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With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 on the horizon, the Newfoundland community that became famous for its generosity to the people who were stranded when flights were grounded is getting a unique Canadian tribute.
Gander, N.L. stepped in to help the thousands of people who unexpectedly found themselves in the community on Sept. 11, 2001. The setting — which became a hit Broadway musical — is now being turned into a Heritage Minute.
The 60-second video will be produced by Gander brothers Peter and Rob Blackie of Elemental Pictures.
“It’s funny that we feel a tremendous amount of pressure to really do a good job,” Peter Blackie told CBC Radio’s Weekend AM.
“We always feel that with all of our projects. But this is now, you know, in front of the hometown crowd. And it’s a big responsibility to tell a story that is as impactful as this one.”
The Heritage Minute is scheduled to be filmed next month in the community. There’s a callout for 1,000 background actors.
“There’s a lot of people in Gander who did a lot of amazing things to help people in a time of great need, and certainly for all of the Americans involved, a time of personal and national crisis,” Peter Blackie said.
“It’s a lot to ask of people who don’t necessarily have set experience. But the plan is to make things really, really clear and simple.”
The Heritage Minute will air ahead of the 25th anniversary of 9/11.
N.L. team
The Blackies are known for working on larger projects, but a resident in Ontario approached them with the idea to submit a request for a Heritage Minute on 9/11 in Gander.
Gander International Airport’s iconic lounge will be featured in the Heritage Minute. (David Newell/CBC)
Historica Canada — a charitable organization that publishes the short videos — ultimately awarded the project to another team, which had Deanne Foley attached to direct.
However, the producer fell through and the Blackies were asked to step in.
“We learned afterwards that Historica Canada really wanted a Newfoundland-based team, both for the director and the producers,” Peter Blackie said.
Like so many people, Blackie said he can remember exactly where he was on 9/11 — New York City where he’d been working as an architect. That morning he was at home, not far from the World Trade Center.
“I was on the phone trying to call my girlfriend. I couldn’t get through. So it was basically the phone lines were all jammed and I was hanging up, re-dial, busy tone,” he said.
Soon after, he said, it was becoming known how his hometown of Gander was stepping in to help. He said a German colleague said a Lufthansa flight landed in Gander and passengers were taken into people’s homes.
“It was a weird experience for me to be from the town that had this really unusual role in the events of that day. So it was kind of, yeah, a very surreal experience to be honest,” Peter Blackie said.
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