraising – shifting our focus at the same time – but not before we took some pain. We had approached a potential investor on the merits of our film – a documentary we really believe has an important place in revealing unknown history – and they were on board for 30K, which would have put us in a position to shoot the film at our “optimum” timeline. They had the cheque ready – and then we found out about the regulations, and ultimately how we were not allowed to accept the money on the table in front of us. As you can imagine, immensely frustrating, but at the same time an important learning moment for us.

                The issue/hold up for us has been funding thus far – not interest. In fact, everyone we’ve talked to has given us a positive response; they like the project, understand our approach and goals, and want to help us make it a reality – which has been an incredible boon. Some have even donated small amounts to help us make small steps – we’ve been fortunate that much of our research has been made possible by those donations, and has revealed an incredible story that we know is worthy of the screen (and then some). And we’ve began to made some serious inroads with new potential investors, now that we have all the information required. We are hoping to put together the remainder of the funding in the next few months, which would only really be a little bit behind our original intended schedule. It’s just a matter of time before we get that serious investor, and when we do we know that we’ll be making something special with them. This film is an opportunity in so many ways.

                Despite that learning curve, we have continued to plug along with the production as we can – which included picking up a few interns at a local high school in London that discovered some of our pitch competition wins and contacted us wanting to learn more about the film. As it turned out, they were very eager and very talented, and created a brand-new poster for the film which builds off the previous conceptual one but includes some of the old photographs we’d discovered earlier in the year. So we are very happy to include that design here,, and you’ll be seeing it pop up as we get further into this project.

They also had two teams create the facebook cover photo on the page’s landing, which you can check out (and don’t forget to like our film!) at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/TheLightDocumentary

                Stay strong, my friends. We’ve got everything in place to make this film as soon as we’ve got the right investor on board, and when that happens we’ll be throwing so much information your way you’ll get your history fill every day.

-          Mark

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November 17, 2014 Laying the Foundation

11/18/2014

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                Yes, it’s been too long since we last spoke... but we have good reason for that, we swear! Although the documentary’s physical side hasn’t rolled forward at the pace we wanted, there still has been an abundance of “background” that’s been done – unfortunately, it’s just not that interesting for the public as it doesn’t involve visuals or the hardcore story research. Instead, it’s all “legal”, “crew”, “planning”, and “chain of production” related – all things that most filmmakers don’t exactly kick down doors to let their adoring fans know about. Why? Cause it’s boring.

                But alas, it does seem like some of that has been sorted out. Our production schedule is in place, and we’ve lined up most of our locations that we need to shoot in to fill out all the details of our 4 stories. It took us a bit of time to actually nail down all the cities we’ll need to go and shoot in – and we’ve got it down to 4 US cities (the most important city, somehow, is Baltimore – can’t imagine the last time someone said that!), all of which are on the east coast and not particularly far for us to travel from our production home in Southwestern Ontario. The Canadian cities (if you want to call them that, since all but one have a population well below 5000) are also in place. The research trip is nearly planned (March 1st-10th in the USA) as well, and the post-production schedule is also in place. Of course, this is all dependent on one large factor: funding.

                On that front, we ran into quite a few unforeseen roadblocks – the first and foremost being “how do you structure a film production as a company when it’s controlled by two people”? The answer wasn’t nearly as straightforward as you’d think – and involved multiple calls to entertainment lawyers, insurance brokers, copyright lawyers, and so much paperwork that you’d want to cry. We’re still working our way through it, but there’s finally a light at the end of THAT tunnel. It looks promising that we’ll have everything in place to actually receive proper funding in time for our scheduled shoot dates of next spring. We’ve found multiple parties are interested in funding portions of the project – all from various facets of business, government, grants, individuals, and more. We’ve been highly fortunate that interest from prospective funders has never really been the problem – something that’s EXTREMELY rare in the film world – but it’s been us getting a structure in place that was the biggest wall. Now that we’re close to solving that, the funding should come together soon. We’ve actually got 3 proposals one deck but had to get our structure in place first.... now if it all comes together as we suspect, it could be a very “merry Christmas!” None are offers to fund the entire project, but if we can piece them together properly it could make up a substantial chunk that we need – and most importantly – could fund the entire shoot and all the research time. Here’s hoping!

