95th Anniversary of Tragic Balsam Lake Accident Recognized With Film Screening

Today marks the 95th anniversary of a tragic accident on Balsam Lake. Brotherhood, a film depicting the event will be nationally broadcasted on Super Channel Entertainment Network at 7:15 p.m.

Newspaper clippings from 1926. Photo courtesy of Brotherhood1926.com.

In 1926 the Brotherhood of St. Andrew leadership camp located on Balsam Lake encountered a freak summer storm. Eleven boys died when their canoe was overturned by a large wave and they could not make it back to shore.

“It’s a transformative story about boys becoming men over the course of an evening,” said Director Richard Bell.

Crews began filming in 2017 and the first screening was on July 20, 2019 at Balsam Lake.

When the pandemic hit Canada screenings of the film were slowed due to theatres closing. When they re-opened briefly in the summer months the film was screened 127 times.

Image from the film Brotherhood - 2020 winner of the Canadian Screen Award for Achievement in Visual Effects. Photo Courtesy of brotherhood1926.com

Director Richard Bell says the COVID-19 pandemic has caused him to look at this film in a completely different way.

This film takes place ten years after the Spanish Flu pandemic and touches on themes like brotherhood, loss, grief, guilt, and trauma.

Director Richard Bell wears a shirt with the names of the boys lost in 1926. Photo Courtesy of Brotherhood1926.com.

“I didn’t know when I released the film that another pandemic was coming,” he said.

Bell recalls a line in the movie in which a character in crisis says ‘We can’t go back. We can only go through.’

“This last year has been so divisive,” he said. “I’ve seen neighbour turn against neighbor and people divide. What I want to say is the same as this character - we can’t go back we can only go through.”

The broadcast is poignantly timed to begin at 7:15 p.m as the boys would have been gathering on the dock to prepare for their adventure across the lake in 1926.

Super Channel titles are also available to access via Amazon Prime. Brotherhood is available to rent on Apple TV (iTunes), You Tube, Google Play and can be accessed on-demand through Shaw, Bell and Telus.

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