contact - The Film Works

1 x 90 min
Dramatic History / Forensic Investigation
HD Widescreen
contact:
Jacqueline Nuwame
Eventide Media
www.eventidemedia.com
416-533-0149
Eric Jordan
The Film Works
www.thefilmworks.ca
416-985-2139
ANGELIQUE!
The slave who burned Montreal
On the night of Saturday, April 10, 1734, Montreal burned. It started with a spark in the attic of a
wealthy widow’s home, then, erupted into an inferno. Within a few hours, the commercial center
of New France -hub of the North American fur trade-was reduced to smouldering ashes.
Was it arson? If so, who did it and why?
Before the night was through, a 27-year-old black slave woman named Mary-Joseph Angelique
was accused. She denied it, but rumour held that she did it to kill her mistress and escape with
her French lover.
Three officers of the crown are assigned the case and, over the next two-and-a-half months, they
conduct a detailed investigation that includes interviews with the accused and with the 25 men,
women and children who would testify against her. It was the most sensational trial of its day;
culminating in the conviction, torture and public hanging of Angelique.
But, did she do it? It’s time to take a second look.
ANGELIQUE! will combine dramatic reenactment of the events with a modern forensic investigation
by a team of legal experts, historians and crime-scene specialists to piece together the clues
and figure out what really happened on the night of April 10, 1734; and why.
As the scientists pick apart the details of the fire, the Historians and Lawyers unravel the story as
recorded in the trial. And, what begins as a simple crime-scene investigation, uncovers what is
believed to be the oldest recorded slave narrative in North America; revealing the untold history
of slavery in Canada.
We’ll come to see that the original trial was a farce. The conviction was based on nothing more
than hearsay and dubious accounts by “witnesses” who had their own secrets to hide.
Pages 1 of 6
There’s the neighbour who claimed he tried to put out the fire but actually fled like acriminal,
allowing the flames to spread. There’s accounts by children as young as 5 yearsold and by
slaves whose words do not seem to be their own.
The widow, Mme Francheville, is portrayed as meek, childless, and vulnerable. In fact, she
was a powerful, hard-nosed businesswoman known to violently abuse her slave. Some say she
suspected Angelique slept with her husband and bore his children.
Our investigation takes us through the streets of old Montreal to the scene of the crime. Inside the
Francheville estate we discover that behind the veneer of impartial justice was a seething conflict
between masters and slaves. All of them had a motive to see Montreal burn.
Here, most slaves are Native. A year earlier, Sir Francheville led the genocidal slaughter of the
Fox people. The few survivors were sold into slavery, extending their life by an average of 18
months. This was their punishment for resisting his expanding trade in fur.
Next are the white indentured servants. Angelique’s European lover was an angry man. After
France had conquered his homeland, he was forced into 5 years of military service conquering
other lands for a king he despised. Once released, he had no option but to offer Mme Francheville
his indentured service; and bide time to plan his escape.
At the center of it all is Mary-Joseph Angelique; a black woman who was born into slavery but
refused to accept it. Her journey from Portugal to the new world is traceable by bills of sale;
her baptism to Christianity; and by the birth and death of her children. But, it is through the trial
documents, the transcripts of her own words, that we come to know her courageous and defiant
personality.
We learn of her previous attempts to escape with her lover, of her dreams for a life of freedom.
We hear the intelligence of her reasoning, her wit, and her refusal to confess. However, there are
Royal forces that will not be denied. The colonial governor, himself an owner of several slave
plantations in the Caribbean, requires a theatrically appropriate conclusion to the trial. So, on
Monday, June 12, the final interrogation begins. This time, Mathieu Leveille, himself a black
Pages 2 of 6
a black slave is assigned to extract Angelique’s confession by torture. Her legs are placed in
wooden “boots” and smashed with a hammer until the bones crack and she finally confesses to
arson.
Yet, nothing they can do will make her implicate her lover. We learn that on the night of the
fire, they were together briefly; then, he disappeared into the thick smoke and was never seen
again.
If Angelique felt betrayed by her lover we will never know, only that she refused to name him
–even under the most extraordinary torture- refusing to betray the quest for freedom they had
shared.
Meanwhile, our crime-scene investigators have constructed a live experiment. They believe it
will demonstrate that the inferno of 1734 was not caused by arson. It was due to the illegal
construction practices of the Montreal merchants themselves. The fire could have started in
another house nearby.
Our ends as Angelique -bloody, broken, and near death- is wheeled in a garbage-cart to the
scaffold. She is hanged before a crowd of unrepentant onlookers. Her body burned; her ashes
blown to the wind.
Pages 3 of 6
The Production Team:
Eric Jordan, Executive Producer
The Film Works:
The Film Works is an independent production company founded by partners Paul Stephens and
Eric Jordan. The company has earned an outstanding reputation for entertaining, innovative,
premium drama in both feature film and television.
