A One Hour Documentary Produced by Reel Girls Media Inc.

BRIEF OVERVIEW

Rudy Wiebe is one of Canada’s most cherished and acclaimed writers. A two- time Governor General’s Award winner, Wiebe has been compared to Hemingway, Faulkner and Balzac for nimbly marrying detailed historical fact to enthralling fiction. His novels, short stories and non-fiction books are provocative but compassionate tales about Western Canadian history and his Mennonite heritage. Renowned for giving a literary voice to Canada’s aboriginals, Wiebe is the author of several groundbreaking epics. They include The Temptations of Big (a tragedy about the great Cree chief who became embroiled in the Northwest Rebellion) and A Discovery of Strangers (the gripping tale of how Arctic natives rescued the first Franklin Expedition).

In the fall of 2005, filmmakers followed Wiebe around Saskatchewan and as he reflected on his experiences in the Canadian Prairies which have informed his destiny as a writer and produced the epic stories for which he’s renowned. Wiebe speaks eloquently about the death of a beloved sister, the Frog Lake massacre that was Big Bear’s undoing, and the murder conviction of Big Bear’s great-great granddaughter (a case that prompted Wiebe to controversially collaborate on her autobiography, Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman). Fascinating and wild, these places and experiences shaped Wiebe as a teller of profound stories about Canada’s north and west.

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SYNOPSIS

Between the Stones and the Ocean: A Portrait of is a one-hour arts and entertainment documentary that profiles Western Canadian writer Rudy Wiebe, still remarkably vital and prolific at 71, during one memorable, golden autumn on the Prairies.

“He writes about the history and landscape – two significant elements of the Canadian experience, and he’s written about them memorably in all of his novels, “ says writer and director Scot Morison.

Wiebe is a grand old man of Canadian literature. Twice named winner of the Governor General’s Award for English-Language Fiction (for The Temptations of Big Bear in 1973, and A Discovery of Strangers in 1994), he’s the author of nine novels, several of them epics that encompass the sprawling history and geography of Western Canada. There are also four short story collections and non-fiction works, all published globally.

The documentary follows Wiebe from his rural writing retreat outside of to the Speedwell area of Saskatchewan where he was born in 1934 and lived until age 12. There his sister Helen died as a teen, an event that later inspired his first published fiction. Recalling his adolescence in Coaldale, Alberta, Wiebe reminisces about reading through its tiny library and sparking an ambition to attend university. In Edmonton, he recalls professor Frederick M. Salter challenging him to write about Mennonites in Canada. With the resulting novel, Peace Shall Destroy Many, Wiebe launched a career crafting startling historical literature about misunderstood people.

Wiebe is a proud Mennonite, whose parents fled religious persecution in the Soviet Union in 1930. His heritage, with its radical, ecumenical Christian vision has figured prominently in his novels. Yet Wiebe is best known for his bold historical fiction about the life of Canada’s aboriginals. In such novels as The Temptations of Big Bear, about a famous Cree chief caught up in the Northwest Rebellion, The Scorched Wood People, a fiercely revisionist portrait of Metis leader Louis Riel, and A Discovery of Strangers, about contact between the Dene people and the first Arctic expedition of explorer Sir John Franklin, Wiebe determinedly gave this country’s original residents a literary voice.

The film examines the emotions fortifying that voice. Wiebe speaks frankly about his son’s suicide (which contributed to a 10-year gap in his novel writing) and about his controversial collaboration with Big Bear’s great-great-granddaughter Yvonne Johnson, a convicted murderer with whom Wiebe co-wrote the autobiography Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman. Writers and champion his singular style: poetic and bloody-minded in both its content and punctuation. Aboriginal filmmaker Gil Cardinal recognizes him as an honourable custodian of history.

On the shores of a lake near Big Bear’s burial ground, a central truth is underscored: Wiebe was one of the first non-native writers convinced that the experiences of Canada’s first residents were stories essential to our collective memory. Over a sterling career he’s embedded that belief inside some of our country’s finest literature. “With his impressive, immersive approach to research, you really get a sense of time and character in these landscapes,” says the film’s producer Ava Karvonen.

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QUOTABLE QUOTES

“He’s got a voice of his own. You read three lines and you know that Rudy wrote them…that’s almost more in the American tradition of the great stylists like Hemingway or Faulkner, where you read a bit and you know who wrote it.” Author Robert Kroetsch

“He was really one of the very first writers who took seriously the stories and the history and the importance of First Nations people (in relation) to our larger story.” Author Aritha van Herk

“One of the great writers this country has produced of all time.” Former Editor-in-Chief, McClelland & Stewart, Anna Porter

“He’s somebody we should all be proud of. Not just for the work he’s done, but for the man he’s been, the way he’s conducted himself.” Filmmaker Gil Cardinal

“I’m a great champion of The Temptations of Big Bear. That was news for all of us when that book came out…it was kind of giving permission to deal with a great part of our history that had been either not represented or misrepresented.” Author Robert Kroetsch

