Season two of the We Are Golden docieswill have you buying into the brotherhood that is Queen’s football.
Set to start streaming on Bell FibeTV starting March 25, the six-episode docu-series produced by Viva Productions We Are Golden blends Gaels football legends of the past with current stars, bringing viewers a complete behind-the-scenes look at what it means to be part of Queen’s historic brotherhood.
Relying heavily on first-hand s from fan favourites such as Alex Vreeken, Kin ’25, Aidan O’Neal, MIR ’25, Ashton Miller-Melancon, ArtSci ’25, Darien Newell, ArtSci ’24, Jared Chisari, MSc ’25, Eric Colonna, Comm ’24, and Head Coach Steve Snyder, the six-part special offers a closer glimpse into the program than ever before.
Recorded throughout the 2023-24 season, the docu-series followed the Gaels’ triumphs and failures from this year’s campaign, with each episode focusing on an individual athlete’s relationship with Gaels football and the historical figures who closely match the legacy the players and coach plan to leave behind.
Though each episode only ran for 10-15 minutes, I can’t understate the array of emotions that washed across me as I watched the docies. Director and Executive Producer Anthony Agostino and his staff at Viva Productions did an excellent job embodying the program we’re blessed to have here at Queen’s.
The series emphasized the close relationships players share on and off the field. When Chisari spoke about breaking the all-time Queen’s single season rushing yards record, he didn’t hesitate to credit his teammates for his impressive accomplishment. Chisari said that without the of his teammates, and the trust his coaching staff put into him, he would’ve never been able to accomplish such an outstanding feat.
“What we do as a company, which is the same thing, as our goal for this series, is to be storytellers, to capture the moments, to capture the emotions, to capture what we feel is the story of the team, and more importantly, the people who we featured in this and tell their stories,” Agostino told The Journal in an interview.
The first-hand s, accompanied by players’ backstories, blew away my expectations, the docies went well above the bare minimum of showcasing the wins and losses of Queen’s football. Stories from Newell, Vreeken, and Colonna stuck out as truly inspiring and moving examples of the important role that football and Queen’s have played in each young man’s life. Each story enables viewers to understand the things that drove players to become such competitors on the gridiron.
After the screening, Agostino said the goal of the documentary wasn’t merely to document the quantitative statistics of the game as mere wins and losses, but to capture the brotherhood of the Queen’s football program and showcase the players’ stories, growth, inspirations, and challenges.
“Sports, like life, isn’t about winning and losing, it’s about the journey that you take,” Agostino said. “It’s about the people that you meet along the way, and the growth that you have, as an individual and as a group.”
“I’m grateful that the Queen’s community, and especially the Queen’s football team, allowed us into their lives, and allowed us to share their journey and their growth and their development throughout this process,” he said.
Agostino successfully achieved his goal, and after watching the documentary in its entirety, I felt much more familiar with the football team and and how they motivate themselves to compete on a weekly basis.
We Are Golden is a compelling depiction of one of the most historic programs in university football and will bring you closer to the players and coaches of the past and present that have forged this program’s legacy.
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