Alberta's Estonians: DVD completed
Dave Kiil
Editor's note: At the AEHS Annual Meeting in June 2006 we received an invitation from the organizers of the West Coast Estonian Days in Los Angeles to make a presentation about the history of Alberta's Estonians. The invitation was accepted.
Our plans called for a 11/2 hr presentation, consisting of a live Reader's Theatre presentation about the Erdman family 's epic journey from Estonia to Crimea and later to North America, and a 30-minute DVD about the history of Alberta's Estonians. (The early stages of the production process are described in 'A Progess Report' in the Summer 2007 Issue (Volume 26) of AjaKaja.
As coordinator of the DVD project, my assignment was develop a storyline for the film and to move the production process forward by contacting members of the Society and other information sources, such as museums, archives and libraries in Alberta, Canada and Estonia to obtain pictures, video footage and literature describing Alberta's Estonian pioneers and WWII immigrants. The response from members was overwhelmingly positive, and the problem was one of managing the data base rather than worrying about having enough material.
The pre-production work progressed on several fronts: development of a storyline to guide the production, the collection of materials from a variety of sources, interviews with potential producers and, perhaps most importantly, applications for funding support. This was partly resolved before Christmas when our grant application to the National Estonian Foundation of Canada was approved. Several agonizing months passed before a second application to the Community Initiatives Program of the Alberta Govemment was approved in March of2007.
With sufficient funds on hand for a 30-minute professional production, the film's storyline was developed to capture pioneer families as well as the influx of WWII immigrants and their contributions. An important step was to engage Polar Bear Entertainment Inc. of Edmonton as producers of the film.
Bob Kingsep's visit to Estonia after an absence of 108 years was an emotional highlight for him and his relatives (see story in Summer 2007 AjaKaja, Volume 26) and others involved in this exciting venture. The partially-completed film was initially shown during our Jaanipäev celebration at Lincoln Hall and was well received.
The producers were present at the midsummer celebration to conduct interviews and to shoot additional footage for use in completing the film.
Visits to Barons, Stettler, and the Medicine Valley area and interviews with pioneer descendants in various locations provided ample video footage to go with the impressive collection of historical pictures from pioneer descendants and other archival sources.
The production team included Deborah Forst and Rick Bremness, the principals of Polar Bear Entertainment, scriptwriter Jim Warner and narrator Garnet Anthony.
The film premiered in Los Angeles and received very favorable comments. Final editing, including changes to the script, images, and addition of credits were completed in August.
Following the LA event, our efforts were focused on the design of an attractive trap sheet (a cover sheet for a DVD case), including an illustrated synopsis of the film's storyline.
Shortly following the successful presentation in Los Angeles, a copy of the documentary film was sent to the organizers of the Estonian Documentary Film Festival in Toronto. It was reviewed by a jury and accepted for screening during the festival in mid-October.
Our DVD was shown to a capacity audience at the Munk Centre on the University of Toronto Campus.
Copies of the DVD are now available for sale by local distributors in Alberta, by mail order worldwide, and at the Estore in Toronto.
Recently the Alberta premiere of the DVD took place on November 16-18 in Calgaty, Red Deer and Edmonton, with the Charge d' Affaires, Mr. Rasmus Lumi, from the Estonian Embassy in Ottawa as the Guest of Honor. The screenings at these three locations were also very successful and generated sales.
Following several showings of the film in North America, a consensus has emerged that the presentation accurately captures the history of Alberta 's Estonians from the early days of the pioneers to present-day events and activities of Alberta's Estonian community.
It is well to mention a couple of spin-off benefits. Owing to the length of the film, only a small proportion of the collected materials, such as pictures and literature, could be used. This wealth of historical information is being preserved as a 'digital archive' and will be stored at the Red Deer and District Archives for use by future generations.
Secondly, the first stage of a new website, Alberta's Estonian Heritage has been completed. Planning is underway to enhance the Albertasource.ca website by including additional materials not already used in the DVD and the first phase of the Alberta's Estonian Heritage website.
The DVD is the result of wonderful teamwork throughout. Many pioneer descendants and members of the AEHS Executive, especially Bob Kingsep and Helgi Leesment, were supportive throughout. Eda McClung was directly involved in all aspects of the production and deserves to be singled out for many excellent suggestions and her wealth of knowledge about the history of Alberta's Estonians.
