In this production still from the set of A Wind at My Back Christmas, the cast, as well as the characters, are finally united at the holiday season.  What fans of the series may not know is that filming of the movie took place on the days surrounding September 11, 2001.

“Much of the future health and happiness of mother and baby is due to the care she receives; therefore, ever since the founding of the IDEAL MATERNITY HOME in 1928, its management has put forth great effort to meet every need for the comfort and protection of its patrons to make it truly ‘IDEAL’.” ~ Ideal Maternity Home brochure, circa 1943

As part of our effort to provide information on family-friendly film and television, I came across a funny article by mywesttexas.com, which had a top ten list of children’s movies that scared today’s parents when they were little (and perhaps still).

Besides the animated movies that have graced screens since the dawn of Disney, it’s not always easy to find a live-action movie that is appropriate for the entire family.  Here is a list of five family-friendly movies that both young and old will enjoy.

If you can’t make it out Cannes or the Tribeca Film Festival this Spring, you can easily throw your own film festival together for the whole family to enjoy.  It’s a great way to keep your children occupied on a rainy April day and you can let them plan their own festival for the nights they’re left with a babysitter.

Part of the reason why Wind at My Back makes such a lasting impression on its viewers is the melodies composed for the show.  Fans of Road to Avonlea might recognize strains of the theme music as slightly similar to one of Avonlea’s own themes.  Here is an excerpt explaining the music from the show, taken from a behind-the-scenes brochure about the making of Wind at My Back, available to Sullivan Insiders on SullivanMovies.com.

The time period in which Wind at My Back is set allowed for some beautiful costumes to be worn by its leading female characters especially.  Veteran costume designer Ruth Secord was the woman who brought the fashion of the 1930s to the forefront of the show.

Shooting winter scenes in the heat of summer is not as challenging as you might think for filmmaker Kevin Sullivan.  In fact, A Wind at My Back Christmas, which contained scenes with a lot of snow, was actually filmed in late summer, early fall.  Here is a direct explanation from Kevin himself as to how he has managed to convincingly portray the season in a number of different productions, including Wind at My Back, Road to Avonlea and other films.

Surviving winter in small Canadian towns during the Depression (and even now) could be times of both hardship and celebration.  A Wind at My Back Christmas demonstrates this, especially when we see the town coming together outdoors in the cold on Christmas Eve to sing carols together.

The director of a number of Wind at My Back episodes, Don Shebib, is also the director of one of Canada’s most iconic films - 1970’s Goin’ Down the Road.  And now, 72-year-old Shebib is back in the director’s chair, making a sequel to the classic film he made 40 years ago.

For Kevin Sullivan, remembering what it was like spending summer afternoons just daydreaming has often helped along the vision of his stories.  In the book, Beyond Green Gables, Kevin talks about what the summer season means to him and how important it is in developing the imagination.

In the two-part series opener of Wind at my Back, “Four Walls and Roof”, viewers watch as Hub and Fat Bailey run away to the Bailey cottage on Bass Lake in the hopes of escaping their grandmother’s tyrannical rule and returning to their mother in North Bridge.

Wind at my Back’s fictional town of New Bedford represented a small mining town struggling through the trials of the Great Depression.  Choosing the perfect location to film the series was an important task.  But when the Sullivan team found Bowmanville, Ontario, they knew it was the right place.

Imagine unemployment increasing to 20-25% nationally, natural disasters occurring at the same time (drought in the prairies), and thousands of people lining up for hours at soup kitchens. The 1930’s was not a time to pick and choose what career you wanted. When given any opportunity, you would take it. During the depression, any job was a good job.

Wind at My Back was filmed in Port Perry, north east of Toronto. However, the real Bedford town is located in eastern Ontario near Kingston. This area is called Southern Frontenac. It is made up of many little villages and towns that don’t go over the population of 20,000. They are small and most of time they are made up of generations of families who have been there for many years.