A World Away: Stories from the Regina Five 2001
A World Away was my first broadcast documentary.
Growing up in Regina, I’d been vaguely aware there had been a group of painters there in the early 1960s who’d received national attention, and had some connections to major artists and critics in New York City. There was also a kind of iconic picture of them that made them look a bit like gangsters. When I thought of doing a documentary, I thought the so-called Regina Five might be a good story to look into.
Regina’s MacKenzie Art Gallery was putting together a retrospective of one of the “five” painters Arthur McKay and I learned that all of his colleagues we’re going to be in Regina for the opening. I was living in Toronto at the time, but I booked a flight to Regina and arranged to get some cameras and friends to operate them to shoot the opening night when all the painters were doing a round table conversation moderated by curator Timothy Long. It was a really good night.
I returned to Toronto with some footage and initial introductions to the five, and I set about trying to raise enough money to make the film. I received funding from the Canada Council, and the Independent Production Fund, and was able to secure broadcast pre-licenses from Bravo! (at the time a channel focused on arts programming) and the late, lamented Saskatchewan Communications Network (SCN).
I was able to interview all of the Regina Five. I went to B.C. to interview Douglas Morton and Art McKay, to Calgary to interview Ted Godwin (he took me fly fishing), and Ron Bloore was in Toronto, as was I. I have particularly fond memories of talking to Ken Lochhead at his home in Ottawa, and in his cottage in the Gatineaus, where Ken made sandwiches. I also got to interview Dr. William Riddell, then in his early 90s and sharp as a tack. Dr. Riddell had hired Ken Lochhead to start the art program at Regina College, which over the decades evolved into the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance at the University of Regina.
Although the budget was tight, technology change had led to miniDV cameras that were capable of shooting “broadcast quality” images, at a fraction of the cost of their predecessors. Editor Katherine Asals and I cut the film on her Final Cut Pro 1.0. The final render and output took about a day. Former Reginian Maury Lafoy put together some wonderful music for the film.
Before I was able to finish the film, Art McKay and Dr. William Riddell died.
A World Away: Stories from the Regina Five had its broadcast debut on Bravo! in 2001, and subsequently aired on SCN. I was able to sell VHS copies to public libraries across Canada, and the Saskatchewan Ministry of Education purchased rights to include it in the curriculum.
Standard Definition Video
