The Other Side of the Hero takes us into that world of the first responder we rarely see: life out of uniform.
Actor Enrico Colantoni, who played Sgt Greg Parker for five years on the international hit series Flashpoint, is our guide on this journey.
We’ll get to know first responders through their families, their spouses, their co-workers, and themselves; people who have experienced the flip-side of what can happen when a hero discovers that they are not emotionally immune to all that they deal with during their shifts.
Some of the people we meet in the documentary are Kevin Davison, a paramedic/musician from Nova Scotia, whose hit song “When Those Sirens are Gone” has become an anthem for first responders; Vince Savoia, a former paramedic who, 20 years ago, had to quit his job after a traumatic call and later ran an organization that provided support services to first responders across Canada; Lisa Rouse, the Moncton dispatcher who took the nightmarish call of June 4, 2014, when three Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers were killed; and Teresa Coulter, a Calgary paramedic whose done a series of paintings of fellow paramedics with PTSD.
Says Colantoni, “Working as an actor who plays a cop cut close. My brother was a police officer for 30 years. The glamorization of the profession on screen is something that I recognize.” When approached by fans who tell him they want to become a cop because of his show, Colantoni says, “You don’t want to be a cop, you want to be an actor!”
Joe Mantegna and Page Brewster of the TV series Criminal Minds, Alimi Ballard from Numb3rs, and David Eigenberg, Eamonn Walker, and Monica Raymund of Chicago Fire all talk about what it’s like to play a first responder on television in the documentary.
The Other Side of the Hero was produced with the support of the Rogers Telefund, The Canada Media Fund, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, CAVCO, and contributions from services and people all over the world through a successful Indiegogo campaign, which included generous support from The Tema Conter Memorial Trust and #IVEGOTYOURBACK911 as well as several other contributors.
Produced by Enrico Colantoni, Diana Warmé and Karen Shopsowitz and Directed by Karen Shopsowitz.
For more information, please visit:
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