                Finally, we are also happy to share some great news – the Slave Chapel that started this whole journey for us at long last was successfully moved to its new home, saving it from potential destruction and a small fire that nearly swallowed it just weeks before it’s move. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief on that front, and it was a cool and unique experience to see a 166 year old building roll down the modern downtown streets in the middle of a busy work day in London. And of course, because of our special connection to the Chapel and the film, we acquired some footage that no other cameras (which included a few broadcast stations) could dream of getting.... including the last footage shot inside the building before the move, and a nifty timelapse of the Chapel being backed into place at its new property. That’s all we can reveal on that front at this time, but suffice to say that it was a humbling experience to be a part of such special history for the region and the film. While the Chapel needs quite a bit of restoration work to get it back up to snuff, it’s at least in the right home and the biggest task has been completed.

                Here’s a sneak picture of the Chapel arriving at the new grounds, complete with one of our cameras capturing the move...

We’ll be in touch soon – hopefully with some great news to share – fingers crossed!
-Mark

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June 23, 2014 What a difference a season can make

6/25/2014

I’m happy to announce that we got our first bit of funding, a small grant that really helped us get off the ground and collect some materials and pictures for the documentary... and arrange some more interviews.

                The grind of documentary making, especially one such as this where the story is “revealed” to us through more and more research, is always more rewarding when you find a piece of the puzzle that fits so many other seemingly random details together. That’s been starting to happen, and as each piece comes together, the story surrounding these people’s lives becomes more focussed.

                We’ve also be quite fortunate to find enthusiastic historians that are going out of their way to help us obtain more information – that’s really been a blessing for us, as for a long time it was just the two of us working away – and while that’s still mostly true, now there’s others that are frequently sending us their findings, as well.

                But enough talk for one blog, right? It’s time to share a few scans of things we’ve found. And while we’re only scratching the surface for visuals, particularly after we found an archive with immense amounts of historical photos from the 1860’s-1880’s of the area, I’ve got a feeling that there’s so much more to be found out there...

This image is really one of the first “views” of London that was created – at least with an attempt at building accuracy – and was produced in 1848 as part of a map that outlined the streets of London. But what’s great about this image is not only the Middlesex county building (the castle-looking one in the background), but also a factory smokestack which comes into play in Sullivan’s story. And of course, one of the discreet little buildings near the river just happens to be a newly built Escaped Slave Chapel, in its first year of existence at the time.

We scanned this headline off the London Advertiser’s April 19th, 1873 paper. An enormous explosion had just ripped through the city that day – one that made international news and sparked a phenomenal response from the city’s citizens itself... and just so happens to feature Mr. Sullivan’s heroism...

                Here’s a partial scan of one of the classic maps at the time – this one created at shortly after confederation (as the map refers to the area as “formerly Upper Canada”). Here you can see Middlesex county highlighted in green, where most of our stories take place – but the region down to the Detroit border and across to underneath Lake Ontario play a huge role in the migration of escaped slaves... and at the time, this would have been the type of map that had the most up-to-date information. Strange to see how things have changed (or haven’t, in some cases) in 150 years...

                So there’s a few to wet your appetite and hopefully get you hungry for more. It’s worth noting we’re working on another trailer that incorporates more of our newfound knowledge...

-          Mark

March 7, 2014 : Winter vs. Production

3/7/2014

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               Time flies when you’re having fun, right? One of the coldest Canadian winters in recorded history (which, ironically, the coldest is back in the 1850s and comes up a lot in our research), has rendered our ability to get out and interview historians and collect footage particularly difficult... but hey! Spring’s on its way, and with that comes the ability to take a camera outside and film things! So there’s always the upside.

                In the meantime, we’ve been buried under an absolute sea of grant proposals and research angles, as we try to forge ahead from our studio. And I’m happy to share this long-overdue update with you, and share a few highlights of our winter filmmaking experience...

                First and foremost, word seems to be spreading locally about our film. In the past few months we’ve been contacted by interested fans who have read about the interviews we did back in the fall, and naturally we’re delighted to share as much information as we can without giving away the entire plot. In fact, back in late February, we were invited to do a presentation about the documentary to a historical society at Western University (or, as most of us prefer to know it, The University of Western Ontario), where we shared some of our findings about the first individual of our documentary, Daniel Sullivan. We’re quite confident that Mr. Sullivan will be the leadoff story, given his association with the Escaped Slave Chapel, who we’ve also done a bit of research about (as it was part of the inspiration for the documentary as you see it now). And at this presentation, we were also happy to learn more about the Escaped Slave Chapel itself, as its chief advocate of the Fugitive Slave Chapel Preservation Project (http://www.fscpp.ca for those interested) was also on hand to give a presentation to the crowd. Shortly after that presentation, our producer Steve was invited to Fanshawe College to share stories of the documentary with a media studies group.

