ST. PAUL - The Elite Theatre in St. Paul will be hosting a special showing of an Alberta-made film as a lead up to Remembrance Day, offering the chance for locals to learn about a topic from World War II that was not talked about very much.
The movie - Connecting Flights - will be showing at the Elite Theatre in St. Paul on Nov. 6 and 7 at 4 p.m., each day. The St. Paul Legion is expected to be on hand selling poppies and taking donations.
"We hope this will be a great way to engage the public and aid in remembrance," says Gilbert Allan, director-producer of the film.
The movie is written by Jessy Ardern, and was adapted for the screen but based on Ron Blicq's award winning play, Closure, which was based on a true story.
The story showcases how there were many children born during the war who never knew their fathers. About 35,000 people became involved in an organization in Europe, trying to find their birth fathers who had been active military service personnel in World War II.
Communication back in the 1940s definitely had many challenges, and young soldiers were sometimes quickly sent to different parts of the world.
A young soldier would fall in love with a young woman, and before she could tell him she was pregnant, he would be sent elsewhere to serve. “It wasn’t his fault, but he was gone," said Allan.
“There's a real story about humanity here.”
The movie synopsis describes the situation portrayed in the film - "It was England in 1944. The Blitz was on. Wendy Barlow fell hard for an RCAF fighter Bomber pilot named Gordon Devereaux. The dashing Mosquito pilot never knew he had a child with young Wendy. Gordon had been shipped to the War in the Pacific and neither of the young lovers ever communicated again."
Wendy kept the secret until her death in 2008, and that's where an organization called Connexion Closure steps in - finding Gordon alive and well in Canada.
Speaking to the story, Allan says that 80 per cent of the service people who were tracked down by the European organization rejected the notion of meeting offspring they hadn't even known. Only about 20 per cent of former soldiers responded in a favourable light.
One of the airplanes used in the film actually belonged to a 17-year-old soldier, which speaks to how young some of these soldiers truly were. The plane is now part of the Alberta Aviation Museum.
“They lived lives, they had experiences... under extreme conditions.”
When asked how he came across the story, Allan says he was approached by Ian Blicq, an executive producer with the film, about the play his dad had written and the project unfolded from there.
“A lot of people will cry at the end of the movie," says Allan, which he believes is a sign that people feel touched by the story.
Connecting Flights was shot in Edmonton and Stony Plain, starting in March of 2020, before being forced to take a 126-day break due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Filming was picked up again in July and August of 2020.
Throughout the filming process, strict protocols were followed to keep everyone involved safe. Allan says it was intense, but the extra precautions didn't affect the finished product. Actors had cohorts and had to isolate, which meant they would "Come to work and go home."
"We were super cautious," says Allan, but those precautions paid off and no one got sick during production of the film.
The film is distributed by Bayview Entertainment and has been soft released to PRIME Video, Amazon USA, Can & UK for rent, purchase or DVD.
To date the movie has won Best Actress (Madison Nyenhuis) at the Sweden International Film Festival, and Best Picture at the Great Lakes International Film Festival. The film is also screening at theatres in Fort Saskatchewan and North Battleford, ahead of Remembrance Day.
Allan says, on a personal level, he has a high regard for the men and women who served and continue to serve in the Canadian military. He's supportive of anything that can be done to draw attention to Remembrance Day and keep people thinking about the events that occurred.
The trailer for the movie is available at www.gilbert-allan.com
