Death or Canada has received four nominations for the upcoming 24th annual Gemini Awards.
We are extremely humbled that the film has been so well received by our peers in the Canadian television industry and wish to congratulate and praise our nominee’s and non-nominee’s who worked so hard on this amazing project.
To our friends in Ireland and the UK, Death or Canada – known as Fleeing The Famine in the UK – will be airing several times in the month of May. Please help us spread the word.
Here is a great review/discussion from a recent viewer, Michael Caine, in Waterford, Ireland – the ancestral home of Bishop Michael Power!!
Just finished watching the above programme on the History Channel. Originally screened on RTE, it tells the story of the Willis family, who travelled on one of the coffin ships with their four children to Toronto.
It is one of the most harrowing pieces of television I have ever watched, and I must admit to shedding a tear while viewing it.
Welcome to the General Posting area for our blog for Death or Canada. History Television in Canada aired the film as a two-hour special on the Eve of St. Patrick’s Day, Monday, March 16th from 8 to 10 p.m. We will keep you posted of any repeats. Check out www.history.ca for more information. Death or Canada has already aired in Ireland on RTE One in November and December, 2008 www.rte.ie and in the U.K. on The History Channel www.thehistorychannel.co.uk. We are in discussions with broadcasters in other countries to air the film including the United States so any comments you can provide would be greatly appreciated.
Photographer Tom Sandler’s collection of photo’s from Death or Canada’s gala screening at St. Lawrence Hall on March 3, 2009. Even Mayor Miller was in attendance!
Our friends at the wonderful website, The Torontoist, recently ran a very nice article about Death or Canada and the hugely successful panel discussion at the Toronto Archives.
…the film, which aired last month to critical acclaim and strong viewership, marks an effective convergence between the thorough research of academic history and the personal narrative details that help make history appealing to a broad public audience…
Thanks to all who showed up at the Toronto Archives on Tuesday for the panel discussion. It was a full house and an interesting and enlightening evening.
Charmaine Lindsay from the Toronto Archives is putting the call out to help find what happened to Mary Willis.
The City of Toronto Archives is sponsoring a panel discussion on the famine migration to Toronto in 1847 on Tuesday April 7th at 7 p.m.
Robert Kearns, Chairman of Ireland Park, would like to enlist the help of genealogists in determining the fate of the mother of the family portrayed in the docudrama “Death or Canada”.
A newspaper article from the Toronto Globe, dated July 28, 1847, describes the sad case of the Willis family in which the mother was the sole surviving member of a family of 7. She ended up in Brantford and was the subject of a letter by the Reverend Mr. Usher.
If anyone can trace what happened to Mrs. Willis from this point onward I’m sure our panelists would greatly appreciate hearing about it. The article does not mention Mrs. Willis’ first name but I believe it was Mary. Also, the film mentions that Mrs. Willis was taken into the family of an Anglican minister which may be the Rev. Mr. Usher mentioned above.
If anyone is able to find out anything about Mrs. Willis we would be thrilled to be able to mention it at the panel discussion on the 7th.
Death or Canada, the gripping account of the Irish potato famine and its impact on Toronto in the summer of 1847, scored impressive ratings in its History Television premiere on Monday, March 16, making it one of the most-watched Canadian programs on the eve of St. Patrick’s Day.
The two-hour docudrama, which follows the epic and tragic journey of a real-life family fleeing devastation in Ireland, attracted 262,000 viewers 2+ during its prime time airing from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Canada’s History Television on Monday, March 16 plus another 108,000 in encore presentations the same day.
The Canadian broadcast follows on the heels of a ratings triumph in Ireland, where Death or Canada captured 26 percent of the audience, placing second only to Desperate Housewives.
“Death or Canada has really struck a chord with viewers on both sides of the Atlantic,” says Craig Thompson, Ballinran’s Executive Producer. “It’s a story of hardship, hope and overcoming challenges, and I think this is a message that resonates with audiences everywhere right now.”
Described by the Globe and Mail’s John Doyle as an “excellent docudrama” and “a powerful…true, searing story,” the film is also rapidly gaining blogosphere attention around the globe with many people eager to see the program.
Death or Canada is a Canada-Ireland Treaty Co-Production supported by the Canadian Television Fund, Telefilm Canada and Federal and Ontario Tax Credits, produced by Ballinan Productions and Tile Films in association with Canwest Broadcasting, RTE Ireland and History Channel (U.K.). The docudrama is directed by Ruan Magan and produced by Craig Thompson, Stephen Rooke, Dave Farrell and Patricia Phillips. A companion book from publisher Novalis is now available in bookstores across Canada.
Michael Kot, VP Factual Content for Canwest “We have a great sense of pride when Canadian productions and coproductions find a wide and engaged audience. Death or Canada found popular and critical acclaim in Canada and Ireland and more importantly honoured and enriched our shared history through documentary and active investigation.”
A few years back, Archaeological Services Inc. was retained to undertake an archaeological assessment of the Toronto International Film Festival Tower redevelopment site on the northwest corner of King and John Streets in downtown Toronto. Detailed archival research undertaken by Brian Narhi and David Robertson revealed that a portion of Toronto’s first general hospital was preserved under the parking lot at that location.