Newspaper editors receive a lot of weird
phone calls. A couple of years ago someone phoned me to see if
I could find out any information about something he remembers
happening when he was a little boy in the late 1930s.
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top > VICKI GILHULA |
Â"I may be nuts but I clearly remember seeing
a whale swim up Junction Creek. But no one else does,Â" he told
me. Â"Maybe you can find out something about it.Â"
A couple of days later I was telling this
story to a friend who grew up in Sudbury and has a long memory.
He is someone I often turn to regarding matters of local
history.
Â"No, no, no,Â" he said. Â"The whale didnÂ't
swim up Junction Creek, it was riding on a rail car.Â"
Â"Huh?Â"
He remembers his mother taking him to what he
called a Â"flea circus,Â" or a circus sideshow. Among the
bearded woman, the fire-swallowing magician, and the snake
tamer, was a dead whale sitting on a slab of ice, he
said.
The dead whale was rolled into town by train
on tracks along Junction Creek. Mystery solved. I forgot about
it.
Then I saw A Whale of Tale last Friday at
Cinefest. Filmmaker Peter Lynch showed his latest documentary
about his quest to find information about a whale bone found
buried at QueenÂ's Quay in Toronto. The journey of discovery is
a better story than the boneÂ's history. The filmmaker
was
hoping to tell a story about a prehistoric
whale in the Great Lakes. Instead, he has reason to believe his
whale bone was once part of a 19th century
circus sideshow.
Lynch took part in a film forum called Talk
Doc! along with filmmakers Kelly Saxburg, who made Letters from
Karelia, Christine Pochmursky, a
broadcaster and documentary maker, and Louis
Belanger, director of a documentary on Quebec filmmaker
Jean-Claude Lauzon.
I attended the forum because I am interested
in the art of storytelling, regardless of the medium.
Unfortunately, filmmakers with interesting
ideas are not welcomed with open arms by funding agencies and
television executives who want formula stories that can attract
mass audiences. (
See Craig GilbertÂ's report on the forum
)
There was a long line-up Sunday for
SaxburgÂ's National Film Board project. She took pictures of
the audience and will perhaps use them when a bureaucrat says
her ideas do not have mass appeal.
Her documentary is about a Finnish-Canadian
from northwestern Ontario who immigrated to the Soviet Union
during The Depression. The true story of Alfred PitkanenÂ's
short but eventful life has all the drama, romance, political
struggle and tragedy of Doctor Zhivago.
Belanger told participants at the forum that
documentary makers have an important role in telling history to
a future generation.
If you have a chance to rent or view these
films on television at a later date, you wonÂ't be
disappointed.
This was the 15th Cinefest I have attended. I
missed the first one. Although I loved the festival when it was
downtown, this year organizers did a great job of creating a
pleasant atmosphere at SilverCity.
The Famous Players management and staff
should be thanked for their hospitality.
This year there were more movies and less
frenzied line-ups. If one theatre sold out, a second theatre
was opened.
Many people take the week off to attend the
festival. Others use vacation time to volunteer as ushers and
ticket takers.
I get to see people I donÂ't see the rest of
the year, and for a couple of days my mind goes on a
holiday.
Cinefest is a great community happening.
Bravo.
Cinefest Sudbury announced the award winners
of the 2004 edition of the festival Sunday. Winners included
Rob Stefaniuk (Phil the Alien) receiving the National Film
Board of Canada Carolyn Fouriezos Memorial Award Best Canadian
First Feature.
Daniel Nolet of Sudbury won $1,000 in the
student category for his film The Man Who Had It All.
Vicki Gilhula is the managing editor of Northern
Life.
