What is most arguably Richard Bell's most successful movie to date will soon be nationally broadcast for all to see.
The Port Coquitlam movie director and screenwriter's award-winning drama Brotherhood is scheduled to appear on Super Channel Entertainment Network (SCEN) later this month, landing on the 95th anniversary of the film's tragic true events.
On July 20, 1926, a large wave on Ontario's Balsam Lake resulting from a surprise summer storm capsized a canoe carrying 15 young boys who were trying to get across from one shore to the other.
Eleven of them died in the incident while four survived as they searched for land through nightfall, all while trying to keep each other above the water on the back of a 30-foot war canoe.
According to archives, the entire experience lasted 17 hours for the survivors, including six spent in the water before the canoe was washed ashore at 2 a.m. They arrived back at the main dock later that afternoon.
The movie is called Brotherhood as the group of youths were attending the Brotherhood of St. Andrew leadership camp — located roughly 150 km northeast of Toronto.
Bell's survival/adventure film was a proven success upon its 2019 release as it won the 2020 Canadian Screen Award for Achievement in Visual Effects.
It was also nominated for Best Original Song at the annual ceremony for "I've Got a Big One" which Bell co-wrote alongside Bramwell Tovey.
This is the third motion picture directed and written by the Terry Fox Secondary graduate since 2001, following up on Two Brothers and Two Others (2001) and Eighteen (2005).
A graduate of Studio 58 at Langara College, Bell first received critical acclaim for Eighteen when he and Tovey were nominated for a Genie Award for co-writing the song, "In a Heartbeat."
His latest movie will be airing July 20, 2021, on SCEN at 7:15 p.m., coincidentally the same time the 15 youths gathered on the dock for their canoeing adventure.
Brotherhood will also be available for streaming via Amazon Prime as well as for rent on iTunes, YouTube and Google Play, and on-demand through Shaw, Bell and Telus.