“Yvonne is a kind of example of all the things that have gone wrong with Canadian government policy and the way the Canadian government has treated the native community in this country. And the abuse and the violence and the addictions that she suffered are classic addictions, abuses and suffering on almost every reserve in Canada. Exactly the kind of thing that Big Bear had feared would happen to his people.” Rudy Wiebe on Yvonne Johnson

“When it got published in the early Seventies, people said to me, ‘Why do you bother writing about an old Cree Indian who’s dead now?’ And then, 20 years later they said to me, ‘How dare you write about an old Cree Indian that is dead!” Rudy Wiebe on The Temptations of Big Bear

“Native people have not accused me of appropriating their voices. What they say is, “If you show respect and understanding of our world, we respect you for that.” Rudy Wiebe on his critics

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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY, Rudy Wiebe

o Of This Earth, 2006 o Place: Lethbridge, A City on the Prairie (with Geoffrey James), 2004 o Hidden Buffalo, 2003 o Sweeter Than All the World, 2001 o Stolen Life: The Journey of A Cree Woman (with Yvonne Johnson) 1998 o River of Stone, 1995 o A Discovery of Strangers, 1994 o Chinook Christmas, 1992 o Playing Dead, A Contemplation Concerning the Arctic, 1989 o My Lovely Enemy, 1983 o The Angel of the Tar Sands, 1982 o The Mad Trapper, 1980 o Alberta/A Celebration, 1979 o The Scorched Wood People, 1977 o Where is the Voice Coming From? 1974 o The Temptations of Big Bear, 1973 o The Blue Mountains of China, 1970 o First and Vital Candle, 1966 o Peace Shall Destroy Many, 1962

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BIOGRAPHY, Rudy Wiebe

Rudy Wiebe was born in the hamlet of Speedwell, near Fairholme, Saskatchewan on October 4, 1934. He was the youngest of seven children. His Mennonite parents, Abram and Katarina Wiebe, had fled religious persecution in Soviet Russia and emigrated to Canada in 1930.

In 1945, his older sister Helen died at age 17, after a long illness caused by rheumatic fever. Wiebe’s first published story was a contest-winning entry based on the death of his sister, published in 1956 in the magazine Liberty.

He spent his adolescence in Coaldale, Alberta, a town 10 miles outside of Lethbridge in sugar beet-growing country. He did not speak English until age six, although at home he spoke a Low German Prussian dialect, and at church High German.

From the University of Alberta, he received a B.A. 1956 and a M.A. in Creative Writing in 1960. He studied under a Rotary International Fellowship at the University of Tuebingen in West Germany. In 1962, he received a Bachelor of Theology degree from the Mennonite Brethren Bible College. In 1962- 1963 he was editor of the Mennonite Brethren Herald. He resigned the position because of the Mennonite community’s opposition to his first novel, Peace Shall Destroy Many. It’s the story of a young Mennonite man struggling with the pacifism of his religion as the First World War rages.

Wiebe taught at Goshen College in Goshen, Indiana from 1963 to 1967. From 1967 to 1992 he was Professor of Creative Writing and English at the University of Alberta.

Wiebe has published twenty-five books, including nine novels and the non-fiction best-seller Stolen Life, the Journey of a Cree Woman, co-authored with Yvonne Johnson. He was awarded the Governor General's Award for fiction for The Temptations of Big Bear in 1973, and again in 1994 for A Discovery of Strangers. He is also the winner of the Lorne Pierce Gold Medal of the for his contribution to Canadian literature (1987) and a Member of the Order of Canada.

The Temptations of Big Bear was made into a CBC television miniseries called Big Bear co- written by Wiebe and director Gil Cardinal in 1999. Wiebe’s latest book is the memoir Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada in April 2006.

Rudy Wiebe lives with his wife, Tena, in Edmonton, Alberta.

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BIOGRAPHY, Scot Morison Writer/Director

Scot Morison has been writing professionally for more than 20 years, and has one novel (Noble Sanctuary), several short stories and numerous magazine articles and reviews to his credit. He has an MFA in creative writing from the UBC.

“As one of his former students, there is so much I learned from Rudy,” recalls documentary writer and director Scot Morison. “What he instilled in me is that you can’t be afraid of big stories or unfamiliar material. If it’s important for you to write about it, you’ll find a way to write about it. The things he writes about are significant and his treatment of them is profound.”

Since 1995, Scot has worked primarily in film and television. His drama credits include writing and story editing for two Canadian series Jake and the Kid and Mentors, both shot in Edmonton. He wrote the television movie Cabin Pressure, produced for Lion’s Gate Television and broadcast in Canada and the U.S. He received two AMPIA Awards for his writing on Jake and the Kid.

Scot also writes and consults on documentaries. His credits include Spirit of the Forest, Catching the Chameleon and, most recently, Out of the West, a one-hour profile of six Western Canadian writers he wrote and directed with Reel Girls Media for Bravo!

