(Montreal) The North American premiere of the series Lac-Mégantic — this is not an accident will take place at the Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival in Toronto on April 29.
The trailer for the documentary series was also made public on Tuesday, at the same time as the festival presented its programming.
The four-part documentary by Quebec filmmaker Philippe Falardeau deals with one of Canada’s worst rail disasters, which killed 47 people in 2013 in Lac-Mégantic, Estrie.
The director of Mr. Lazhar and of Raspberry time returns to the disaster by demonstrating that the thesis of the accident does not hold. It raises questions about a system that continues to put corporate profit before the public good.
On July 6, 2013, a train filled with crude oil rolled down a slope upstream from Lac-Mégantic before derailing in the city center, triggering explosions and a huge fire.
Lac-Mégantic — this is not an accident will be presented as part of the Toronto festival’s “Deep Dive” program, after a premiere in France at the Cannes International Series Festival in April, where Falardeau’s series is in official competition.
12 works from Quebec
The Hot Docs international documentary festival unveiled its lineup at a press conference on Tuesday that featured 214 films from 72 countries and special events to celebrate its 30e editing.
Among the films presented, 12 Quebec productions are promoted by the Société de développement des entreprises culturelle (SODEC).
The Denys Desjardins documentary I placed my mother recounts the filmmaker’s personal experience as his mother finishes her days in a CHSLD. The film Má Sài Gòn (Mother Saigon) de Khoa Lê adopts the view of LGBTQ+ communities in Vietnam. The Longest Goodbye by Ido Mizrahy and Caiti Blues by Justine Harbonnier are also part of the Quebec film program.
Also included in the program are short films Notes on memory and forgetting by Amélie Hardy, Last respects by Megan Durnford Loud & Here by Josiane Blanc, Magdalene by Raquel Sancinetti Nicole by Chadi Bennani, Rising From the Ashes by Sara Ben-Saud and The scissors by Katia Kurtness.
Inuit rights
This year’s Hot Docs Festival will open with an intimate look at Inuk activist and lawyer Aaju Peter and her work to defend the rights of Arctic Indigenous peoples.
Denmark-Canada-Greenland co-production Twice Colonized is directed by Danish director Lin Alluna and produced by Iqaluit filmmaker Alethea Arnaquq-Baril and Dane Emile Hertling Péronard.
Arnaquq-Baril has known Peter since she was a little girl, noting that Peter was born in Greenland and moved to Canada as a young adult.
“In Canada, we have started to take into account the colonization of indigenous peoples. I just found it really interesting that a young woman from Denmark wanted to confront her own country with the issues we’re talking about here,” said Arnaquq-Baril, who has been making documentaries for about 20 years.
The Hot Docs “Canadian Spectrum” program includes I’m Just Here for The Riotabout the rallies after the Vancouver Canucks lost in the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals, considered the first riots of the smartphone era; July Talk: Love Lives Here, in which the band books a drive-in drive-in amid the pandemic-born live music shutdown; And Someone Lives Hereabout a Toronto carpenter who builds shelters for the homeless.
Canadian films featured in other programs include Covendirected by Rama Rau, about three millennial women who identify as witches.
Other selections include satan wants you, about how a young woman and her Catholic psychiatrist sparked global satanic panic in the 1980s; And The Lebanese Burger Mafiawhich searches rural Alberta for clues to uncover the origins of a shady fast-food chain.
The 30e edition of Hot Docs — billed as the largest documentary festival in North America — runs from April 27 to May 7 in Toronto.
With information from Noel Ransome in Toronto