The Film Works’ most recent feature film is Beowulf & Grendel, a powerful historical epic based
on the poem, Beowulf, starring Gerard Butler and Stellan Skarsgard. (See beowulfandgrendel.
com) This Canada-UK-Iceland co-production was released across Canada and the U.S. in 2006.
In 2002 The Film Works produced Julie Walking Home (Miranda Otto, William Fichtner), an
international co-production from acclaimed writerdirector Agnieszka Holland, which premiered at
the 2002 Venice International Film Festival. Also premiering in 2002 was Canadian director David
Sutherland’s Love, Sex and Eating The Bones (Hill Harper) which won Best First Feature
at the Toronto International Film Festival. Earlier features include the film adaptation of Rohinton
Mistry’s Such a Long Journey ( Roshan Seth, Om Puri, Ranjit Chowdry), a Canada-UK coproduction and multiple Genie Award winner, and two features by acclaimed writer-director
Clement Virgo, Love Come Down (Larenz Tate, Sarah Polley, Deborah Cox) and The Planet
of Junior Brown (Lynn Whitfield, Margot Kidder, Sarah Polley), which won the Grand Prize at
the Urban World Film Festival in New York. Our first feature was Ganesh: Ordinary Magic,
directed by Giles Walker, winner of the Grand Prize at the Frankfurt Kinderfest.
The Film Works started production in 1980 with Spirit Bay, the first North American television
series with an all Native cast, starring Graham Greene, Tantoo Cardinal and Gary Farmer. Spirit
Bay was broadcast on networks around the world. The Film Works’ first television movie, Where
the Spirit Lives, produced for CBC and PBS American Playhouse, was also broadcast
worldwide, winning more than twenty international awards, including the Gemini Award for Best
Television Movie. Life With Billy captured the TV Movie Prize at the San Francisco Film Festival.
The Arrow, a mini-series starring Dan Aykroyd, won the Chrysler Award for the Most Popular
Canadian TV Program, and six Gemini awards. Cowboys and Indians: The Killing of JJ
Harper, starring Adam
Pages 4 of 6
Beach, premiered on the CBC and Starz. Other outstanding TV credits include Lyddie, a family
film for CBC and BBC, On My Mind, a children’s series for international television, and the
documentary series, Working Animals, for Discovery Channel.
The Film Works continues to work with outstanding writers, directors and international
partners to develop and produce remarkable feature films.
Jacqueline Nuwame, Producer
Eventide Media:
Jacqueline Nuwame has nearly a decade of experience in media production and has held several
senior positions in both Television and New Media. Currently she is Interactive Project Lab Mentor
at the Canadian Film Centre’s Habitat New Media Lab. Prior to this position, she was the Director
of Communications at DECODE Entertainment Inc. In addition to her award-winning portfolio of
television and multimedia work, she has a broad range of experience in entertainment and new
media, marketing, as well as corporate communications.
Selected production credits include:
Naturally Sadie (Season One) 26x22 mins. – Disney Channel and Family Channel
Radio Free Roscoe (Season One & Two) 52x22 mins. – The N (Nickelodeon Digital
Channel) Family Channel
The Blobheads (Season One) 26x22 – Nickelodeon International, CBC
Be The Creature (Season One & Two) 26 x 40 mins. - The National Geographic
Channel US, CBC
The Zack Files (Season One & Two) 52 x 22 mins. – Fox Family Channel, YTV
Angela Anaconda (Season Two & Three) 65 x 22 – Fox Family Channel, Teletoon
Jacqueline Nuwame is also very involved in the Canadian production industry and is a
sought after guest speaker, recent panels include:
Session Producer – Just Kids,
Banff World Television Festival 2005
Panelist – Soundtrack Promotion, OMDC-NXNE Music Festival 2005
Panelist – WIFT, Marketing and New Media 2004
Pages 5 of 6
Panelist – Digital Eve, Business Forum 2003
Panelist – OMDC Media Business Forum 2003
Judge New Media – Advertising – New York Festivals 2003
Presenter – Interactive Screen – Banff Centre of the Arts 2002
Panelist – ReelWorld Film Festival 2002
Clement Virgo
Director
Clément Virgo is an award -winning filmmaker of international acclaim whose credits span
directing, writing, and producing. Clement came to Canada from Jamaica at the age of 11. He
honed his visual sensibility at the renowned Norman Jewison Canadian Film Centre for ,Advanced
Film Studies.
Director: Feature Films
1. Poor Boy’s Game (2006)
2. Lie with Me (2005)
3. Love Come Down (2000)
4. One Heart Broken Into Song (1999) TV
5. The Planet of Junior Brown (1997)
6. Rude (1995)
7. Save My Lost Nigga Soul (1993) Short.
8. Split Second Pullout Technique (1992) Short
9. A Small Dick Fleshy Ass Thang (1991) Short
Writer: Feature Films
1. Poor Boy’s Game (2006)
2. Lie with Me (2005) (screenplay)
3. Love Come Down (2000)
4. The Planet of Junior Brown (1997)
5. Rude (1995)
Pages 6 of 6