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BIOGRAPHY, Ava Karvonen Producer

Ava Karvonen is a twenty-year veteran of the film and television industry and founder of Reel Girls Media Inc. of Edmonton. Not only does Ava work in the industry, but so does her family. Her father is a nature documentary filmmaker and cinematographer, her mother is a textile artist and documentary filmmaker, her brother Downy is a sound designer.

Ava has produced almost 30 hours of television programming and new media projects harnessing the latest technology in webcasting, podcasting and simulcasting. She has received over 30 awards for her projects including a Silver at the 2004 WorldFest in Texas for Children’s-Programming and Best Interactive Website at the 2004 International World Media Festival in Germany.

Her past productions include season I of Booked for CHUM Television, a 13-episode series on crime investigation; Out of the West for Bravo!, a literary arts documentary profiling six noted Canadian writers from the West; Return of the Peregrine for CBC’s The Nature of Things, and Wildfiles.TV for CLT, a 13-part interactive dramatic series for children exploring mysteries of the wild kingdom.

With her partners in Storytellers Productions Inc., Ava produced the animated series, Stories from the Seventh Fire, and the companion documentary Shared Visions: The Art of Storytelling. These award-winning programs were produced in English and Cree and with characters created and based on the work of renowned aboriginal artist, Norval Morrisseau. This award winning series has been screened internationally at over 40 festivals and received 13 awards.

Ava is currently in production on a one hour documentary for Global Currents. Homefront follows the deployment of Canadian soldiers to Afghanistan and also tells the story of the soldier’s families who are also committed to serving our country.

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CORPORATE PROFILE Reel Girls Media

Reel Girls Media is a production company that celebrates art, examines social issues and explores the human relationship with the world. With inventiveness, spirit and originality the company produces award winning documentaries, television series, interactive and new media content for the global market. The company’s interests and past projects include factual, animation, children’s and youth, science, lifestyles, drama, arts and culture, and multi-platform. These award-winning projects have been recognized with more than 30 international awards and over 60 worldwide screenings.

Led by owner/president Ava Karvonen, a twenty year veteran in the industry, the company prides itself on building collaborative relationships: demonstrated from the inside out with a core team of skilled producers, production managers, graphic designers, programmers and editors, to external relationships with valued investors, broadcasters, distributors and funding partners.

Working to harness technology and innovation, the company designs programs for multi- platform delivery including television, iPod, mp3 player, mobile phone, DVD, the internet, and portal applications. The company embraces convergence by building interactivity and technical innovation into television projects with companion and stand-alone new media components, live segments, live broadcasts, and web-casts.

For a complete listing of past projects and to find out more about our company, please visit www.reelgirlsmedia.com

For more information contact:

Ava Karvonen or Jennifer Snyder Reel Girls Media Inc. 2nd Floor, 9860A 33 Avenue Edmonton, AB, Canada T (780) 488-0440 F (780) 452-4980 [email protected], [email protected]

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CREDITS

Writer/Director Scot Morison

Producers Ava Karvonen Lisa Byrne

Narrator Lorne Cardinal

Picture Editor Roley Wight

Cinematographer Daron Donahue

Composer Becker

Post Production Sound Downy Karvonen Jerry Krepakevich

Additional Cinematography Trevor Wilson Paul Rickard

Graphic Design Rat Creek Design

Post-Production Coordinator/ Assistant Editor Nicole Auser

Post Production Facilities Reel Girls Media Inc. Studio Post

Production Accounting Dianne Goodacre

Transcribing Lauren Starko

Production Assistants Clinton Letendre Michael Currie

Legal Linda Callaghan

Insurance Jones Brown

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CREDITS

Archival Images and Stock Footage Courtesy of Rudy Wiebe Judi Hardie Louise Dennys Karvonen Films Ltd. Ciné Télé Action Library and Archives Canada International Inc. CP Images Missionary Oblates, Grandin Archives Edmonton Journal Provincial Archives of Alberta Glenbow Archives Reel Girls Media Inc. The Globe and Mail

Featured Books Peace Shall Destroy Many First and Vital Candle The Temptations of Big Bear The Blue Mountains of China Sweeter Than All the World Discovery of Strangers Hidden Buffalo Where is the Voice Coming From? Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman The Scorched Wood People My Lovely Enemy The Mad Trapper Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood The Angel of the Tar Sands and Other Stories in the Boreal Forest

Books Featured Courtesy of Knopf Canada McClelland & Stewart Ltd. Red Deer Press

Very Special Thanks to Tena and Rudy Weibe

Special Thanks to Gil Cardinal Janice Lee Louise Dennys Suzette Mayr Nina Ber-Donkor Bud Parks Jackie Flanagan Anna Porter Aritha van Herk Gary Sears Yvonne Johnson Robert Kroetsch

Between the Stones and the Ocean: A Portrait of Rudy Wiebe is produced by Reel Girls Media Inc. in association with CHUM Television, a division of CHUM Limited, and with the financial participation of the Alberta Film Development Program of the Alberta Foundation for the Arts; Canadian Television Fund created by the Government of Canada and the Canadian Cable Industry, Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, Rogers Telefund, and in association with APTN and SCN.

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