Peterborough Raised Filmmaker Has Comedy Web Series That Is Being Featured At NYC Web Fest

There is this entire generation of millennials and beyond consuming, creating and distributing content on the web and social media—laptops and mobile devices are the new TV—and a Peterborough raised filmmaker named Danielle Lapointe has embraced this empowering digital era full on.

Danielle, a Kenner grad who currently resides in Montreal after studying film production at Concordia, produces and stars in the comedy web series Shooting the Moon that was just released this summer and is quickly gaining in popularity, as great content and video do on the web and digital platforms.

Danielle Lapointe and Jeremy Sandor, co-directors of Shooting the Moon

Shooting the Moon is an autobiographical comedy following Danielle's journey as an Ontario girl adjusting to life in Montreal's film industry—and Episode 6, "Homesick", was filmed in Peterborough. In the episode (watch it at end of post), Danielle goes home to Peterborough to visit her Mom, Dad and Nana, but finds that the relaxing vacation she'd hoped for is anything but.

"The role that Peterborough plays in Shooting the Moon is that my character (also named Danielle) is closely tied to her small town Ontario roots," Danielle tells PTBOCanada. "Anyone who moved from a smaller town to a city—especially with an added language barrier—can tell you that there are adjustments to make. For me, I wanted to play up the naiveté of my character. In Episode #6, my character ends up going home to visit her family for a respite from her constant filmmaking failures."

Danielle in Episode 6 at family brunch

Since its online launch, the web series has been gaining lots of great critical praise. In its biggest honour yet, it has now been chosen as one of the "Official Selections" at the 3rd Annual NYC Web Fest—which has become one of the world's largest and most influential festivals for new media creators. NYC Web is a celebration of the best web series that have been released online in the past year.

Danielle got her early video training at Kenner in Peterborough. "It was at Kenner that I started making video projects and experimenting with various artistic mediums after years of painting and drawing being my medium of choice," she tells PTBOCanada, adding that she returns home to Peterborough several times a year for "the fresh air, swimming, canoeing, campfires, downtown Hunter Street life, and her friends and family."

Danielle in Episode 6

Danielle says that her web series was born out of frustration. "I was working at a movie theatre, trying to figure out how to fund my filmmaking or get a job that suited me in the film industry, and my daily encounters started to feel like I was living inside of a sitcom. Whether it be the former classmates I would run into at parties who were all doing 'exciting things' or the endless search for paying jobs, I started writing down all of these anecdotes and then realized I had enough to start making either a feature film or web series."

The web series format seemed most fitting for Danielle to tell her quick stories, so she decided to focus on that medium. "There's something really liberating that creating for the web provides," she tells PTBOCanada. "The traditional filmmaking trajectory is to finish your film, then spend tons of money to enter it into festivals, and if it isn't selected, you either release it online a few years later for the hell of it or the film just kind of disappears into non existence. With the web, you are your own distributor, your own publisher, and although it's up to you to market it, you aren't waiting for a festival's permission to show people your work."

Danielle in Episode 6

Danielle's talent and passion for her craft—and innovative choice of platform to distribute it—has translated into success for her with this screening at NYC Web Fest, which runs from November 10th to 12th (Danielle's web series screens on Saturday the 12th). Danielle and the series co-director Jeremy Sandor—a talented Montreal-based filmmaker from Toronto—will be travelling to New York to attend, and represent Canada as one of the few Canadian Series featured in the festival.

Danielle and Jeremy have filmed this series on a shoestring budget, proving once again that great content and video can get noticed on the social web. One can imagine this show not only building more momentum online in future seasons—and more views as people re-watch or discover Season 1—but being picked up by traditional cable TV somewhere down the road (or Netflix).

Danielle in Episode 6

You can watch Season One of Shooting the Moon here, and watch the "Homesick" episode filmed in Peterborough below...

