While Joshua Riehl was growing up around friends who were picking up instruments and joining bands, he was more drawn to picking up a camera.
“I was tone deaf,” the St. Clair County Community College alumnus joked. “When everyone was getting guitars, I got a camera. I loved National Geographic documentaries.”
That love for film and storytelling has only grown, and Riehl will display his skills as a filmmaker on April 11 when his documentary “The Russian Five” will open the Detroit Free Press Film Festival at The Fillmore Detroit.
“To be able to premier the film back in Detroit, in front of a hometown audience, it’s just seemed like an opportunity that was too good to pass up,” Riehl, a graduate of Port Huron High School, said. “It will be a cool homecoming for sure.”
“The Russian Five” tells the story of five Russian hockey players — Sergei Fedorov, Slava Fetisov, Igor Larionov, Vyacheslav Kozlov and Vladimir Konstantinov — who were a massive part of the Detroit Red Wings’ success in the 1990s.
Riehl conducted interviews with the key figures in the story, including former Red Wings captain Steve Yzerman, former coach Scotty Bowman and NHL legend Wayne Gretzky among others. To interview the Russians, he had to travel to Moscow.
One of the film’s producers, Keith Gave, was a former Free Press hockey writer, which helped Riehl connect with the subjects.
“Everyone growing up in Southeast Michigan in the mid to late 90s was almost by default a Red Wings fan,” Riehl said. “The story of the Russian Five stuck with me and was something I really wanted to do.”
Riehl initially attended SC4 in 2001, setting his sights on a degree in journalism. That has served him well as a documentarian.
“When I was younger, I wanted to be a traditional journalist,” he said. “As technology was changing, it became more and more obvious that traditional journalism is not what it once was. I felt my path might thread the needle of still being a quote-unquote journalist, but more with multimedia.
“That all factored into the idea that I’m going to pursue filmmaking, and use the skills I learned at SC4 under (professor) John Lusk in the journalism program and apply them to my craft.”
Tickets for the premiere of “The Russian Five” can be purchased at freepfilmfestival.com.
Photo: Joshua Riehl (left) interviews former Detroit Red Wings star Sergei Fedorov for his documentary film “The Russian Five.” Photo credit: Gold Star Films, LLC.
