79 years after D-Day, friends in Normandy are making a film to honour Canadian regiment

A group of friends in Normandy, made up of historians and museum employees, is working to bring Canadian sacrifices to the screen.

Little Black Devils — From Juno to Putot is an upcoming Second World War documentary that will tell the story of the Royal Winnipeg Rifles Regiment from the days leading up to D-Day through to their battle with the German 12th SS Panzer Division near the French village of Putot.

Leading the charge on the film was the late Frederick Jeanne, who was particularly passionate about the role of the Canadian troops who had liberated his home village in Normandy. Jeanne had already written Hold The Oak Line, an illustrated history of the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade.

According to another of the filmmakers, Julien Martin, who works at the D-Day Experience Museum in Normandy, the idea for a film came about while the friends were all chatting one night.

"We said to each other, quite candidly, quite naively, 'guys, it would be great if we made a film. It would be great to have something concrete about this unit, about these men,'" he said. 

Since then, the group have overcome the hurdles of indie filmmaking, cobbling together a six figure budget from donations they sought out in their spare time. They've also had to move forward following the sudden death of Jeanne, the main driving force behind the film, in early 2023 at age 36. 

Tim Cook, chief historian and director of research at the Canadian War Museum, says it's rare to see another country depict a Canadian war experience on the screen.

"Often our history is ignored by Americans, by British, by French, by Germans and others," he said.

Cook said he was pleased to learn of the project. "We need to work hard to ensure that the past is not forgotten and this falls into that." 

After the idea was hatched, Jeanne, Martin and the group brought the idea to management at the museums where they worked, who agreed to provide some financial support. They were also able to raise funds from local businesses and through individual donations from platforms like Leetchi and GoFundMe. 

Even with significant volunteer contributions in the form of food, transportation, and labour of the cast and crew, the budget is around  €100,000 (about $150,000 Cdn). 

Being historians first and filmmakers second, Martin says accuracy is their chief concern.

"We don't want approximations, or 'close enough', we really want it to be perfect."

A portion of the filming was completed last year, but the bulk of the work is still to come, according to Martin.