In Episode 6 of Shooting the Moon, Danielle goes home to Peterborough, Ontario to visit her mom, dad, and nana, but finds that the relaxing vacation she'd hoped for is anything but. WEBSITE - https://www.shootingthemoon.ca FACEBOOK - https://www.facebook.com/shootingthemoontv/ TWITTER - https://twitter.com/shootingmoontv INSTAGRAM - https://www.instagram.com/shootingthemoontv/

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Louis Tiboruhanga's Story Is One Of Tragedy, Loss, Desperation & Now Hope Thanks To Peterborough

There were a lot of firsts for Louis Tiboruhanga Thursday morning (October 27th) as he stood atop a heaping mound of freshly picked Peterborough County pumpkins in the back of a pickup truck looking to the sky and the first snowflakes of the season.

“My first Canadian snow,” the Rwandan father-of-two says.

Louis with his daughters Genevieve & Gloria

Two pickup trucks sat in front of Immaculate Conception Catholic Elementary School, suspensions lowered by the weight of the orange load—200-plus pumpkins.

And then the lineup started. Students snaked out of the school where they were greeted by Louis’s beaming smile.

“Thank you, here you go,” Louis says, as he places a large pumpkin into the hands of a Grade 3 student. Every student in the school was to receive their own pumpkin, including Louis’s own daughters Gloria (Grade 3) and Genevieve (Grade 1).

Louis distributes pumpkins to happy students at Immaculate Conception

How Louis ended up distributing free pumpkins to Catholic elementary students in Peterborough’s East City is a story of harrowing tragedy, loss, desperation and finally hope.

Louis fled his life in Rwanda in January 1997 and ended up in Kenya’s Kakuma (UNHCR) refugee camp. Both his daughters were born and raised in the camp, where he spent more than 19 years.

In 2008, Sister Ruth Hennessy of Casa Maria Refugee Homes in Peterborough sponsored the Tiboruhanga family. But it took another eight years before their resettlement to Canada was approved. Louis’s wife passed away in the camp in 2011.

The camp provided the necessities, including schooling, but Louis says he didn’t see a lot of hope for his children, who were schooled in crowded, under-resourced classrooms.

“The future in the camp was desperate," he says. "You can’t see your children excelling with 150 children in the classroom and expect to have a better future for them."

Desperation turned to hope on July 19th, 2016 when Louis, Gloria and Genevieve landed at Pearson International Airport in Toronto, greeted by Sister Ruth and brought to Peterborough to start a new life.

“It was a very fantastic day—an unforgettable day for me,” he says.

The children have settled at Immaculate Conception and Louis has been finding part-time work.

Peter Leahy owns Merrylynd farm in Douro where Louis has been picking pumpkins.

“Picking gives us time to chat a little," Peter says. "Louis has many interesting and humbling stories. He realizes that for him to adjust to Canada will be hard, but he's doing it for his kids to have a better life. His faith is very strong and his spirit is astonishing. We hope to help him find a job right away. He's willing to do anything and his English is very good.”

Peter Leahy and Louis giving out pumpkins to the kids

One day while working in the field, Louis expressed to Peter that he wanted to give back to the Immaculate Conception school community, which has been so warm and welcoming to his daughters.

Peter offered the pumpkins and pickup trucks, and on Thursday Louis had a chance to make a small gesture of thanks to the school and staff at Immaculate Conception. And his daughters were able to celebrate their first Canadian Halloween with schoolmates in style.

Hope is something Louis and his daughters now have thanks to Peterborough, Canada

“It is something very extraordinary to me," Louis says. "It’s extraordinary in a sense that I see it as the hope for my children—they have the future in their hands."

“I was extremely happy that the school children would come to me, accepting this small gift I had planned for them. I think it is really very wonderful.”

—guest post by Galen Eagle

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UPDATED: Help Find Missing Peterborough Father Christopher Callaghan

UPDATE: Great news -> Police report that Christopher Callaghan has been located and has returned home. Police thank the public for their assistance.

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ORIGINAL POST

The Missing Person Investigation is continuing for 44-year-old Peterborough father Christopher Callaghan as friends and family grow increasingly concerned.

The Peterborough Police Service is asking for the public’s help in locating Christopher. He was last seen at approximately 7 p.m. on Wednesday evening (October 19th) leaving his residence in the area of Old Norwood Road in his vehicle. His vehicle is a 2011 grey GMC Sierra pick-up, Ontario plates 9151TK.