                Of course, at these presentations we’ve been handing out free, small posters for free as well – so keep your eyes peeled to our twitter (which you should follow if you don’t, as at the last presentation we did a bit of live tweeting and routinely update) or facebook pages, where we frequently post little updates to what’s going on in our film’s world. Links are at the top!

                Secondly: after attending a presentation in mid-February, entitled “Black Canadians and the US Civil War” (which I’m happy to say had over 500 people in the audience), we managed to make contact with author/speaker Bryan Prince, and let him know about our project. He showed a lot of interest in what we were doing, and just last week I’m delighted to say we had our first meeting with him, an exploratory one where we talked about the film, and shared stories of Escaped Slaves. In this meeting Bryan shared with us the story of not only an Escaped Slave, but one who became a missionary and preacher in the area. The best part? He kept a journal of his exploits, and we have gained access to it! Even from just preliminary readings, the insight this preacher gives is so deeply personal and paints such a fantastic picture of what it is REALLY like to come out of slavery that we know this individual (with the help of Bryan’s insight, which has been incredible so far) is going to have a special place in our documentary. Heck, he may even become the focal story in it.

                Lastly, we’re starting to work on a new trailer, a teaser that adds just a little bit more information about the stories we plan on telling in the film. It probably won’t be out until the spring, but keep your eyes open for it!

                Talk soon, my friends.

-          Mark

PS: If you want to check out Bryan’s awesome books about the Underground Railroad or Black settlement in Canada, we highly recommend visiting his website: http://www.bryanprince.ca

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December 2013 Update

12/16/2013

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So, it’s been quite a bit of time since we’ve blogged. And with it being a snowy, windy day outside, it’s a perfect opportunity to provide a badly needed update to the film’s progress!

                First off, the event was a great success, and I wanted to take this opportunity to thank all the sponsors and guests that came out. It was a great opportunity to tell people in the community what we’re doing and our goals for the film, as well as help spread the word about the Slave Chapel (which I’m happy to announce, seems to have secured it’s funding to move the chapel!) that spawned this entire project. Of course, our cameras will be rolling when the chapel is moved, and we’ll be certain to showcase the actual move on the site with a short video. We’re just waiting to get word on when the move is actually going to take place. But it was great that our event (even in its own small way) helped make that move a reality. Of course, we’re now beginning to plan our next event, which is scheduled to take place during Black History month – and revolve around a free showcase of the film’s progress so far with a little sneak peak of one of the stories. But that’s a few months away, and in the meantime we’ll be forging ahead with another interesting little story we found...

... which is a local piece that surrounds another historical icon in the area. Of course, that’s Western Fair’s horse-racing track. Although more “modern” in the historical context (opening its doors in the 1950s), the harness racing industry is currently in a state of flux after the government of Ontario announced that it was pulling some of its financial support from the sport. We’ve already shot an interview with one of the horse trainers – you’ll have seen some of the pictures on the site already – and we’re arranging an interview with the horse track owners, as well as some getting some really awesome “behind the scenes” footage of competition on race days. I don’t want to give too much away about that story, but I will say that at the beginning we were firmly on one party’s side – but since researching more, Steve and I actually find ourselves on opposite ends of the spectrum on which side we’re supporting. It should provide for an interesting short film, and we hope to have it released on the site in January. I’ll be blogging about it in more detail after we shoot the second interview... which I’m really, really, REALLY looking forward to shooting soon.

                We’ve also began the grant proposal process. Contact has been made with arts councils, and apart from the universal curiosity when we mention our project and what we’re working towards, we’ve been steered towards some very promising grants. We’ve also joined forces with another accomplished documentarian, who’s offered his assistance in building the proposals with us – a HUGE boost for us. His name? Juan Andres Bello, and I can say I’m quite excited to have the opportunity to work with him. (IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4496195/) We’ve been told by multiple people, other filmmakers and grant officials alike, that this film is particularly well positioned to get consideration from some major grants in the country... which is something we suspected already, but it’s been really uplifting to hear it from others. Makes us know we’re on the right track.

                Speaking of IMDB, we were also recently granted an IMDB page for our film: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3344354/ - not much on it as of yet, but we’ll be adding information to it as we go. We’re in the big leagues with the project now!

                Also, have you seen our official teaser poster? They’re in production now, and for a limited time, Steve and myself are signing them for donors that give more $10 in support of the film. They make a great Christmas present (just sayin’) for that history-and-film buff on your list.... ;) Of course, all the profits from the donations go directly to the costs of the film, and I’m happy to see some donations already rolling in.

