Grain elevator nostalgia moves curator to resurface film gems you can watch for free
National Film Board dusts off some classics for its Perspectives from the Prairie collaboration this November
They're known as old prairie sentinels, but grain elevators are having a moment right now at the National Film Board.
It's part of a collaboration with The Western Producer as the agricultural newspaper marks its 100th year, resulting in several film board gems being dusted off for a collection called Perspectives from the Prairies.
Each month, the film board uploads something from its archives and the paper then writes a story to promote it. The series — which can be viewed for free on the National Film Board's website — started in August and has received thousands of views.
Among the new films this month is the 1985 classic The Move, which collection curator Camilo Martin-Florez calls a super beautiful five-minute film that is amazing in every sense: cinematography, sound and voices.
"It is on a Saskatchewan grain elevator being moved after nearly a half century of use from Greenstreet to Marshall, Sask., which is about 20 miles away," he said of the film Larry Bauman made with the assistance of CBC Saskatchewan.
"The film follows the lifting and transporting of the nine-storey, 200-tonne structure and examines the feelings of the people as they witness the final passing of their one and only grain elevator."
That nostalgic feeling
Emotions were high. One youngster — referred to as Danny down at the inn — cried while watching the elevator on the move because he was afraid the school bus driver would no longer know how to get him home.
The second film, Grain Elevator, was filmed in 1981 and is a 15-minute film documentary that basically portrays the importance of grain elevators as well-known landmarks that once dominated the prairie skyline.
"For most of the people in the prairies, it brings a lot of nostalgia and … memories for their childhood," said Martin-Florez.
Nearly 40 years since it was filmed, the emotions surrounding grain elevators remain.
Reclaimed wood from grain elevators is extremely popular. One Alberta woodworker used 26 elevators' worth of timber to build his Bragg Creek home, hunting all over the prairies for the wood that can date back hundreds of years.
Nanton's grain elevators were granted historic designation in 2022, but the Alberta town went as far as 3D scanning the structures to preserve them digitally in the future.
Photographers have travelled across the prairies capturing the magnificence of the structures before they disappeared, with some even becoming a hazard near the end.
Canada's oldest grain elevator burned to the ground in April 2022 — 125 years' worth of aged wood ignited in a flash by a single ember — after the process of dismantling started.
Oftentimes spectators of all shapes and sizes would gather to watch either a demolition or relocation.
The third film captures just that. Death of a Skyline reveals the story of these disappearing prairie cathedrals with a "lively cast of characters."
Martin-Florez chose the theme of grain elevators to mark Canada History Week, Nov. 20-26.
At one time, more than 5,000 grain elevators graced Alberta skylines.
"Since grain elevators are National Historic sites now preserved by Canada's heritage [department], I decided to program three films that depict these Canadian sites," he said.
Future themes include cowboys and the 1940s recession, but there is no shortage of films to choose from.
The National Film Board — with the goal of portraying Canada for Canadians — has produced more than 13,000 films, but only about half of them have been digitized.
It's a lengthy process. Films are kept in little cans, then run through a digital machine that scans each individual frame. The film, once completed, is sent to the colourizer, then to a sound corrector before post production.
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