Thanks to Stéphane Berthomet and a team of enthusiasts, Montreal is hosting this weekend the very first event dedicated to true crime podcasts (true crime), a phenomenon that is enjoying unprecedented success all over the world.
Documentaries and podcasts true crime allow you to revisit murder stories that leave behind mystery and unsolved leads. The best true crime are those that turn into real investigations in our ears or before our eyes.
So, this Saturday, as part of the PodCrime Festival, podcast creators, but also journalists (Félix Séguin, the legendary Claude Poirier) and specialists in forensic medicine (Audrey-Anne Leblanc) and ethics, will parade on the Gésú stage.
“We wanted to break down the barriers between the worlds of journalism, criminal affairs and podcasts,” Stéphane Berthomet explains to me. “These people never cross paths. I found it interesting to mix these people and question the direction this phenomenon is taking.”
The victims’ families will also be given a voice (Andrée Béchard, mother of Marylin Bergeron). “Podcasts are a benefit for some families. It means that we don’t forget the disappearances or the unsolved crimes.”
Don’t bother trying to get your hands on tickets. They were gone in a matter of days. “There are a multitude of groups on social media who are passionate about the true crime“We targeted them,” Stéphane Berthomet says simply.
The latter began his career as a police officer in France. This is how he acquired experience in the field of investigation. His meeting with a Quebec woman led him to settle in Quebec in 2009.
Podcasts true crime which he produced for QuB and OHdio as part of the series The shadow of doubt (Missing, Dupont, the incorruptible, November’s Children) are well known to fans of the genre. Stéphane Berthomet has become a reference in the field, a formula that appeals to a wide audience.
Who is the audience, actually? “I don’t have a precise portrait of these fans, but I think we’re in the 30-45 age bracket. We find mostly women. It’s hard to explain why. I asked podcasters. And what they told me is that it allows women to get involved with something scary without putting themselves in danger.”
Rubbing shoulders with something that scares… This is a very rich subject for psychologists and sociologists. Why do we like to be afraid? Why do we take pleasure in listening to or watching the sordid story of a heinous murder? The universe in which we are immersed very often arouses unease, if not discomfort. When our daily lives are sometimes hard to bear, why inflict atrocious scenes on ourselves?
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Stephane Berthomet
There are several layers to this. The first is the pleasure that humans experience in being told stories. Humanity was first built on the narrative of speech. The griots in Africa, the storytellers in villages… You should know that very early on, from the 18th centurye century, crime stories began to be serialized in newspapers.
Stephane Berthomet
The other layer is based on the unifying effect of this phenomenon. “I was told that groups interested in true crime are stronger in Quebec than in the rest of Canada. Wouldn’t telling Quebec stories lead to a certain recognition of Quebec’s history?
The other explanation, in my opinion, touches on the idea of penetrating the incomprehensible, of rubbing shoulders with the workings of a brain whose motivations we have difficulty understanding. When we are interested in the Boston Strangler or Luka Rocco Magnotta, we wonder what could have been going on in their heads. What is far from us is always fascinating. I submit this theory to Stéphane Berthomet.
“It’s true that we’re looking for something that is inexplicable. We’ve gone from the witch, the Beast of Gévaudan, the monster, the vampire, the phenomenon of the beast to the phenomenon of the madman, the quasi-inhuman character. Today, we realize that humans are much more complex than we thought.”
Stéphane Berthomet is well placed to observe trends in the podcast field. true crimeHe sees that we are moving towards a form of entertainment and he doesn’t like that.
We are increasingly moving towards a form of storytelling that detaches itself from a journalistic approach. Sometimes a story is told in an approximate way without necessarily checking its sources. We are currently seeing this with the number of lawsuits that Netflix is facing.
Stephane Berthomet
Stéphane Berthomet’s approach, which is not that of all podcast creators true crimeis to accompany them with an investigation. Does this mean that the success of a good podcast depends on an unsolved case? “Since I’m a former police officer, I tell myself that it has to be useful for something. Why stir up all this pain if it’s just to tell it?”
In his podcasts, there are often twists and turns. I often wondered if this was not arranged with the guy from the views. “No, absolutely not. It’s the investigation that makes the difference. I can’t turn over all the cases. But I put all my energies into getting something out of this story.”
Stéphane Berthomet has already put some projects aside. Others have been immediately dismissed. “The Cédrika Provencher affair, I wouldn’t touch it with a six-foot stick. It has become so complex and difficult. For me, it would just be stirring up something that is not positive.”
PodCrime Festival, August 24, from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
The festival will donate part of its profits to the Association of Unsolved Murders and Disappearances of Quebec.
Visit the event website