Creative Nonfiction #3: Philippe Falardeau on Lac-Mégantic: This Is Not An Accident and rethinking the true crime doc

Seventh Row Podcast

In the third episode of our Creative Nonfiction Film podcast season, Philippe Falardeau discusses Lac-Mégantic: This is Not An Accident is a four-part documentary series about the catastrophic 2013 trainwreck in Lac-Mégantic, its inevitability, the aftermath, and the government failure to change safety requirements to avoid another "accident" in future. Lac-Mégantic had its world premiere at the HotDocs Film Festival where all four episodes were screened back-to-back.

The Lac-Mégantic rail disaster was the fourth-deadliest rail accident in Canadian history (47 people died) and the deadliest involving a non-passenger train. The documentary Lac-Mégantic not only chronicles the disaster and its devastating effects on the town Lac-Mégantic, but also how blame was handled and how similar disasters continue to happen.

The series reclaims the history of the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster by showing how systemic problems lead to a disaster that has been blamed on individuals. The series also reveals how appropriate safety measures have not been taken in the intervening years to prevent a similar disaster from happening (and other, smaller disasters have indeed continued to happen).

At the beginning of the episode, Alex Heeney introduces the series Lac-Mégantic, and why she thinks it's worthy of discussion. Next, we play your Alex's interview with Falardeau about the film. Finally, we wrap up with how the film fits into the framework for creative nonfiction that we at Seventh Row created in our ebook Subjective realities, and offer some suggestions for what to watch and listen to next.

Click here to read the episode show notes.

You will also find an AI-generated transcript in the show notes.

Useful links

• Watch our masterclass with Philippe Falardeau and Mina Shum
• Read our interview with Philippe Falardeau on My Internship in Canada

More on creative nonfiction

Download a FREE excerpt from Subjective Realities here.

Get your copy of the ebook Subjective Realities: The art of creative nonfiction film here.

Get your copy of the ebook In their own words: Documentary Masters vol. 1

Become a Member

All of our episodes that are over 6 months old are available to members only.

We also regularly record members only episodes.

To get full access to the podcast, including episodes from past Sundance Film Festivals and past Sundance films, become a member.

As a member, you will also be supporting what we do, and helping us cover the (expensive) costs of hosting, running a website, podcast equipment, and more. This helps to ensure we can continue producing the podcast.

Related Episodes

Members Only Episodes

• Bonus Episode 25: This is Going to Hurt and physician mental health
• Ep. 41: In the Loop and My Internship in Canada: Political satires
• Ep. 67: Frederick Wiseman’s Ex Libris and City Hall
• Ep. 95: No Ordinary Man and John Ware Reclaimed: Reclaiming history in documentary (Members only)

Free Episodes

• Ep. 99: Creative Nonfiction with Penny Lane and Carol Nguyen
• Ep. 123: Sundance 2022: Creative Nonfiction

Credits

Host Alex Heeney is the Editor-in-Chief of Seventh Row. Find her on Twitter @bwestcineaste.

Email us at contact seventh row com.

This episode was edited, produced, and recorded by Alex Heeney.