By Kathleen Mullen
Director of Programming
Planet in Focus

My father Richard Mullen died of Mesothelioma on September 29, 2003. Mesothelioma is a cancer caused by exposure to asbestos; it is terminal and has no known cure as of yet.  As my family came to terms with my father’s illness we began to learn a lot about asbestos and how it was used and how people can become exposed. We knew he had been exposed during his work as a project engineer for 40 years.

We soon discovered that even though for over fifty years companies have known that asbestos is carcinogenic for a long-time they did nothing to protect workers. In the present-day asbestos is still being mined in Canada the majority of which is shipped to developing nations. Only about 3 percent is actually used here in Canada.

With Breathtaking I wanted to tell my father’s story and that of so many others that I met along the way.

I am a filmmaker who is interested in telling stories. I was taking a lot of super 8 film and photographs of my family before my dad died so when he did die I decided that I would take those images and create more of a story about him. I wanted to tell his experience of getting mesothelioma and what that meant to me on a personal level and in addition find out as much as I possibly could about the use of asbestos today.  I didn’t want to stop at my families story I wanted to examine Canada’s role in still mining and exporting asbestos and the many workers and people still being exposed.

In short Breathtaking is a personal investigation into the landscape of asbestos use today, an autobiographical film, a testimonial of my family’s experience and a strategy for social awareness and change. Breathtaking is at its heart a documentary that searches for answers to both a personal and public question.

I live in Toronto so in order to make the film I would have to travel. I first went to my family’s home in British Columbia where my mother still lives and interviewed my mother and my three sisters.  From there I went to Quebec to find out what was happening; In Quebec the mines are still open. We went on a tour to the underground mine and the open-pit mine. It was fascinating and of course difficult as well. We walked around the town and met many people who spoke with us about the town and the work they did there. From Quebec I went to India where asbestos is now being exported. My sister Anne-Mary came along with me. She had moved home when my father got sick and helped my mother take care of him until he died.  She wanted to contribute to the making of the film.

In India we met many workers who had been exposed; Asbestos is used in drain-pipes and low-cost roofing. They told us their stories. We were able to attend an anti-asbestos press conference put on by Ban Asbestos India. Our time was spent travelling the country by train discovering the extent of exposure to asbestos. We came home from India more committed to the film than ever.

From India I came home and interviewed some experts about the use of asbestos in the past and today. Then I connected with Pat Martin, MP for Winnipeg Centre who told me about an asbestos awareness conference put on by the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization Annual Conference (ADAO).  I went there for a few days and listened to the speakers, interviewed many of the people there and attended the memorial candle-lighting on the last day. It was very moving experience. I spoke with asbestos experts, family members who had lost someone to an asbestos-related disease and activists.  After Detroit I went back to my family’s home and spent more time interviewing my mother and my sister Anne-Mary.

The making of the movie took over five years. It was the most inspirational experience that I have had. I wish to share this film with a wider public. I hope to make some change on asbestos policy in Canada and globally.

Samaritan Magazine runs an In-depth interview with Breathtaking documentary director Kathleen Mullen, Director of Programming at Planet in Focus.