Two well known Westman film producers out of Brandon were onsite at the Elkhorn Auto Museum for a full day of shooting. The project is part of an ongoing series on life in Manitoba, covering a wide variety of topics.
The film will be about 10 minutes in length, shown on pay per view TV, and is part of a project sponsored by Bell/MTS communications.
The Manitoba Antique Auto Museum in Elkhorn is a Westman secret that many area people have missed; it features a very unique, valuable and historic collection of antique automobiles collected, and for the most part, restored by the late Ike Clarkson of Elkhorn. There are over 100 vehicles in the collection with several more in storage or under restoration.
However, the museum also has a large collections of non-auto items that show the life and times of the area for the last hundred or so years.
The film crew was given a detailed tour of the museum with Restoration Club Chairman Allen Greig and club Secretary/Treasurer Lil Jackson answering questions from producer Shaun Cameron. Graham Street was the cameraman.
At a break in the filming Cameron explained, “The film will not only show the museum’s cars and other collections, but we hope to tie into the collective past of this and area communities so the next generation will not lose touch with the efforts of those who came before them in the community.”
During another break, they said that they were amazed by the diversity of the collection and the efforts of the people in the area to save the local history for future generations.
“The museum,” remarked Street, “has a rich variety of artifacts that shows a strong connection to the community.”
The daylong event had them tour all aspects of the museum, which they enjoyed very much, however the frosting on the cake, said Street was the opportunity to drive around the village in one of the museums many running cars. The vehicle was a classic piece of Detroit steel, a 1954 Mercury, four-door Monarch Lucerne, burgundy in color.
The movie is expected to be released in the fall on the Bell/MTS network where, after all their hard work, it will show the importance of preserving local history and to let people know about this diamond in the rough museum in Elkhorn.
Jackson said the next day that they were good to work with and showed a great interested in all aspects of the museum, including photos of the many early pioneers of the area. She hopes this film production will be a shot in the arm to increase the number of visitors to Elkhorn’s museum complex.
ABOUT the doc
By Anne Davison
The Elkhorn Auto Museum documentary is part ofIt’s Our Town, a series of four documentaries being produced this summer, featuring museums of western Manitoba.
This is all part of the Stories from Home programming broadcast through MTS/Bell Media with the production company of S.G. Cameron Media Inc.
Shaun Cameron has spent over fifteen years working in media, including a stint as a Creative Writer and Producer at the CTV affiliate station CKX Television.
He helped establish Brandon’s first internet news organization, a business start-up known as itvbrandon.com.
Cameron has worked for the past number of years as a community producer for MTS Television Stories from Home.
Titles include End of the Line, Tales from the Eddy, and collaborative pieces such as Performance & Place, Then & Now, the Patchworks series and his latest collaborative effort Hidden Manitoba.
Cameron is also a freelance political affairs columnist with the Brandon Sun, with freelance work appearing on the CBC National news, Indio, and Yahoo Canada.
Graham Street is an independent documentary filmmaker who has produced multiple documentaries for MTS TV Stories from Home to date. Notably, he is the Producer and Director of the broadcast length WWI documentary series, Warpaths, and the Executive Producer of the Brandon Industry Group collaborative series Patchworks.
Street has a Masters of Arts Degree in archaeology and television production from Bristol University in the United Kingdom and is currently a faculty member of the Interactive Media Arts program at Assiniboine Community College, the President of Street Media Inc., an independent television production company, and is one of the founding members of the Brandon Industry Group.
