First DRESDEN 1957 Pitch Trailer Released
Get a taste of the film that's coming in this new video
On Canada Day we released our first pitch trailer for Dresden 1957. The new video give an overview of the Dresden story and includes short segments from 20 interviews, including family and friends of the Dresden victims, historians, and other experts.
Were calling it a “pitch trailer” because it serves two needs. First and foremost, it gives you a taste of what film will be like. It’s not quite a trailer, parts of it have trailer-like pacing and let’s us showcase the work of Joseph Crawford, our amazing senior editor. You can watch the trailer here:
This image from the trailer is just one example of the beautiful work done by our cinematographer, Pawel Kacprzak
But this video is also a “pitch.” In it, I ask viewers to Like and Share the video so that we can grow the circle of people following this project. As I wrote in my previous post (”The Road Ahead”) we still have a tall mountain to climb. To finish this film we need to raise at least $200,000 and we can’t do that without a large circle of followers who can help us find organizations and individuals who want to contribute.
You can help, too
We’ve added PayPal buttons around the site so that visitors can make a financial. we haven’t even started promoted the new contribute buttons, yet, but we’ve already had six contributors giving a total of $735! You’re welcome to give it a try here:
Click this button to open our PayPal donation page
18 images from the new video
The new pitch trailer gives viewers an idea of some of the material we have. Here are some examples of our content:
In this photo from the London Free Press, you can see my father in the white shirt pointing towards the river and the site of the excavation collapse. I've discovered my father in about a dozen press photos from Dresden.
We're shooting "recreations" like this to use as visual elements in the film. It is a vintage radio, but it's actually my hand reaching for the dial. Ideally, these shots will support the story in such a subtle way that the audience doesn't really notice them.
In the trailer, we cut from the shot above (a hand on the radio) right to this one of Jim Coyle, the speaker. Jim was one of the first Dresden loca;s to get to the site after the cave-in. He spent that night helping recover the first bodies..
Wilma Wellman checked regularly on her husband Glenn, one of the Dresden volunteer fire fighters who were involved in the entire recovery operation. Wilma shared vivid memories of the scene in the pit after the collapse, all of which we have captured for the film.
Sadie Hovius lost her father and eldest brother in the Dresden tragedy. Sadie later married Arnold Oldewening, who had lost his own father in Dresden. Both Sadie and Arnold will be in the film, telling their familes' stories.
This is Wiebrand Hovius (who went by "Wilfred), the brother who Sadie and her siblings lost in Dresden. Wiebrand was just 19 when he died. He was the youngest victim.
My late father, Keith Philpott, was the site engineer in Dresden. From the day he first arrived he had concerns about the excavation. He made repeated efforts to get soil testing or an inspection done, but unfortunately he was not able to prevent the disaster. But it's thanks to his detailed records, that we were able to start piecing the story together.
Along with his diaries, letters, and photos, we also have my father's drawings, showing how the excavation collapsed.
Mike Diez De Aux is a geotechnical engineer whom we interviewed for the film. Mike examined my father's notes on the soil and compared them with modern bore samples taken from the same area.
Enzo Garritano is the head of the Infrastructure Health and Safety Association in Ontario. In our interview, he spoke powerfully about the impact of workplace tragedies on co-workers and families.
Wiebrigje Hovius was left alone with seven children after her husband Enne and son Wiebrand lost their lives in Dresden.
C.W. "Curly" King (right) was the manager of the Dresden Utilities Commission. He showed my father around town on the evening my father arrived, July 31, 1957. We interviewed Curly's daughter Rhonda King for the film.
I interviewed John Ryksen in Holland in the fall of 2023. His father, Dirk, was the foreman in Dresden, and was pulled into the falling clay where he died with his men. His wife Grethe, tried to stay in Canada after Dirk's death, but with a young son to care for, working full time was difficult and after four years, she returned to the Netherlands, where her son John lives to this day.
This is one or the last photos taken before the excavation collapsed. This shows a bucket of wrt concrete being carried from the mixer (on the left), using the excavator as a hoist. Wiebrand Hovius is recognizable in the background, wearing no shirt.
John Drenth lost his father, Hendrik, in the Dresden tragedy. John still remembers every last detail of the moment when a truck came through their neighbourhood, looking for the Drenth's home, and bringing the news that there had been an accident. Like other family members we interviewed, John told us about life in the Netherlands after the war, and the conditions that led so many Dutch people to leave the country.
This is the Oldewening family on board "Groote Beer" coming to Canada. This is one of the few photos we have showing one of the families on their journey. Jan Oldewening, a beloved father to his children, lost his life in the Dresden cave-in.
Anne van Arragon Hutten is one of the historians we interviewed for the film, and was immigrated to Canada with her family when she was a child. Her best-known book "Uprooted" is about the immigration experience for Dutch children coming to Canada in the 1950's.
In this short video, we give the last word to Mary Jane DeVries Zubick, the granddaughter of Jan Bremer. Mary Jane's father, Dave DeVries (Jan Bremer's son-in-law), also appears in the pitch trailer.
These images are just a sample of what's in the trailer, and the trailer itself is just a taste of what's coming in the film, but I hope this whets your appetite! Stay tuned for more news, stories, and videos from this exciting and important project. And thank you for your interest and support!