HMCS Malahat premieres full-length documentary

To commemorate the Naval Reserve Centennial in 2023, each of the 24 Naval Reserve Divisions (NRDs) across Canada celebrated by holding a series of activities and events to mark the exceptional year. 

 

For HMCS Malahat, Victoria’s Naval Reserve Division, this included a Freedom of the City parade through downtown Victoria, an Open House, a reception for Malahat alumni, and various efforts with the other NRDs at the national level (like the Centennial-themed Navy Bike Ride). 

 

However, to underscore the theme of commemoration, Malahat’s Public Affairs Officers and Malahat Centennial Committee Co-chairs, Lieutenant(N) (Lt(N)) Donald Den and Lt(N) Adam Smith, wanted to come up with something special that could act as an ‘archive’ of the people and Naval history over the many years at Malahat and in the Naval Reserve. Thus, the idea of putting together an in-house documentary film came together. 

 

“I knew how big an undertaking the project was going to be at the outset,” notes documentary director and co-producer Lt(N) Donald Den. “I have a few years experience in videography and making short films in the past, so the prospect of a well-produced full-length documentary film was a monumental task.” 

 

First proposed to then Commanding Officer of Malahat, Commander (Cdr)Cameron Miller, in December 2020 as part of an initial brainstorming of ideas for Malahat’s contributions for the Naval Reserve Centennial, the documentary film was eventually given the green light to proceed as one of Malahat’s signature Centennial contributions. 

 

Over the next two years, leading up to 2023, Lt(N)s Den and Smith spent countless hours reaching out to hundreds of Malahat alumni and current members as well as several people in the Navy community to contribute to the making of the film. 

 

Eventually, with the support of Malahat’s current Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander (LCdr) Anne Gardam, filming would take place at Malahat sporadically throughout the fall of 2022, leading into the winter of 2023, with close to 50 current and former members of Malahat being interviewed for the film, and several others providing archival materials, including photos and various pieces of Malahat memorabilia. 

 

Editing and post-production of the film took place throughout 2023, leading to a planned in-house premiere of the film for Oct. 28, 2023, to coincide with Malahat’s Open House and Alumni Reception. 

 

“There were many busy nights leading up to the premiere of the film,” comments Lt(N) Den. “We were editing and reviewing cuts of the film right up until the morning of the premiere.” 

 

Malahat’s full-length in-house created documentary film, ‘The 5-9 Frigate: Stories from HMCS Malahat’ was screened that evening as close to a hundred members of the Malahat alumni packed the Drill Deck where the film was projected onto a nearby wall. 

 

“We knew that ‘stories’ was going to be in the title because of the nature of the film,” said Lt(N) Smith, co-producer of the film. “We chose ‘5-9’ as the title because your typical full-time workday, like the Dolly Parton song says, is ‘9-5’ but we wanted to reflect that for most reservists, this was something they were doing beyond that, often in the evenings, so ‘5-9’ just sounded right.”

 

Post-premiere, Lt(N) Den started the work on getting together a final cut that would be available to the public (not to mention the many Malahat alumni who voiced that they wanted to see the film again and share it with their Navy friends and colleagues). 

 

In addition to extensive sound-editing, white-balancing, and adjusting multiple frames of the film for high-definition so it would look even better than it had at the premiere in October 2023, the film also was given professionally translated French subtitles, to reflect the Navy’s bilingualism.

 

Finally, on Tuesday, Sept. 3, to coincide with Malahat’s return for the start of another training year, the film was launched on Malahat’s Facebook page, where it is currently available for anyone to watch and enjoy. 

 

“I am very pleased to finally see this come together so that now both members of the Navy community and the public can enjoy watching this film about Malahat’s history,” notes LCdr Anne Gardam. “The Centennial of the Naval Reserve was a significant milestone for us, and I appreciate that we can now add this contribution from Malahat to our local naval history.”