Photo supplied by Checkered Owl Media

By Curtis Galbraith

Community

Wooden Giant documentary to be screened in Sexsmith

Oct 22, 2019 | 4:34 PM

A documentary film about the restoration of the last grain elevator left in Sexsmith will be screened in Sexsmith Wednesday night.

Wooden Giant was made by local company Checkered Owl Media.

Producer and Director Rew Jones says the idea for the film came about because they were looking to do something regional.

“It was right when it was announced they were going to first start to get some grant money and to work on the restoration of the final elevator. So, I started doing my research and that’s when I discovered that Sexsmith had been the Grain Capital of the British Empire. It had up to nine grain elevators and we started looking at different grain elevators across the province and that’s what led to Wooden Giant.”

He adds the filmmakers hope they are helping preserve a part of local history.

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“I like to hope that in our small way, we helped record an important part of our region’s history and, hopefully, help people realize what a treasure and historical resource the elevator is and that people might value its preservation and the preservation of other pieces of culture and history in our region.”

Wooden Giant was first shown during Alberta Culture Days in late September in Grande Prairie.

Jones describes the reaction from the public to the film as “incredibly positive.”

“We were really happy with the reaction, both people who have been in Grande Prairie and Sexsmith and some people who are newer residents and some people who have lived in the community a long time seem to appreciate the film and felt it connected with the heart of the community, and that was the goal.”

The screening Wednesday night is Sexsmith is set for 7:30 p.m. at Robert W. Zahara Public School.

The trailer for the film can be seen below: