In August 2013, Tong Sensei was approached by award-winning film director and producer Bobby Singh Brown to star in a CBC documentary film about martial arts in the city of Toronto.
The documentary featured a look at some of the fascinating and rare martial arts that are practiced in the Greater Toronto Area but are not widely known to the public. The film documents how these martial traditions are still carefully preserved and passed on, even in modern times.
Here is the official trailer from CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation):
The entire shoot took about 8 hours and began at the Scarborough Bluffs at 5:45 am, in order to capture the beautiful sunrise over Lake Ontario. They then moved to Dragon Fencing Academy to film the class.
Filming the class shot
After the class, they spent considerable time filming kata performance, as they were looking for the “right” shot and the “right” look.
Rehearsing the 2-person kata
In filming iaijutsu (the art of drawing and cutting in one fluid motion), they did 30-40 takes; some on the cliff, some on the beach, some in the dojo.
Filming iaijutsu
But the end result was worth it. And it can be seen reflected in the beautiful vistas you see in these screenshots from the film:
A big thank you from all of us here at Tokumeikan to Director Bobby Brown and his wonderful staff for all their hard work and expert advice. It was a pleasure to work with such a talented and dedicated crew.
And here is the result of all that hard work:
To watch other productions made by director Bobby Singh Brown, visit his website: The Production House