                Now, for the final plugs: be sure to follow the twitter account (@TheLightDoc) and like the Facebook page (link at the top of the site) to get more exclusive updates and pictures as we go along. No pressure, of course, but it’s an easy way to stay in touch with all the chaos and exhilaration of the filmmaking process without any of the stress! It’s also a quick and easy way to get in touch with either Steve or myself if you ever have any questions about the film.

                More to come soon. With Christmas on its way, it’ll provide both Steve and I a chance to take a break from our “normal” jobs, and get some of the heavy lifting on the film done... so I’ll be drinking an eggnog to that prospect!

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THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

10/16/2013

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First of all, I want to welcome you to our humble production blog! This section of the site is meant to give you, the loyal and potentially excitable fan, the “in the thick of it” production scoops as we, the
filmmakers, continue through our journey of creating this historical documentary, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.


So you may be asking yourself, what is this documentary even about?


The site (which you may or may not have accessed this blog from, but for sake of reference is www.thelightdoc.ca) has a short write-up about what the film is about, but if you missed it or don’t want to look, here it is:


The Light at the End of the Tunnel is a feature-length documentary that explores the deeply personal stories of individuals living in the Southwestern Ontario region during the 1800’s. We began this journey in January 2013, when Steve Charles (director, producer) discovered that an Escaped Slave Chapel built in 1848 in London, Ontario, needed to be moved from its original location to where the congregation now resides, a few blocks down the road. He quickly joined forces with filmmaker Mark Drewe (director, producer) to tell a unique historical story. What began as a simple documentary that was focused on the move of the Chapel itself, rapidly grew into a series of compelling stories about one of the first areas in Canada to be truly multicultural, at a time when both the United States was reeling from Civil War and Canada was just an infant as a country. By focusing on the people that came to the area as outsiders to the country, and their intimate and
personal stories of their lives, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL is dedicated to not just remembering these long-forgotten people, but to express their lives and display the impact these new settlers had on forming a civilized society at a time when a country was being born. The stories we have discovered are engaging, heartbreaking, inspiring, and so much more.


The full-length feature film will portray 5 stories of individuals that lived in the region during the 1800’s, while the site is dedicated to portraying many of the smaller stories we find in addition to the documentary itself.


These are their stories.


To date, we’ve filmed two complete interviews with local historians, as well as having lined up a research team consisting of a professor and a few undergraduate students.

Steve and Mark will be the primary writers of the blog, and we will be sharing our personal insights throughout the process. Both of us come from very different backgrounds; Steve grew up in a small town in Southwestern Ontario, just outside of London, Ontario, and as a young man played professional baseball in the Toronto Blue Jays farm system. After finishing his playing days, he became an advanced scout with the organization, often travelling from city to city in the US. When he eventually left pro baseball, he became an architectural drafter, eventually starting his own company, The Iron Pencil. It was through his work as an architectural drafter that he got involved with the Chapel, and it was his friendship with Mark that got the documentary off and running.


Mark, meanwhile, is 11 years younger than Steve, and grew up in a small own just outside of Burlington, Ontario. He moved to London as an 18 year old and went to the University of Western Ontario (now Western University) for Film studies. After getting his Honors BA, he left University and started his own production company, Mosaic Mind Pictures at 24. He met Steve as a 21 year old playing recreational baseball, and the two forged a friendship right away.


The birth of the film came from both Steve and Mark’s interest in the craft of storytelling. Right away both had a clear vision of the kind of film that the Slave Chapel’s story could create – but it was the explosion of interest from the community (which I’ll have to touch on in another blog), including city officials itself, that really put the film’s gears into motion. Since that initial test interview we shot in June 2013, the region’s largely untold multicultural history has really taken on a life of its own. While there are literally 100’s of stories to tell, and nearly every day we find more, we are committed to finding and telling the 5 most compelling stories in the documentary. These stories will outline the rich, diverse history that the area has – stories that have inspired, infuriated, scared us and given us hope; but all have the common thread that simply isn’t well known.


We aim to change that, and we are delighted to give you a peek into this region’s fascinating history.


This won’t be any ordinary journey.

-
Mark

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A fortunate opportunity in a land of prosperity

Crossing the Niagara

Baltimore and London - a shared secrecy

Regulations, Interns, and the Learning Curve

November 17, 2014 Laying the Foundation

June 23, 2014 What a difference a season can make

March 7, 2014 : Winter vs. Production

December 2013 Update

THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL

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