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Highway to Heaven

2019 16 min
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A short symphonic documentary offering a glimpse into the unique religious co-existence found along No. 5 Road in Richmond, British Columbia.

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Highway to Heaven

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This short symphonic documentary offers a glimpse into the unique religious co-existence found along No. 5 Road in Richmond, British Columbia. Highway to Heaven takes audiences into many of the temples, mosques, and churches that call No. 5 home, revealing unity despite difference across these diverse cultural spaces. In a world struggling with religious violence and intolerance, filmmaker Sandra Ignagni has crafted a gentle portrait of a rare landscape using attentive imagery and an acoustic tapestry of prayer.

  • participation
    Az-Zahraa Islamic Centre/ Az-Zahraa Isla
    Evangelical Formosan Church of Greater V
    India Cultural Centre of Canada/ Gurdwar
    Kingswood Pub
    Lingyen Mountain Temple
    Mylora Executive Golf Course
    Richmond Jewish Day School
    Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Richmond
    Thrangu Tibetan Buddhist Monastery
    Trinity Pacific Evangelical Church
    Vedic Centre
  • writer
    Sandra Ignagni
  • director
    Sandra Ignagni
  • producer
    Shirley Vercruysse
  • associate producer
    Teri Snelgrove
  • line production
    Jennifer Roworth
  • director of photography
    Andrew Coppin
  • editor
    Milena Salazar
  • sound design
    Eva Madden
  • sound recordist
    Lisa Kolisnyk
    David Pullmer
  • 1st assistant camera
    Mikah Sharkey
  • camera operator
    Eva Brownstein
  • data wrangler
    Odessa Shuquaya
  • gaffer
    Paul Murakami
  • grip
    Chalane Hayward
  • production coordinator
    Kristyn Stilling
  • technical coordinator
    Wes Machnikowski
  • production assistant
    Josephine Anderson
    Ahmad Ali Jaffer
    Sayyidah Jaffer
    Hoi Bing Mo
    Milena Salazar
    Baljit Sangra
  • graphic designer
    Tim Linklater
  • colourist
    Lionel Barton
  • re-recording mixer
    Greg Stewart
    Joe Watts
  • project participant
    Abba Brodt
    Dale Burdhial
    Chris Carmichael
    Carol Day
    Kevin Krygier
    Bill McNulty
    Savitri Narayan
    Harold Steves
    Justin Tse
  • development mentorship
    J.P. Sniadecki
    Brett Story
  • UnionDocs Center for Documentary Art - summer intensive
    Christopher Allen
    Lucila Moctezuma
    Martha Shane
  • marketing manager
    Kay Rondonneau
  • publicist
    Katja De Bock
  • studio administrator
    Carla Jones
  • executive producer
    Shirley Vercruysse
  • executive director
    Michelle van Beusekom

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Education

Ages 12 to 18
School subjects

Brief “lesson launcher type” activity or a series of inquiry questions with a bit of context. 

Brief snapshot documentary exploring a one-mile stretch of road in British Columbia that has a great diversity of religious buildings, as well as other establishments. As you watch the documentary, think about which buildings or establishments were familiar to you. Which were new to you? Is the presence of all these buildings on a one-mile stretch of highway a unique aspect of Canadian society? Why or why not? The style of this documentary is unique. Describe what the goal of the documentary filmmaker may have been and how she planned to achieve it. What elements of documentary filmmaking did she use? Which elements did she leave out? Why?