A whole region kept quiet for 40 years. What costs more: silence or speaking up?
From the 1950s to the 1980s, Catholic priests committed numerous sexual abuses on young boys in several French-speaking villages in New Brunswick. Brought to light when the victims were in their fifties, these scandals sparked shock and indignation in the media and the public. Why have affected communities chosen secrecy over justice and truth for so long? Taking advantage of their influence to impose a "pious silence" on their parishioners, several figures of authority have built a veritable structure of abuse that testifies as much to the oppressions specific to the Acadian populations as to the systemic denial of the Catholic Church. Challenged by the power of collective silence, seasoned filmmaker Renée Blanchar seeks to unravel the root causes by going out to meet the survivors.
Direction
Blanchar lets silence do the screaming
Editing
Archival footage lands like a gut punch
Director
Renée Blanchar
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The 'pious silence' directly echoes Acadian history of survival through assimilation—survivors describe silence as inheritance.
Blanchar filmed in the actual villages; some residents still refuse to acknowledge the documentary crew's presence.
FR
CA
