Legend of a Warrior

20121 h 18 min 19 secFilm: Documentary

G

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.


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