Portuguese-language film with English subtitles about the 70 years of Mennonite immigration to Brazil, celebrated in 2000. Based on true stories, full of examples of faith, the movie reveals dramatic moments lived by the first immigrants, and also shows the growth of a group of people guided always by the divine light and by an unbreakable disposition to start again, to work, and to pursue their ideals. Since the Netherlands, passing through the icy Russian plains, in the middle of the war in Germany, or at the discovery of the Brazilian unusual heat, this homage brings to light testimonies of the characters of this true saga and lights hope for a new life. Many
of the scenes were shot in preciously elaborated sceneries, and some In Santa Catarina, where
they originally took place. Produced by Exodo imagens/Fundacao Educacional Menonita.
Prairie Pioneers: (2008) (43 min.) The Mennonites of Manitoba (1874 – 1974)
By Otto Klassen
Otto Klassen’s first full-length documentary film was produced in 1974 to commemorate the centennial of Mennonite settlement in Manitoba. The film recreates various aspects of pioneer life, such as the building of sod huts (zemlin), and the arrival of Russian-Mennonite settlers at the juncture of the Red River and the Rat River in 1874. It also includes footage of Manitoba Centennial Celebrations of 1970 in various Manitoba Mennonite communities, including the first ever visit of members of the Royal Family – Queen Elizabeth, Prince Philip and Prince Charles – to a Mennonite village in Canada, and the visit of Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to Steinbach. Other Centennial events presented in the film include a hymn sing and choral festival in Winnipeg’s Centennial Concert Hall, a large Mennonite gathering at the Winnipeg Arena, and
celebrations in Altona and at the Mennonite Village Museum in Steinbach.