| ‘THE KILLING OF PHILLIP BOUDREAU’ ABOUT THE 2013 VIGILANTE KILLING OF A LOCAL POACHER THAT SHOOK A NOVA SCOTIA COMMUNITY TO ITS CORE, VISIT CBC FOR PREMIERE DETAILS. |
| New documentary from Tell Tale Productions re-visits the infamous case that caused a media sensation and divided the remote Acadian community of Isle Madame in Cape Breton |
Watch the trailer here.
The Killing of Phillip Boudreau, a new documentary from award-winning filmmaker Megan Wennberg, Tell Tale Productions, and CBC Docs POV, tells the story of a death that tore apart the Nova Scotia community of Isle Madame. On June 1, 2013, halfway through the spring lobster season, the crew of the lobster fishing vessel the ‘Twin Maggies’ killed notorious local poacher Phillip Boudreau. The gruesome crime shook the close-knit community to its core, with repercussions that are still felt today. The homicide underscored the glaring and complex social issues within a remote Maritime community wrought with hardened ideals of masculinity, pride, and history. The crime was dubbed ‘Murder for Lobster,’ and while this made a clickable headline, it ignored the larger problems at play, causing harm that is still felt throughout the community seven years later.
Exploring these topics in depth, The Killing of Phillip Boudreau premieres on CBC Docs POV, on CBC and the free CBC Gem streaming service. (visit CBC for premiere details)
“Isle Madame is an intensely beautiful place with many warm, welcoming and resilient people,” says director Megan Wennberg. “That it’s also the setting of a brutal vigilante killing feels jarring, until you look beyond the idyllic surroundings. This killing tore the community apart, and when we began filming, I hoped to find a story of community healing, but instead I found pain: frustrated, repressed, and misunderstood pain. As an outsider to this community, I am incredibly grateful to those who trusted me to share their stories. Speaking out is especially difficult in small communities like Isle Madame where everyone is connected either through blood, marriage, or both.”
The Killing of Phillip Boudreau sheds new light on a misunderstood case that left in its wake several lives upended and one life lost. Poignantly, the documentary explores what happens when members of a tight knit community kill one of their own, and asks where the lines between good and bad, and right and wrong blur. Who is at fault when everyone bears some responsibility?
The Killing of Phillip Boudreau unpacks a complicated and tangled web of culpability: from specific individuals, including Boudreau, to the challenges of policing rural areas, to the role the community played as a whole. With current conversations happening around police intervention, perhaps this story would have ended differently had Boudreau had access to mental health and social supports, instead of routinely being put in prison.
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Twitter: @TellTaleProd
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