Depending on how you define filmmaking, Ice Breakers is either the first or the third film directed by Sandi Rankaduwa.
Since the National Film Board project allowed her to work with a “real crew,” which she hadn’t done before, the Halifax woman considers it her first.
“I worked with a director of photography, I had my own producer, an editor,” said Rankaduwa. “I really got to focus on writing and directing.”
Ice Breakers (15 minutes long) examines how the evolution of hockey was influenced by black players and follows the journey of Josh Crooks, an African Nova Scotian hockey player from Halifax. He’s a good enough player that he is the captain of a championship AAA Major Midget team, but unaware of the history of black players in the province.
His teammates get quite a bit of camera time, but seem unaffected.
“The film was shot with only a certain number of production days, so we were only around his team for two or three days, and they felt pretty comfortable,” the director said. “I think they were ready to support Josh. There weren’t any issues, except that we had to ask them to not play any music in the locker room…and that wasn’t fun for them.”
“I read this great book by George and Darril Fosty, called Black Ice: The Lost History of the Coloured Hockey League of the Maritimes,” Rankaduwa said. “I read that and it’s sort of illuminating, it gives a great history of the black community in the region in general, but also how communities in Nova Scotia came together through the church to create this…group of all-black teams that would play hockey together.”
Ice Breakers is part of a three-film NFB project called Reimagining Nova Scotia. It’s produced by Rohan Fernando and shot vividly by Director of Photography Andrew MacCormack, who during production was driving on the outskirts of Dartmouth and came upon a vast, smooth ice surface, a perfectly frozen lake.
“That’s the blessing of being in Nova Scotia, he found this expansive lake and thought it would be perfect. We were able to pull Josh out of school for half a day and get the shots done,” said Rankaduwa, who was happy with the skilled use of drones done by Skyline Studios. “It’s a nice way to make the film more pleasing visually.”
“Visuals definitely were important, and I think the idea that we were able to centre this film on the black experience. It’s rare to watch a film about hockey and see mostly black people represented. I really enjoyed reconfiguring the way we see hockey.”
Ice Breakers, which has been an official selection at seven film festivals, is now streaming for free at NFB.ca.
Rankaduwa said she took a lot from the process of making the film, and she was forced to examine her filmmaking values and priorities.
“In terms of being a filmmaker and a filmmaker of colour, I think,” she said. “I realized it might not always be marketable or popular but I think that’s the type of work I want to do, and hopefully I can find a way to keep doing it.”
