Saskatchewan Filmmaker in the Big League

Humboldt: The New Season

By Lynette Piper

From the haunting score, to the gorgeous aerial drone shots of kids playing hockey on a frozen, snow-cleared lake, Lucas Frison’s award-winning documentary Humboldt: The New Season pulls you in, shakes you to your core, and lingers long after the closing credits.  

The film sensitively chronicles the aftermath of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash on April 16, 2018 – a day that reverberated across Saskatchewan and around the world. Of the 29 passengers on board, 16 people lost their lives, with 13 survivors enduring horrific physical and mental trauma, from brain injuries, to quadriplegia, to survivor’s guilt. Many lives were forever altered that day, especially the lives of loved ones left behind. The gripping, emotional fallout of the Broncos crash hit filmmaker Lucas Frison particularly hard. His lifelong best friend Mark Cross – Broncos’ Assistant Coach – was killed on that bus. It’s painfully clear that Humboldt – The New Season is a labour of love and touching tribute to the game they both loved, and to the best friend that was lost.

“Since the age of three, Mark and I grew up together in Strasbourg, a small town of about 700 people northwest of Regina,” Lucas recalls fondly. “We played hockey together, we dreamed together, and we cheered each other on through good times and bad. He was best man at my wedding in 2016…”

Creating the kind of film that resonates so emotionally with viewers doesn’t just happen to any filmmaker. It takes timing, access and incredible patience. Players and family members put their trust in Lucas’s capable hands because of his strong connection to Mark, and his calm, steady approach. The end result is stunning, from the cinematic slow-motion shots inside the rink, to the glorious Saskatchewan land-and-sky shots, to the somber accounts of family members like parent Scott Thomas, who lost his son Evan: “Our life changed in one breath… you can’t take nothin’ for granted.” Every piece of this film is a triumph. It’s no surprise that Humboldt – The New Season was honoured with the Yorkton Film Festival’s Ruth Shaw Award for Best of Saskatchewan. The film also won Best Doc awards at the Chilliwack Film Festival, the CARE Awards (Cinematic Arts Redemptive Entertainment), and Hollywood North Film Festival. But the honour that Lucas is most proud of is being nominated for the Canadian Screen Award for Best Documentary Programming.  

For all of the accolades, Lucas remains humble, giving credit to his long-time producer and business partner, Élise Beaudry-Ferland, who now resides in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. “We do everything by phone and video chat, and she flies back to Regina several times a year when we’re working on projects together,” says Lucas. The two formed a strong, professional bond in film school at the U of R in the 2010s, and produced their first feature-length film in 2016 called Talent, about a Saskatchewan girl who spearheads the longest-running indoor floor hockey game at her high school, earning a Guinness World Record.

While Lucas is the creative brainchild behind their company, Prairie Cat Productions, Élise leads the all-important producer role, overseeing budgets, financing, tax credits, and partnerships.

“Our collaborative partnership works really well,” Élise enthuses. “If there’s one thing COVID has taught us is that you can work from afar – something Lucas and I have been doing for years.” While Talent and Humboldt are both hockey stories, Élise laughingly admits she wasn’t a big hockey fan in the beginning. “I had to ask a lot of questions at first,” she admits, but acknowledges that a good story with heart will always resonate with audiences, no  matter what the subject matter. “As a mother of two young kids, my heart went out to the Bronco parents. I couldn’t imagine losing a child,” she adds.

While Humboldt – The New Season is a Prairie Cat Production, many hands contributed to its ultimate success. Co-Director Kevin Eastwood is based in Vancouver, while cinematographer Brad Crawford and editor Joanie Church are both in Winnipeg. The crew comes from across Saskatchewan. Charlotte Engle, the Production Executive for CBC Docs POV, was so drawn to the personal aspect of the story and its mass appeal, that she took the project under her wing and ensured it crossed the finish line.  

“I can’t thank people enough for sharing in my vision and making a truly beautiful piece of art with this film,” says Lucas. “Brad’s shots are just brilliant. A lot of people think documentary filmmaking is more ‘run and gun’ than anything else – running here and there to follow an advancing story. But documentary needs to be seen as cinema, where you choose the most cinematic shots possible.”

As Lucas grieved the death of his best friend, he took time to heal. Making a documentary was not top-of-mind during that painful time. “I tried to support Mark’s parents as best as I could — they’re like a second family to me.” But that summer, Lucas began thinking about how he could memorialize the team and pay tribute to Mark and his family. “Mark’s parents gave me permission emotionally to move on. I knew then that I had to make this film.” 

Lucas set out to interview survivors and family members of the 29 people on the bus. At times it was heart-wrenching work, but Lucas kept going. “The families and players gave me their trust, and they were comfortable with the process. If something didn’t feel right, we backed off. There was no pressure. When we got back to the edit suite, we knew we had something really powerful and emotional.” That compass of compassion and sensitivity served Lucas well as he followed the team into the 2017-18 Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League season, where the Broncos fought hard, but lost out in the seventh and deciding game of the championship tournament.

When the season ended, Lucas and his team continued to follow the players, wrapping up shooting in the spring of 2019. “We assembled the rough cut and knew we had something special,” Lucas recalls. “CBC gave us an extension to their deadline, and it aired on August 15 – which just happened to be Mark’s birthday. I think it was a sign from above — it was like he was giving us his blessing.”

As Lucas and Élise ponder their next film project (no telling whether it might be a Prairie Cat hat trick with another hockey-themed production), for now Lucas and his wife, Carrie, are happy focusing on their own personal production — a baby boy, fittingly named Zane Mark. 

“Hockey is a sport that bonds all of us as Canadians. It’s what bonded Mark and I as kids. I can’t wait to get my own son on his first set of skates,” smiles Lucas, lost in thought at all that was lost on that fateful day, and all that is yet to come. 

Lynette Piper is an award-winning writer, former government communicator, and journalist who is now pursuing her BFA in Film Production at the University of Regina. Outside of school, she’s involved with several production companies, utilizing her creative writing, producing, and voiceover talents.