The latest film written and directed by Oil Springs native Aaron Huggett is receiving international praise.
Electric Motion Pictures "Black Gold" -- the story about the history of the discovery of oil at Black Creek, now called Oil Springs -- won three awards in New York and five in Los Angeles this week.
"It won Best Actor at the New York Film Awards, as well as Best Feature Film and Best Western, and at the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival Awards it won Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Original Music Score and Best Editing," said Huggett. "It's really great to see the whole team, the cast, the crew, getting recognition for all of their hard work and to get Lambton's history out there in places where they've never heard it before."
Black Gold Director Aaron Huggett (far right) works with actors in Black Gold.
He said it's neat to see the film take off and people connecting to it.
"I think that it catches people off guard. It's a western, set in the 1850s... 1860s, but it has that Klondike Gold Rush feel to it with the early oil boom as well. It has a love story and it also takes on a story arch that deals with early racism in Canada and that's not a topic that's really been explored."
Huggett said he's really excited for local residents to see it.
"January 19th is going to be the premiere at the Imperial Theatre in Sarnia, and then February 1 and 2 it plays in Petrolia, followed by the Kineto Theatre in Forest on February 7."
Huggett said they're already planning their fourth film.
"We received a grant from the Lambton County Creative Fund, that we're going to be putting towards making a World War I film next year. It tells a side of the Billy Bishop story that people aren't familiar with and tells a story of a first nations hero from World War I named Francis Pegahmagabow -- who is kind of renowned as one of the top snipers of the war, but most people have never heard of him."
Electric Motion Pictures previously produced the films Red Ryan and the Black Donnellys.
To view a trailer for Black Gold, click below.
https://vimeo.com/284055320