A preview for “The Forge of Friendship,” a five-part documentary series produced by Eastgate Creative about C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, premiered at Hillsdale College Jan. 22.

Following the hour-long preview, the movie’s producer, Kirk Manton, joined Bradley Birzer, professor of history, and Elizabeth Fredericks, associate professor of English, for a panel discussion and Q&A.

The preview featured a variety of clips, ranging from interviews with scholars to vivid reenactments of Lewis and Tolkien’s lives.

The film also features more than 40 scholars, Tolkien and Lewis specialists, and friendship experts. Interspersed between narrative episodes of the two men’s lives will be segments specifically devoted to their friendship and what viewers today can learn from them in an age in which many people struggle to develop or maintain close relationships, Manton said.

According to Fredericks, the documentary is a testament to what intellectual friendships can produce.

“We think about Lewis as a sole author, but behind everything he does are all these other people that are around the margins and in between the lines of each particular work,” Fredericks said.

Manton said they landed on the idea of friendship because it stood out as a recurring theme in their interviews with scholars.

“We asked them all some very simple questions: ‘What is your area that you know the most about these two people? Tell us about that.’ We let them lead us where they wanted to go, and we looked for the common themes. We allowed contradictions to be there, and then, as we saw the theme of friendship, we realized that would be our thesis,” Manton said.

Eastgate Creative has raised about $600,000 so far and hopes to raise another $350,000 in order to finish the documentary by the end of the year, according to Manton.

“Our business model is everything debt free. When the money comes in from distribution, it wraps back into the nonprofit for the next productions,” Manton said.

The combination of Eastgate Creative’s status as a nonprofit and personal relationships built over three decades has led to many unique opportunities, according to Manton.

Not only have all 45 scholars contributed their expertise for free, Manton said, but the Imperial War Museum granted the filmmakers access to footage no commercial enterprise would be allowed to have.

“They feel it’s their mandate to honor these people who died, and to utilize their images, especially their more intimate images,” Manton said. “You saw guys walking through the trenches, and you see their faces — you don’t see that in commercial productions.” 

As far as reenactment scenes, filming footage from the trenches proved especially difficult when arrangements fell through at the last minute, Manton said. Through providential intervention, however, they were able to capture what they needed, anyway.

“A guy in our crew said, ‘Oh, you need trenches? I know a guy who’s got trenches in his backyard,’” Manton said. “We get on the phone, and he says, ‘Yes, I have a full trench system in the backyard. Do you need soldiers?’ A whole troop of reenactment guys came, and we filmed it all the same day.”

According to Manton, the goal of the movie for himself and the director and cinematographer is to create something meaningful.

“The three of us have had full careers in commercial and film work,” Manton said. “We have a good living. Now we want to bring to a generation that’s not reading more and more, and maybe turn the tide on some of that.”

Freshman Chloe Ross said Lewis has always been very important to her and her family, so she was excited to see Eastgate’s approach to the story.

“It’s obvious that they took a lot of care with it, and it’s a story that they are telling trying to get to the heart of why Lewis and Tolkien are so special, and how they impacted each other deeply,” Ross said. “It was really exciting to see people take care of the story.”