Director That Documented Balsam Lake Tragedy In 1926 Makes A Stop At Aron Theatre In Campbellford

Brotherhood, a film depicting the 1926 tragedy on Balsam Lake, was screened at The Aron Theatre in Campbellford on Thursday morning for high school students, and will show again at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Director Richard Bell and actor Gage Munroe. Photo by Angela O’Grady.

Director Richard Bell and actor Gage Munroe were there Thursday morning to present the film and answer questions after the screening.

“It’s particularly meaningful that young people are coming to see this movie because usually our audiences skew a bit older - that’s the era that still goes to the movie theatre,” said Bell. “So it’s great that they’re coming today because this is a young person story.”

The story focuses The Brotherhood of St Andrews, a boys leadership camp on Balsam Lake. As the boys and their leaders take off by canoe, a freak summer storm hits and what follows is a combination of light and dark, as viewers learn more about the characters and their past.

“Older audiences are seeing it because they remember the halcyon days of summer and that camp experience but I want younger people to see it because it’s a young person survival story. Seeing that kind of heroism that these young people exhibited 95 years ago is very meaningful. I hope it makes kids go ‘would I do that?’,” said Bell. “I think that’s why we go to the movies - to see stories and think ‘would I do that?’.”

Though Brotherhood was filmed in 2017, being set ten years after the Spanish Flu pandemic, themes that arise throughout the characters stories might be somewhat reflective of the world today. High school students in attendance on Thursday had the opportunity to reflect on The Great War, the Spanish Flu, and ‘what it means to be a man’.

The screening at The Aron Theatre is the final stop in the South East Ontario Brotherhood Roadshow.

Bell, along with various actors, made stops at The Regent Theatre in Picton, The Loft in Cobourg and at The Empire in Belleville.

“I am so pleased that our local independent cinemas have all enthusiastically come on board to support this Canadian film,” said Russ Christianson, founding President and General Manager of the Aron Theatre Co-op. “Coming out of the pandemic, people in our communities need to have opportunities to get out again to socialize and decrease their pandemic-enforced isolation. We are excited about this opportunity.”

Tickets are still available for the 7 p.m. screening on Thursday, which will be followed by a question and answer period with Director Richard Bell and actor Gage Munroe.

Tickets are $10 online and $12 at the door. Seating is unassigned. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Purchase tickets here.

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