WIIKWEMKOONG—As a child documentary filmmaker Eric Brunt sat enthralled at his grandfather’s knee listening to stories about his grandfather’s service overseas in the Second World War. After his grandfather’s passing, Mr. Brunt thought about the many stories that have been lost as the country’s dwindling number of surviving veterans pass.
“There were 1.1 million Canadians who served in the Second World War,” said Mr. Brunt. “Today there are less than 41,000 of those veterans remaining—and that number is shrinking every day. Soon there will be no Second World War veterans left. Will we remember what these men and women sacrificed for the Canada we live in today?”
In May of last year, the 25-year-old Mr. Brunt decided to create a positive answer to that question, packing up his savings, a van, and a whole lot of camera and sound equipment to leave his home in Victoria, British Columbia to set out on a cross-country odyssey that has taken him into numerous communities, large and small, and to nearly all of the provinces of the nation and introduced him to more than 200 surviving veterans—and not a moment too soon it seems. The result of his efforts will be condensed and edited into a documentary series with the current working title of ‘Last Ones Standing.’
“There have already been nearly two dozen of the people I have interviewed who have since passed on,” he said.
Mr. Brunt is a 25-year-old documentary filmmaker who received his training from the UBC Film Production Program.
“When I was nine I was certain I wanted to be a filmmaker, watching any film I could find, especially those directed by Alfred Hitchcock,” he said. “In high school I started making short videos, founding my school’s film club in the process. I won a Canada-wide film contest sponsored by Yamaha with a five-minute film titled ‘The Scooter: The Quickest Way to a Teenage Girl’s Heart.’ If you look hard enough on YouTube, you’ll probably find a link I wasn’t able to hide,” he laughs.
His love for film took him to Vancouver where he majored in Film Production at the University of British Columbia (UBC). The film credits have been rolling ever since. His directorial debut, ‘The Music Box,’ was accepted by the Montreal World Film Festival and the Miami International Science Fiction Film Festival. Following his graduation in 2016 his thesis film, ‘The Last Stop,’ played at the Montreal World Film Festival, Orlando Film Festival, Route 66 Film Festival and the Bare Bones International Film Festival.
“I was also nominated for a Leo Award, BC’s film and television awards, for best student film,” he said. “You can watch these in my Short Films section (on his website).”
In 2013, he worked at a video production company called Capture the Moment Media where he advanced to the position of lead cinematographer and editor. “After graduating film school, I worked here as a full time employee until the end of 2017,” he said.
Mr. Brunt left to form Eric Brunt Media, specializing in “documentary filmmaking, commercials, corporate videos, music videos and wedding films. That being said, I’m always looking for new opportunities and collaborations.”
Mr. Brunt recently arrived on Manitoulin’s shores aiming to focus his camera lens on Wiikwemkoong’s Scotty Odjig (Fisher), a Canadian veteran who served as a paratrooper during the war. Mr. Brunt discovered Mr. Odjig the same way he has uncovered many of his subjects—countless hours of online research. He came upon a story written by Wiikwemkoong media personality and health centre communications person Kerry Assiniwe.
“I did a story for our community events guide/magazine ENKAMIGAK on the late Andy Manitowabi and another on our last WW2 veteran in our community, Donald Joseph ‘Scotty’ Fisher Odjig,” said Ms. Assiniwe. “As a result, a filmmaker, Eric Brunt, who has been travelling across Canada filming vets for a documentary, saw the story and contacted me to see if he can do a video doc with Scotty.”
“His story was so amazing,” said Mr. Brunt. “He is in really good shape and younger than a lot of the people that I have interviewed, that’s in part because he lied about his age and used a different name in order to be able to enlist. He was right in the thick of it as a paratrooper and took part in some pretty amazing things.”
Mr. Brunt said that he has had a lot of luck with his interview subjects, many of whom have been very reluctant to discuss their experiences in the past—but time in this case is somewhat on his side. “I guess, in part, they see this as the last chance to tell their stories,” he said. “I can’t count the number of times that I have heard the phrase ‘I have never told anyone this before’.”
Once Mr. Brunt completes his series of interviews the gargantuan task of editing and condensing those stories from hundreds of hours of video down to something that can be viewed as a documentary comes. He also hopes that the interviews themselves will find a home that will preserve them for future generations. Luckily, although his interviews have been largely a solo journey across Canada, a veritable army of volunteers have stepped forward to help him with the editing tasks.
“I have an amazing group of about 10 people from the film community who are going to assist,” he said. Mr. Brunt’s infectious passion for this project has proven highly engaging with the up and coming filmmakers and sound technicians of his generation.
As a passion project, fueled by memories of his grandfather, Mr. Brunt has financed this project out of his own pocket and through a Kickstarter campaign.
For more information, or to contact Mr. Brunt, reach him by email at ericbruntmedia@gmail.com or visit his webpage at ericbruntmedia.com.
