TORONTO — The filmmaking crew behind the “Dresden 1957” project has launched a new crowdfunding campaign with the goal of raising $60,000.
The documentary will tell the story of a Dresden, Ont. excavation collapse that killed six Dutch immigrant workers. The Daily Commercial New previously reported on this in April 2024.
The money raised in this campaign will allow the filmmakers to begin post-production this year, explains a release.
The documentary explores the construction of a pumping station, which was part of a new waterworks being built for the town of Dresden. At the time of the incident it ranked as Ontario’s worst workplace tragedy in terms of fatalities, “but public memory of the event disappeared quickly and it is unknown amongst historians and subject matter experts today,” the release notes.
Director Eric Philpott came across the story when he discovered his late father had been the site engineer during the waterworks construction.
Philpott, with assistance from senior editor Joseph Crawford, began work on the documentary in June 2023. The project was entirely self-funded for the first year.
A successful crowdfunding campaign in 2024 allowed the team to hire cinematographer Pawel Kacprzak and complete principal photography that fall, including filming in Dresden, locations around southwestern Ontario, and nearly 40 interviews with family members, witnesses, and subject matter experts, the release adds.
Then, in December 2024, the team completed a 3D scan of the bank by the Sydenham River, where the tragedy occurred. Flooding and erosion have erased all visible traces of the excavation, so the 3D scan will be used to create visual representations of the site as it appeared in 1957.
“Since starting work on this project we’ve made countless fascinating discoveries,” said Eric Philpott in a statement. “We’ve found television footage of the tragedy, which we certainly didn’t know existed, and witnesses who we didn’t think were still alive. And we’ve had tremendous support from the community, for example one volunteer found the original engineering drawings for the pumping station, several of which were done by my father.”
The team is now ready to begin assembling and editing the film. Post-production is expected to take at least a year.
“While the Dresden tragedy occurred some time ago, the questions it raises are, unfortunately, still relevant today,” added Philpott. “Workers are still dying on the job, immigrants are still disproportionately more vulnerable, and public awareness of the toll that workplace tragedies take is still very low in Canada. We hope this film will help to change that.”
The crowdfunding campaign runs until Nov. 28. Anyone interested can contribute at https://dresden1957.com/crowdfunding-for-dresden-1957
