The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Artscene By Tina Depko OAKVILLE BEAVER STAFF · FRIDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2009 31 Eisenhower the key for Oakville filmmaker At this moment, someone could be watching the documentary A General Consensus at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas. Just the thought of that thrills Joseph Temple. The Oakville man has just started to get his feet wet in the field of documentary filmmaking, so the idea of one of his first films getting so much attention is understandably exciting. The concept for the Eisenhower short -- Temple's third documentary -- came while entering names in the search box on the website for the City of Toronto Archives. Armed with a bachelor of arts degree in history from Carleton University in Ottawa and an avid interest in Canadian-American relations, he was delighted with the search results for the name Dwight Eisenhower. "I found 10 to 12 high-resolution photos of his visit to Toronto in January 1946, and I knew I could use them," said Temple, 28. "Then on an website called archive.org, which is a warehouse of public domain footage, I found a clip of him speaking at the University of Toronto during his visit, so I knew with that and the photographs, I could make something of it." Temple estimates he spent about a month this summer creating the documentary. He drew on additional resources, particularly newspaper clippings from papers like the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star, for background information. A friend with a `great voice' read Temple's script. The 12-minute documentary short was edited on Temple's laptop using the creative software program Sony Vegas. He said it is surprisingly affordable to be a filmmaker. "I always thought if you wanted to put together a documentary, you had to have a lot of money and fancy equipment, but when I started doing it, I realized I could do stuff really cost-effectively," he said. Temple had success getting one of his previous shorts on President Theodore Roosevelt's visit to Toronto in 1917 added to the Theodore Roosevelt Collection housed at Harvard University. He drew on this success and decided to send the Eisenhower documentary to the museum named after the 33rd president of the United States. "I decided to send it to the presidential library and the assistant curator e-mailed The filmmaker said he is hoping to do a full-length documentary in the near future. He already has one idea he's contemplating. "I've been quite interested in doing a documentary on North American mercenaries," he said. "Basically, Americans and Canadians crossing borders during a time of war. For example, during World War I, 35,000 Americans crossed and joined the Canadian Army. I find that so interesting. They created a battalion called the American Legion." He likes to focus on Canadian-American relations, especially from earlier times, as he said most people his age do not know about the turbulent relations from previous decades. "I was born in 1980, so a lot of people my age think that when Bush came into power, there was all this tension and Americans and Canadians don't like each other, because up to that point they only experienced the relations of Clinton and Chrétien, or Mulroney and Regan, Bush Sr.," said the filmmaker. "But if you go back further, there's a lot of tension between Kennedy and Diefenbaker. I found taped phone conversations of Nixon, Kennedy and Johnson, and you'll hear a lot of coarse comments about Canadian prime ministers. So there's always been tension, you just have to look back that far." He said he also enjoys focusing on American presidents. "I find the American presidency fascinating," he said. "For the majority of the 20th century, they have the most powerful position in the world. We're north of them, and like Trudeau said, it's like sleeping with an elephant. When it moves, you are going to feel an earthquake." As for what lies ahead, Temple said he would like to get paid to make a documentary. However, he's not aiming for Hollywood fame achieved by the famous/infamous documentary filmmaker Michael Moore. Simply stated, Temple wants to teach people -- specifically Canadians -- about their own history. "I'd love to see my documentary on public TV, like CBC or TVO," he said. But even if small-time fame and fortune never makes its way to Temple, he's still happy just making his documentaries. "I like that in 100 years when I'm dead and gone, it will still be there with my name on it," he said. "Maybe future historians will look at my work and learn something new." RIZIERO VERTOLLI / OAKVILLE BEAVER HISTORY BUFF: Oakville filmmaker Joseph Temple's short documentary A General Consensus on President Dwight Eisenhower's visit to Toronto in 1946 is currently being shown at the Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Kansas. me about a week later saying he had American relations, so it was completely watched it and enjoyed it and they would fresh and they had never really heard the put it in their composite story before and it was collection," he said. "He "Maybe future historians will completely original, even also said he wanted to look at my work and learn though the event took screen it. I thought this something new." place in 1946." was great." The film continues to A General Consensus Joseph Temple be shown to visitors as was screened at a special part of an exhibit celeOakville filmmaker ceremony held Oct. 17 brating the 50th anniverand 18 to celebrate sary of Eisenhower's 1959 Eisenhower's birth. dedication of the joint U.S.-Canadian St. "Apparently it was a well-attended Lawrence Seaway. event," he said. "The assistant curator told Temple was unable to attend the special me the film went over well. He said that screening in mid-October, but said he most Americans don't have a lot of knowl- hopes at some point to go down to Kansas edge about Canadian history, or Canadian- to see his film at the museum.