Town of Widows
Film (Duration in minutes)
Two versions: 45 or 90 minutes minutes
Product description
We have two versions of the film - a broadcast edit (45 minutes) and a feature-length version (90 minutes).
The broadcast version aired nationally on TV in August 2019, on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the feature length version just had its world premiere at the ReFrame Film Festival in January 2020. We are now distributing both versions, depending on what format each conference and institution prefers. The 45-minute version allows for greater discussion afterwards, but the 90 minute version goes into much greater detail about what workers were exposed to, such as asbestos, and its impact on the community.
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Aims and objectives
Hi there,
My name is Natasha Luckhardt and I'm the producer and director of the film, Town of Widows. My full-time day job is in the prevention system in Toronto, Ontario developing health and safety training, but I was compelled to tell this story on film in my spare time.
Five years ago, a family friend told me workers were “dropping like flies” from cancer after working at General Electric in Peterborough, Ontario, and that widows were fighting a compensation system stacked against them.
My first question was, “how have I never heard about this issue?” I live only an hour away in Toronto. The answer was like many other towns, Peterborough was a company town. Nicknamed “The Electric City” by Thomas Edison, it employed 6000 workers in its heyday, threw Christmas parties for the community and helped to start the town's University.
I was doing my Master’s degree at the time and wrote my thesis on why it was so difficult for workers and widows to access compensation, and why the issue was insulated in the town. During the interviews, they workers talked about the “snowstorm” of asbestos in the plant, the permanent varnish on their skin, the taste of chemicals in your coffee, the “burning odor” that would overwhelm their senses even after they left the plant each day.
Then they talked about the signs – the migraines, nosebleeds, the cough that wouldn’t go away – all symptoms that could seem normal, if a whole community of people wasn’t experiencing them. What was uncanny was that people who had never met before were giving me the same or similar accounts over and over.
After I published my thesis, my next question was, “How do I get other people to hear about this issue?”. I got a crappy camera from work, set up a GoFundMe and received some local press. Rob Viscardis, an established cinematographer and editor in Peterborough contacted me, and we filmed for three years since.
As we were filming, something miraculous happened. A national asbestos ban was announced, an investigate exposé was published by The Toronto Star, the workers met with government, the compensation system, and many claims were compensated.
What started as a story about a community of widows left behind, became a story about widows, workers and family members taking on the government, compensation system and one of the largest multinational companies – and seeing wins.
We would love the opportunity to share the power of this “Town of Widows” with the global health and safety community to highlight the importance of prevention and the will for history to never repeat itself.
Occupational disease professionals
Awards
Canadian Labour International Film Festival - Best in Festival, Beating Heart Award, Best Canadian Film
Contact details Editor / Production company
Bread and Roses Creative Productions Inc.
11 Bowmore Road - Ontario , Canada-M4L 3H6 Toronto
+16478818482 nluckhardt@widowsofasbestos.com http://www.townofwidows.com