On Feb. 5, two members of the production team of this film, Kirk Manton and Ralph Linhardt, showed a preview in Benedictine College’s Murphy McPhee Auditorium to a group of 35 people. This preview, roughly an hour long, gave a taste of what was to be featured and how it would be presented.
“Forge of Friendship” is an upcoming series from Eastgate Creative split into five hour-long documentaries. It explores the relationship between two notable authors, C.S. Lewis, best known for the Chronicles of Narnia and J.R.R Tolkien, best known for his Lord of the Rings. The film delves into their lives through a series of interviews, with some dramatizations of events.
The film discusses Lewis and Tolkien’s early life and their educational upbringing, before transitioning into discussing their involvement in World War I and in what ways this affected them.
It also details how they met and how they helped each other grow as people and as friends. Additionally, the interviews elucidate how they influenced each other’s religiosity, from Lewis, who was originally an atheist and subsequently converted to Christianity and Tolkien, a lifelong but lukewarm Catholic who gained understanding of his faith.
A major theme explored in this film is friendship and how the friendship between Lewis and Tolkien can inspire our generation of youth into learning true friendship.
Though the film consists of many interviews, there are sections that show dramatized reenactments of each authors’ life, from their early childhood to the end of their lives. These reenactments flow smoothly, and serve to illustrate the lives represented.
The rest of the art direction is striking as well, between the music used, which has hints of the Lord of the Rings, to the sequence timing.
The film was simple to process and did not require a background into the authors’ lives to understand. It seems to be a great way to introduce the authors to a generation that may have barely heard of them.
The producers noted that “There is no set release date, but we are moving into post-production.” When asked, they said “We are waiting on more funding, but it could potentially be released this year.”
Eastgate Creative in a non-profit studio founded by Ralph Lindhart and Jock Petersen, with an emphasis on producing historical and educational movies.
