By: Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press

Essex filmmaker Jakob Skrzypa has partnered with the folks who made “Shoresy” and “Letterkenny” to produce a new historical, yet comical, four-part series titled “The Historical History of Canada.”

He is excited to announce it will premiere at the Windsor International Film Festival (WIFF) on November 1, and is already excited about the support he has received from the community.

It appears the new four-part series is gaining traction, as the original facility they planned to premiere Historical History of Canada was sold out in around four-days. As a result, WIFF moved this premiere to a larger facility, and the local filmmaker said he’s a little nervous about selling that one out.

He believed it’s 590 seats, up from around 205 the original facility offered.

“It’s a big upgrade,” he said. He is hoping many supporters from the Windsor-Essex area will purchase a ticket and show support for this new project that was filmed and created locally.

Tickets are doing well. He believes that currently, Historical History of Canada is the third top-selling film with WIFF.

“It is cool to see the local support,” Skrzypa said.”People have come out to support our projects over the years, and it seems like we have actually built a little bit of excitement locally whenever we do a project, which is great.”

He is hopeful many will take the opportunity to come out and see what he said is a “ridiculously funny” series.

This will be the only chance to see the series in theatre.

“We’re hoping to sell out completely, so you will see it with a crowd and hear all the laughter along with it,” Skrzypa plugged.

This is a four-part series, with each episode about 12-minutes in length.

“Each episode takes a real Canadian historical event, and then we completely reinvent the second half, and it turns into this absurd comedy. It is kind of presented like a History Channel documentary. There are like talking head interviews, reenactments, and whatnot.”

The show is 100% a comedy, Skrzypa said. The premise is making fun of the types of documentary-type shows that perhaps don’t necessarily present facts, but may find some patterns and theories that are a little out there.

“We are really proud of it. It is going to be a really fun screening,” he said.

The four main questions each episode answers include what really happened to all the pennies when they were discontinued, did the Maple Leafs actually win the Stanley Cup in 1967 or was it a hoax, the mafia ties to Canadian Tire money, and what really caused the Parliament fire in 1916.

Skrzypa again worked with Alex Forman to write the series in 2021. At that time, they shot a pilot for the series.

It never really went anywhere. The folks at New Metric Media saw a piece the duo made at another festival and reached out to see if they had anything else, as they were interested in collaborating on a project.

From there, they sent New Metric Media the proof-of-concept pilot they shot for the four-part series, which then gave the local filmmakers the money to make four episodes.

Historical History of Canada will be released on New Metric Media’s streaming service, Shozer, later this year.

“This is a chance for people to see it well in advance. It is probably going to be the only theatrical screening we are going to have. We made it as a web series basically. WIFF was very enthusiastic about us screening it,” Skrzypa said.

Historical History of Canada was shot earlier this year over the course of about a month, all over Windsor and Essex, including at the Main Street Diner in town and at the Canadian Transportation Museum & Heritage Village.

Many of the same individuals who helped out with their previous film “Vampires Zombies… from Space!” came out to support this project as well. He suspects around 200 people were involved, including all of the actors, extras, and camera crew.

Then, the filmmakers went into editing mode to bring the raw footage to a final product.

“It was a very fun community project. Everyone really came together, gave their time, and gave their all to it,” he said.

“We are really, really proud. It is a ridiculously funny series. It is over the top.”

For anyone who did see “Vampires Zombies… from Space!,” this four-part series has a similar sensibility in being very silly and fun. “I think it is a very fun show that can appeal to a lot of different people, because Canadian history is something we all know; we all live it. It is always presented very dry. I think we are presenting something in a very fun, silly way.

There will be a lot of familiar things. If you’re a hockey fan, you’ll probably relate to a lot of the hockey jokes, and you’ll probably like the Leafs episode.”

As a kid, everyone remembers using Canadian Tire money, he added.

“It’s familiar. It’s going to feel familiar, and you are going to be able to laugh at things you grew up with, or you remember.”

Skrzypa has a history degree, which he said means he’s a bit of a history nerd. What appealed to him and Forman about this project, however, was its format. Every episode could be a new story. It is basically evergreen. Anything can become a story. In addition, they liked being able to reinvent history in a funny way.

“I wouldn’t say you should expect to learn anything, but you will definitely have fun watching it,” Skrzypa joked.

If the series does well enough online on Shozer, Skrzypa said the goal would be to bring it to a streamer and try to do more episodes.

The filming of the four-part series was done on a modest budget. So, these four episodes are kind of a proof-of concept of what could be a real series.

“I’m so excited to see it with a crowd,” Skrzypa said.

When a filmmaker creates any of these projects, they fuss over the details to ensure it’s perfect and great. When editing, the project kind of loses its fun flair for a bit.

“Eventually, you get so close to it that you don’t know how others are going to see it. I’ve laughed at it over and over as I’ve been editing, but I’ve never seen it with a crowd. So, I’m really excited to find out what they laugh at, what they respond to, what their favourite moment was.

“It is so joke-dense. I’m excited to see what people respond to,” Skrzypa added “Windsor Essex for filming is amazing. We are starting to see a pretty good little film community.”

He said it’s been nice to see more filmmakers create good stuff in the area. He noted they all help out with each other’s projects and believes that’s a good thing as there’s a community they can rely on.

Leading up to Halloween, Skrzypa noted there will be another theatrical viewing of “Vampire Zombies…from Space!”

It will be back in theatres in Windsor on October 26 and 28, perfectly placed for the spooky season. It is being played throughout Canada as well.

Cast and crew of the movie will attend Q&As. “It is there for Halloween, so we encourage people to come dressed up as a vampire or a zombie or whatever.

That movie has become a fun little cult movie, where people show up in costume. I’ll be there and a lot of the cast and crew will be there, too.”

He’s proud to note that “Vampire Zombies…from Space!” is currently being streamed on Amazon Prime and on Apple TV. It is also available on Tubi in the US.

Tickets to the premiere for Historical History of Canada can be purchased through the Windsor International Film Festival website www.windsorfilmfestival.com. More information about the local viewing of “Vampire Zombies… from Space!” can be found at www.vampirezombiesmovie.com.

Looking into the future, the local filmmaker is trying to get the next project off the ground. He hopes to film something else bigger next year.