Callaghan is described as a Caucasian male, approximately 6’1, 230lbs, short brown hair, no facial hair or glasses, no piercings or tattoos, wearing a burgundy casual dress shirt and jeans. 

We continue to ask for your assistance in locating missing person 44yo Christopher Callaghan. Pls call police with info 705-876-1122 -LG pic.twitter.com/IQhdXI2tnC

— Peterborough Police (@PtboPolice) October 21, 2016

->> Anyone with information is asked to call the Peterborough Police Service at 705.876.1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS.
 

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Anita Blackbourn Was An Amazing, Courageous Mother Who Died Way Too Young

Incredibly sad news: Peterborough's Anita Blackbourn—aka "Neets"—has lost her battle with cancer at the age of 42. Anita, who was fighting the terrible disease right until the end, leaves behind a husband, two young daughters and a community that adored her.

Anita pictured with her daughters

Anita was a huge part of the Pink in the Rink campaign in 2015 with the Canadian Cancer Society and Peterborough Petes, raising awareness about the disease and money to help fight it.

Anita (at far left) pictured at Pink in the Rink game in 2015 with Honourary Co-Chair Dan O'Toole and Anita Record

There has been an outpouring on social media about Anita's death as she touched so many people...

@ShawnSilvestri @MF2Sense @fs1otoole she fought until the very end. So lucky to have her in my life as a friend and sister-in-law

— Marty Silvestri (@marts1977) October 15, 2016

A huge loss for our community. Sending love to your family and friends Anita Blackbourn. Your legacy will always shine bright❤️

— Michelle Ferreri (@MF2Sense) October 15, 2016

@MF2Sense Horrible news. The rink cheered so loud for her that night. pic.twitter.com/6l7xydnJz4

— Dan O'Toole (@fs1otoole) October 15, 2016

Heaven gained another angel! @9neets the strongest & bravest woman I've known. My deepest condolences to the Carey & Blackbourn families. 💕 pic.twitter.com/FQxTXGP4AG

— Tracey Johnston (@TraceyMJohnston) October 15, 2016

Anita was a guest on our podcast PTBOCanada Live With Mike Judson in January 2015 and spoke bravely and eloquently with Mike about her battle with stage 4 breast cancer—and what her family, friends and community meant to her.

Watch her interview with Mike Judson below starting at the 9:38 mark (you won't ever forget it—we won't)...

Read the stuff below. Our guests include: Anita Blackbourn - Twitter: @9neets Pete Dalliday - http://1005hits.ca/ Musical guest: The Lohrwoods - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J-tOYz3uAU The handsome Neil Morton David Koski - Production Assistant, Customer relations (No nugget) Thanks to our sponsors: Riley's Pub - http://rileyspeterborough.com/ Kawartha TV & Stereo - http://www.kawarthatv.com/ Maars Music - http://www.maarsmusic.com/ Theme music by Streetlight Social https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-IiB...

Anita was also writing a story for PTBOCanada about her battle with cancer and what life and this community meant to her, but passed away before she was able to complete it for us.

This was her opening paragraph to a personal, fact-based journal she was keeping about our journey...

This community will never forget her. She was an amazing, gracious person who battled the disease with honesty, dignity, strength, humour and courage.

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Renowned Canadian Architect Eb Zeidler Spent His Formative Years In Peterborough & Made Huge Mark Here

Before Eberhard Zeidler had his first huge architectural project, he spent more than a decade, 1951-1962, in Peterborough. While none of the projects would match the scale of the Eaton Centre or the McMaster Health Sciences Centre he did, several helped hone his skills, and to contextualize his ideas.

The Modernist trained in Bauhaus became more sensitive to the people who lived and worked in the buildings created by architects. Peterborough remained a part of his world long after he left.

When Eb Zeidler started working at the Blackwell and Craig architectural firm at the corner of Hunter and George, he already had impressive credentials, and had expectations of being a chief designer or architect in Canada.

However, he quickly learned that unlike in Germany, architects did not have to sign off on every building project. Architects rarely designed houses or factories, and there were not enough new churches, hospitals and office buildings to support very many architects. Zeidler began as a draftsman and the wages were low.

