Hootalinqua Pictures brought me on board to edit their feature documentary Bond of Strangers, a film about ten Canadians that follow in the footsteps of those Canadian soldiers that served and died in Sicily during WWll. A pilgrimage of sorts in which they traveled on foot over 300km to honour our fallen. This was the first long form documentary I've edited and it was a pretty cool experience. The production was shot over 20 days in Sicily in the summer of 2013 with several cameras shooting every day..as you can imagine there was tonnes and tonnes of footage to sift through. Interviews were conducted both on site during the pilgrimage as well as in studio after the journey ended. There were over 13 interviewees, many of which were interviewed before the journey and after, with interviews averaging over an hour long, shot with two cameras (I Cam Op'ed a few of these interviews in Vancouver & Victoria in 2014). While the sheer amount of footage was daunting at first, with every day that passed, it became more manageable. One of my favourite parts of this project was listening to the stories from the old veterans (some of whom were over 90 years old, and one that sadly passed away during the final weeks of editing) and scrubbing through the WWll archival material. The contrast between their lives and experiences with those of my generation is stark. For myself, Remembrance Day this year and in the future, will be a little deeper.

UPDATE: The film has been picked up by the National Film Board, Knowledge Network, Northwestel Channel 9, The Documentary Channel and Air Canada's in flight entertainment.

Currently, you can rent it online at www.canadascreens.com