Trailers

Below is the trailer for Something Grand (shot and produced in 2012). The full 26-min doc is also available here:

Below please find the trailer for my documentary on what it means to be Finnish-Canadian-American or just a “fan of Finland”. (the full documentary is also here).

33 replies on “Trailers”

Hi – only plans for right now are a showing on the south shore Jan 28, and two showings in Toronto and Kitchener/Waterloo ON. There will probably be future Montreal showings, but plans are still pending!

Hi there Matthew,
I just got sent the link to your documentary by a friend I met on the Camino. I remember being interviewed in Roncesvalles but I never thought I’d hear about it again. I’m the guy who wanted to look back on the year with a belly full of Christmas dinner and be happy that this year I had done ‘Something Grand’! I’d really love to see the full documentary. Would it be possible to post it on Youtube or share a copy via Dropbox? I’m hoping to get back to the Camino again next year, but in the meantime, I’ll be in Australia for Christmas dinner hopefully reflecting on my grand adventure this year, and looking forward to doing likewise next year. I look forward to hearing from you. Best wishes. Brendan O’Connell

Brendan! It’s so good to hear from you. I must have written your email address down wrong in Spain, since I tried several times and couldn’t get through to you. Of course I want to send you a copy of the documentary – for which you provided the title – but I owe you a good bottle of wine, too! I’m leading a group to Ireland next June 9-20, perhaps there will be some time to meet then? In the meantime I’m trying to figure out how to make it available to European viewers online. My email address is matthew.a@sympatico.ca. Best, Matthew

Hi! I was on the Camino at the exact same time… I even recognize one of the pilgrims you interviewed. I’m interested in assisting to the presentation of your documentary on January 28th in St-Lambert… Do I need to register somewhere? Looking forward to re-live this unforgetable experience through the eyes of your camera.

Hi Brian – I’m showing the doc in Toronto this coming Friday, Feb 1 at 7 pm. The location is at St Ansgar Lutheran Church, 1498 Ave Rd. It would be great to meet you there. And I’d love the chance to show it in Kingston sometime, judging from your institutional email!
Matthew

Thanks, Matthew …
I’m retired now and have returned to my home territory, Woodstock, ON, which is why I asked about K-W. I don’t know if there is a Camino group in Kingston or not. I just had a look at Santiago.CA, and there is no listing for Kingston, but there is also nothing for the K-W group, nor for our group in London.
Brian

Hi again Brian – if you have a group in KW, I’d love to have an invitation to come down sometime and show the documentary there. I get down to KW and to WLU fairly often – Matthew

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Thanks, Matthew … I was going from your posting from last November.

“Hi – only plans for right now are a showing on the south shore Jan 28, and two showings in Toronto and Kitchener/Waterloo ON. There will probably be future Montreal showings, but plans are still pending!”

I belong to a group in London which meets quarterly, but I know there is a group in KW. I will pass the word and your contact along to them. I heard about the Toronto showing via a message which came to the London group from Darlene McKee in Toronto.

I’ll also pass the word along — just in case he does not already know — to Arthur Boers at Tyndale University, who is running a course on pilgrimage and leading a group on a minimum walk this Spring.

¡Buen camino!
Brian

Dear Brian – thanks for passing the word! We had a great turnout for the showing this evening on Montreal’s south shore – just under a hundred I think, including the head of the organization “Du Quebec a Compostelle”. I had thought there was a date confirmed for KW at the university, but it fell through (they wanted me to use it in a class setting mostly). So I’m still open for invitations there, and plan to be in TO next weekend. Buen camino!

Just back from your screening in Toronto at St. Ansgar’s Church. A lovely film, sensitively made. I found people quite private about their reasons for walking; it was a question everyone had but it seemed disrespectful to ask. You gave people a sense of safety and encouragement. I would like to see a sequel — of pilgrims further along on their journey and after arrival in Santiago. I think unknown reasons emerge and assumed reasons are often discarded. I am sorry I did not have a a chance to speak with you before dashing off. Saludos.

Dear Ann,
Thanks, firstly, for coming to see the film. I like your idea of a sequel, that picks up the story of how pilgrims feel upon arrival (or near-arrival) in Santiago. I’d have to walk with them awhile before they’d trust me, but it would be well worth it for the insights. Thanks for the idea, and for the encouragement! Matthew

Hi again Ann,
I enjoyed very much some of your blog posts on Convivium and look forward to more reading. In particular the Vietnam posts were lovely to read, and to visualize,although the Camino trip sounds like it was an adventure as well,
Matthew

Hi Matthew,
I was back on the Camino in April to continue my walk fro Logrono to Carrion de los Condes. I said hello to a guy I passed on the way in to a cafe in CldC, and he came back in and asked ‘Is your name Brendan?’. It turned out that he’d organised a screening of ‘Something Grand’ in Toronto (I think) and he recognised me from that. I guess that makes both of us famous now ! Is your trip to Ireland still going ahead in June? I’d enjoy a chat if we can manage to catch up.
Best regards,
Brendan

Hi Brendan – what a wonderful coincidence to have happened! I will try to find the name and contact email for the person from Toronto that you ran into. In the meantime, looking forward to buying you a drink in Ireland,
Matthew

Hi Matthew,
I’m the professor of the course “The Camino de Santiago Pilgrimage” at the Council on International Educational Exchange in Alicante, Spain. We go to the Camino twice a year with our students and I was wondering if there’s a way we can purchase the film; I think it would be a wonderful way to explain them what’s the meaning of the Camino.
Thanks
Juan

It’s back! It was missing there for a while but whatever you did restored it, thanks Matthew.
Hope all’s well with you.
Best regards.
Brendan

Hi Matthew,

I tried emailing this to you but I got a failure notice that the address ddn’t exist!

I hope everything is well with you and yours, and that the winter in Montreal is as mild as it is in Ireland.

There’s a link below to a new BBC documentary about pilgrimage that you might be interested in, and I believe that one of the programmes is on the Camino.
The presenter Simon Reeve has done some very interesting programmes in the past, so hopefully this will be good too, and hopefully you can access it from Canada.

Best regards and a happy Christmas to you and your family.

Brendan

http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2013/49/pilgrimage-with-simon-reeve.html

Hi Matthew- I have the standard edition of “Something Grand” – a lovely film! Do you have available an education edition, i.e., an edition that comes with public presentation rights? I am with both the national American Pilgrims on the Camino and am the coordinator of the Colorado Front Range local chapter. I am trying to get it together to hold a one-day Camino Film Festival here in Colorado. “Something Grand” is definitely on the list.

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