NFB Collection
Legend of a Warrior
20121 h 18 min 19 secFilm: Documentary
Direction: Corey Lee
Production: Susan Bristow (Corkscrew Media Inc.)Corey Lee (EnriquePoe Moving Pictures Inc.)Bonnie Thompson (National Film Board of Canada)Scott HenusetDavid Christensen
Script: Corey Lee
Produced by Corkscrew Media Inc. and EnriquePoe Moving Pictures Inc., in co-production with the National Film Board of Canada and in association with Omni Television.
Frank Lee is more than just a celebrated martial artist; he’s practically a
superhero, able to knock down evildoers before they know what hit them.
Renowned for bringing White Crane kung fu to North America, Frank evolved his
own style of full contact fighting and established himself as coach, promoter
and the owner of a successful fight gym.
But as far as his son, filmmaker Corey Lee, is concerned, Frank, a champion at
everything else, has never quite been a champion father. Frank’s status as a
trainer and world-renowned coach have kept him at an emotional and physical
distance from Corey.
After decades of estrangement, Corey sets out on a bridge-building mission: he
will try to connect with his father by training with him again for the first
time in 25 years.
It will not be easy for a man in his forties—with two children of his own—to
take up the gruelling routine that proper training demands. And the training
is indeed tough, almost as leather-tough as Frank himself. But as the
teacher-student relationship progresses, the father-son relationship begins to
reassert itself, at first incrementally and in often surprising ways.
Corey accompanies his father to Hong Kong, where Frank revisits the
much-changed haunts of his troubled youth. Corey is given a chance to learn
more about his dad and to reconnect with a vital part of his own culture. It
is in China that the emotional journey Corey has set in motion comes to an
unexpected and moving climax.
Availability
Other versions
Subject categories
- Sports and Leisure > Boxing, Wrestling and Martial ArtsPortraits
- Families > Family PortraitsParent-Child Relationships
- Social Studies > Communities in Canada/World
- Family Studies/Home Economics > Family Diversity and Challenges
- Physical Education > Safety/Fair Play/Leadership
Credits
- writer
- Corey Lee
- director
- Corey Lee
- producer
- Susan Bristow
- Corey Lee
- Bonnie Thompson
- executive producer
- Scott Henuset
- David Christensen
- director of photography
- Jarrett Craig
- editor
- Ian Thomas Day
- original score
- Alec Harrison
- Andrea Wettstein
- associate producer
- Taylor Ross
- production manager
- Kaari M. Autry
- location sound recordist
- Justan Ross
- Cameron Sinclair
- Brad Martin
- Eric Leung
- additional photography
- Mike Sorel
- Corey Lee
- Mark Power
- stills photography
- Colin Smith
- Sandi Somers
- animation artist
- Tyler Jenkins
- motion graphics animation
- Micheal Welchman
- animation assistant
- Nicole Brunel
- Martin Warsawski
- production coordinator
- Taylor Ross
- Lamy Li
- Dan Suen
- Faye Yoneda
- Ginette D'Silva
- business affairs
- Michelle Wong
- production accountant
- Suzanne Henuset
- production insurance
- Front Row Insurance Brokers Inc.
- marketing manager
- Leslie Stafford
- production supervisor
- Mark Power
- unit administrator
- Darin Clausen
- post-production supervisor
- Stacey Quick
- assistant editor
- Graham King
- post-production sound
- Six Degrees Music and Production
- sound supervisor
- Dan McManus
- animation sound design
- Jeff Sinclair
- sound effects
- Chris Vail
- background editor
- Chris Vail
- dialogue editor
- John Iaquinta
- re-recording mixer
- John Iaquinta
- online editing
- Ian Thomas Day
- colour grading
- Jump Studios Ltd.
- colourist
- Devon Bolton
- calligraphy
- Constance Chan
- title graphics
- Micheal Welchman
Awards
- Best Original ScoreAnnual Alberta Film and Television Awards
- Best DocumentaryAnnual Alberta Film and Television Awards