Galafilm, McKenna brothers

reunite for Witness war doc

Montreal: The filmmakers behind the controversial but highly successful The Valour and The Horror are returning with a new three-hour documentary centered on the sea battles of wwii as well as the role played by the Polish battalion which served under the Canadian flag.

Galafilm producer Arnie Gelbart, director/writer Brian McKenna and writer/narrator Terence McKenna shot the Super 16 series, tentatively titled Glory, on location near Derry in Northern Ireland where Canadian convoy escorts went to port, in London, Normandy, Berlin and Warsaw, and in three Canadian cities, St. John’s, Halifax and Ottawa. About a third of the footage is from archival sources and a fair percentage is ‘in limbo’ dramatization, says Gelbart.

War at Sea, Parts I & II make up the first two one-hour episodes, with action keying on the resistance to German submarine penetration of Canadian coastal waters and Canadian convoy duties in the brutal North Atlantic.

The third episode, A Polish Battlefield, examines the mission of the Polish infantry battalion which fought in Italy and Normandy under French-Canadian command.

The series is coproduced by the National Film Board and is slated for delivery by early September. It will be broadcast, likely this fall, on Witness, cbc’s primetime documentary showcase.

Independent historians plus a historian with the cbc consulted on the series, but McKenna says the new films are ‘absolutely made in the spirit of The Valour and the Horror. We can’t leave the history of this country to retired military graduatesÉor members of the Legion, it’s too important.’

McKenna says there’s a new generation of historians who have been more supportive of the filmmaker’s way of seeing things, ‘and they understand that television is the most powerful medium of our time.’

Some of the hottest archival footage in the series is stunning, never-before-broadcast Nazi documentation seized by the victorious Red Army in 1945 as it rolled into Warsaw. ‘These are the kinds of films that got cameramen killed,’ says the director.

McKenna gives credit to the cbc for having the guts to commission new material from the Galafilm/McKenna juggernaut, adding he expects the public broadcaster to honor its commitment to rebroadcast the controversial six-hour Valour documentary.

‘The Valour and the Horror could probably never have been made in the u.s., nor the u.k.,’ he says.

Investors include cbc, Telefilm Canada, the Cable Production Fund, the Quebec tax credit and the nfb.

Otherwise, Galafilm is finishing a two-hour science and adventure documentary called By Ice Breaker to the North Pole, the story of the first study of the High Arctic by scientists on board u.s. and Canadian ice breakers as they journey through some of the region’s uncharted ice packs.

Directed by Lewis Cohen and scripted by Cohen and Gelbart, the $500,000 program includes film footage from cinematographer Stefan Nitoslawski and a video diary from science writer/program narrator Wayne Grady.

Funding support comes from the Canadian and u.s. Coast Guards, Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the U.S. National Science Foundation. a&e is the u.s. broadcaster and French-language specialty service Canal D will broadcast the show this fall.

Other Galafilm projects include After Darwin, a two-hour examination of the political and commercial fallout of the mapping of the human genetic code commissioned by Discovery Channel in Canada and directed by Martin Lavut, and two feature film projects including a sci-fi entry from director and Hour columnist Albert Nerenberg commissioned for Citytv.

The other feature, Lilies, is a coproduction with Toronto’s Triptych Media and producers Anna Stratton and Robin Cass.

John Greyson (Zero Patience) will direct the fall shoot based on the Michel-Marc Bouchard stage play Les feulettes. Bouchard and Montreal writer Linda Gaboriau are the screenwriters. Alliance Releasing is the distributor.

Galafilm is the producer of Climate for Murder, the CBC Newsworld doc from filmmaker Nerenberg about the rash of homosexual murders in a local gay district; The Voyage of the St. Louis, a moving historical documentary about refugees who were refused admission to Canada, the u.s. and even Cuba in 1939; and Merchandizing Murder, the Josh Freed-directed tv doc on the business of the O.J. Simpson trial.

Bolduc makes his debut

Shooting wraps June 23 on writer/director Mario Bolduc’s feature film debut, L’Oreille d’un sourd, a dark family comedy.

Leading players include Paul Hebert, Andre Montmorency, Luc Proulx, Micheline Lanctot, Marylis Ducharme and Marcel Sabourin.

In this story, written by Bolduc, the members of the Viau clan all have their own secrets to hide.

The old man is a bullshitter who tells everyone he has loads of cash to avoid being dumped in an old folks’ home, while his sleazy son feigns disinterest in the old man’s non-existent money, pretending he has his own wealth despite the fact he hasn’t worked a day in over five years.

Mom, who supports everyone on a meager service salary, has her own little deal, a secret lover, while the lovely teenage daughter takes steps to have the room of her dreams by concocting a vicious rumor that old gramps, whose room she covets, is a vile pervert.

Gee, it all kind of makes you want to rush home early for Christmas.

Craft credits go to producer Malcolm Guy, co-ordinator Francine Landry, dop Robert van Herweghemp and pm Ian Boyd.

The talented Bolduc is also a novelist and a former analyst with Telefilm Canada’s coproduction office in Montreal. His short film Repas compris picked up several awards last year.

L’Oreille is being produced by Media 8 with funding from Telefilm, Radio-Canada and French-track pay-tv channel Super Ecran.

Dotan helms $4.5 million Cinequest thriller

Old friends who shared the high hell of the Vietnam War become mortal enemies in Shimon Dotan’s newest action thriller, Coyote (working title), a $4.5 million feature which begins a 24-day shoot June 19.

Produced by Alan Handel, long associated with public affairs programs for cbc’s the 5th estate and nbc’s Dateline, Dotan and Cinequest Films, Coyote is financed primarily through presales to 18 countries, says Handel.

Alliance Releasing has the Canadian rights and l.a.-based Moonstone Entertainment has the u.s. and world rights.

In Coyote, a hard-luck drunk of a deputy sheriff played by Michael Pare (Eddie and the Cruisers I & II, Streets of Fire) exorcises his demons by hunting down a grim underworld character after the latter sets up a double-cross dope deal in a small town on the Canada/u.s. border.

The two men, once hard and fast buddies during the Vietnam War, become mortal enemies, especially after the thug’s sadly abused girlfriend, played by talented Montreal actress Macha Grenon (Scoop, May Day), takes up with the cop.

Dotan’s credits include the award-winning Israeli feature The Smile of the Lambs and Warriors. Shot in ’93, Warriors was sold in more than 30 countries and distributed in the u.s. by Republic Pictures.

Craft credits go to screenwriters Rod Hewitt and Dotan, dop Sylvain Brault, art director Charles Boulet and editor Netaya Anbar. The shoot is crewed by the stcvq.

Besides the presales, funding comes from the Quebec tax credit, the federal tax program, and a $1 million Commercial Production Fund investment by Telefilm Canada.