Stillwater movie about Windsor's rum-running, prohibition past

Windsor's prohibition era will be featured in a new short film entitled Stillwater.

Production of director Min Bae's film started this week in Windsor and Amherstburg.

Stillwater focuses on 1920's Windsor and Ontario's rum-running industry, exploring characters such as speakeasy-owner Bertha Thomas and gun-touting pastor Leslie Spracklin.

Bae says the film is inspired by true events.

With the support of the City of Windsor's Arts, Culture, and Heritage Fund, production will take place in multiple sites throughout the region including Canadian Club Brand Centre and downtown Amherstburg in a 10-day shoot.

"The best part about recreating 1920's Windsor has been learning of all the local stories from the community," Bae said in a news release. "Anyone I mention this project to tells us a story about that time and we truly could not do this without the many people who have come forward with props, costumes, and locations they've collected over the years."

Producer Brian Khan says the film is a historical fiction piece, but at least two of the characters really existed.

"We've taken historical figures from that era and we created a fiction story related to two big characters that actually existed," Khan said. "We want to present the era and present the struggles."

Khan said the idea for the film came about on a Windsor rum running tour.

Filming finishes next week.

Khan and Bae hope to submit the film to a number of film festivals, including Windsor's, Ann Arbor's, Toronto's, Vancouver's and more.