St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lakefield

For the first week, he stayed in a boarding house at Water and Parkhill, and then moved to the YMCA, which was closer to work. Blackwell and Craig had a major client in the Bank of Toronto, and had an office in Toronto designing new branches of the bank. The amalgamation of the Bank of Toronto and of the Dominion Bank of Canada occurred in early 1955, and there would be more architectural work for the firm.

But in early 1952, Zeidler was transferred to the Toronto office to work on designing new banks. There he worked with Ron Dalziel and William Ralston, the “chief designer of our firm”, and their office was in the Bank of Toronto’s “lovely classic temple” on Yonge across from Eaton’s. Zeidler drew the working drawings for Ralston’s design of the new branch at the corner of Dundas and University—a magnificent Art Deco building.

Architect Frank Franner had left Blackwell and Craig to start an engineering and construction firm known as Timber Structures, which was on the west side of High Street north of Lansdowne. He invited Zeidler, who had architectural and engineering experience, to join the new firm.

Early projects in Peterborough were a hockey rink and two churches, in which Zeidler said they worked with glulam, a new engineered product consisting of two-inch wooden planks laminated together and which could be bent into pleasing arches. Franner became an architect in Scarborough, and Timber Structures continued with David E. Ness as president; the Roy Studio had Timber Structures as a major client, and so an impressive collection of photos of their projects are in the Peterborough Museum and Archives.

When Jim Craig invited Zeidler to return to Blackwell and Craig, Zeidler took the two churches, Grace United and St. Giles Presbyterian, with him. Both projects were on hold as the congregations raised the necessary money. Zeidler’s first project as chief designer was to add, 1952-1953, a Sunday School hall to St. John the Baptist Anglican Church in Lakefield.

This was a two-storey box with glulam arches, and laid out parallel to Regent Street. To match the existing church, the roof angles matched, and stone facing joined the hall to the church. There was a narthex of glass between and exits to both Regent and Queen. “I thought the composition looked charming and fit well into the little village,” Zeidler said. He spent more time supervising this project because it was his first Canadian building.

Grace United Church

He was soon working on Grace United Church, on Monaghan across from Kenner Collegiate. The Sunday School on Barnardo Avenue connected with George Street United Church from the 1880s to the 1930s was also known as Grace. Because the congregation had only raised $100,000, the Sunday School was put in the “gloomy” basement “in Peterborough fashion.” The main entrance was at grade level, and the stairs went up for the church and down for the Sunday School.

That said, the church is quite amazing. Jim Craig and Bill Williams helped prepare the construction documentation, and the project was put to tender. Huffman Brothers came in below the architect’s budget and the building of the church was underway. The building used glulam arches, but the arches increased in height as they came closer to Monaghan Road, so the church reached its greatest height over the chancel and sanctuary and the roof extended over the front wall.

That wall facing Monaghan Road was manufactured by Norm Armstrong, a local precaster, and each square was coloured a different hue. Zeidler wanted the wall to be grey like a fieldstone wall but to have pink and green tones, “like natural fieldstone”. He also considered the ways the light would enter the church. Mainly, the light was concentrated on the communion table.

St. Giles Church

There were some critics of the church, but Zeidler was impressed by Robertson Davies’ “glowing editorial” in the Peterborough Examiner about the church which he felt captured our times, and met the needs of its people.

Zeidler worked on St. Giles Church, 1953-54. A few blocks north of Grace Church, St. Giles was a smaller church designed for a congregation of 200. The glass wall facing the street was screened with “a vertical grille of laminated wood slabs perpendicular to the glass.” At some angles, the wall looked solid; at others, the light streamed in.

The firm of Blackwell and Craig did a major addition at St. John’s Anglican Church in Peterborough, 1956-1958, that presented several difficulties. As in Lakefield, the stones removed from one wall were used in building the joining walls between the 1835 church and the 1878 parish hall (which had been expanded by William Blackwell in 1900 and 1926).

St. John’s Anglican Church

Zeidler only mentions this project in his chronology of selected works. However, as archivist-historian at St. John’s since 1976, I have often had to give guided tours of this remarkable Peterborough landmark. The plan was well-executed particularly as it dealt with enclosing the space between the church and the hall and extending the parish hall north on two levels.

However, it continues to bother me that when the new chapel was joined to the nave, a huge hole was carved in the wall of the nave, and two large stained glass windows were cut in half. I always begin my tour of the church standing in this hole and looking at the magnificent vertical lines of the neo-Gothic church that captures all the major ideas of neo-Gothic architecture in the Victorian era.

During the 1950s, Zeidler worked on additions to other local churches such as St. James United, Park Street Baptist and Mark Street United. During the 1950s, churches in the area were adding rooms for Sunday School classes, and the increased space has been easily used for other purposes since then. He did renovations at George Street United and St. George’s Anglican Church.  

In 1959, Zeidler designed the new parish hall for what became St. Barnabas Church; as it turned out, the parish hall did double duty so well that a proposed church was never constructed, and the reserved property was used for housing. That same year, Bridgenorth United Church was built. During the 1960s, he did an addition at Fairview United in Smith Township (now Selwyn), and churches in Norwood, Campbellford.

Zeidler worked on the new Beth Israel Synagogue during 1963-64, and it was quickly recognized as outstanding, and was featured in Peterborough: Land of Shining Waters (1966). He worked closely with the rabbi about interpreting the Jewish faith in this building. It took many years for the congregation of about 60 to raise the necessary funds. Rabbi Rosenberg spoke at the opening of the synagogue and gave what Zeidler considered a “rousing speech.”

Rosenberg compared the building to the Lion of Judah: “the powerful body hovering in quiet anticipation with its two paws outstretched to protect its faithful.” The front was defined by a colonnade and Zeidler had created an entrance to the synagogue through a courtyard that was flanked by two classrooms. On reflection, Zeidler thought Rabbi Rosenberg was correct: “it was a small temple that sat like a lion brooding at the edge of a hill, part of the landscape, visible and yet not intruding."

Zeidler’s success with religious buildings was well-established. His first churches showed that even with tight budgets, a great architect could produce stunning results. He built numerous churches, even as late as 1985.

In 2009, he said he considered his first architectural projects to be the Richard Hamilton home in Peterborough and Grace United Church, “both built with some influences from Germany.” However, quite early, his work was also sensitive to the particular sites and the problems to overcome. People had emotional responses to each of his buildings.

—guest column by Peterborough historian Elwood H. Jones. Photos by Evan Holt.

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This Video Of A Peterborough Father Telling His Kids He's Cancer Free Will Melt Your Heart

Peterborough's Ashley Bartosh-Smith shared a heart-warming Facebook video of the moment her husband Mike "Superman" Smith revealed to his children that he is cancer free after a 15 month battle with the disease.

"All tears in this video are happy tears," Ashley says in her Facebook post. "You can see all our kids worries just float away and relief set in when they found out daddy Mike Smith is cancer free right now."

Watch the video below, which was picked up by the popular "Love What Matters" Facebook page...

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Norwood's Jack "J.J." Stewart Passes Away At Age 102

Jack "J.J." Stewart, owner of J.J. Stewart Motors in Norwood for 80 years, passed away peacefully at the Campbellford Memorial Hospital on Friday, September 23, 2016.

Jack, a well respected community man, remained a fixture at the office right up until the end. Just recently, CBC was at the dealership filming him for a series Still Standing.

Photo via JJ Stewart Motors Facebook page

The dealership recently celebrated his 102nd birthday on August 23rd and shared this photo below on their Facebook page of Jack in his office...

Photo via JJ Stewart Motors Facebook page

At a 100th anniversary celebration of the dealership earlier this summer, Jack was honoured for his years of service.

JJ (with his grandsons Dave and Mark) gives a speech thanking the community for a century of business. (Photo via JJ Stewart Motors Facebook page)

Jeff Leal, MPP (Peterborough), presenting a certificate to J.J. (Photo via JJ Stewart Motors Facebook page)

A funeral service will be held on Monday September 26th, 2016, and the dealership will be closed that day so the staff can attend the funeral of this remarkable man.

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