Pays du Bon Dieu (God’s Country)
City: AtlanticMichael Fenwick tours the West Coast of Newfoundland discovering the unique history of a remote French community, from music, festivals, food, art, and more. As their population and language keep dwindling as the years go by, their pride for their history and culture is immense, and they are doing everything they can to keep the traditions of their ancestors alive.
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Watch TrailerEpisodes
Episode 1 - Red Island
Michael speaks with local community leader and teacher Dwight Cornect about the history and Legacy of Red Island. Dwight explains the history of the French in the region and relates a few interesting tales of his ancestors.
Episode 2 - Food
With the help of two local women, Michael lights a traditional French bread oven and makes bread for the first time. Bernadette shares her time-tested technique for making homemade bread and Edna shares some of her family’s unique recipes.
Episode 3 - Festivals
Michael explores the local French folk festival with the help of local organizers and musicians. Mark Cormier reminisces about the first folk festival Une Longue Veillée and Sylvia Oliver explains what it was like working on the folk festival in Mainland. Robert Felix remembers what it was like to help organize the festival in Black Duck Brook, and Alphonsus Young and Scott Garnier play a tune on the fiddle.
Episode 4 - Music
Michael discovers that traditional music is alive and well on the Port-au-Port Peninsula by visiting some of the local musicians. Bernard Félix gives Michael an accordion lesson and recalls how he became a musician. Sylvia Oliver tells Michael about her late husband, a fiddle player from Mainland. Dawson Greene of Lourdes plays a reel with fellow accordionist Kingston Hinks.
Episode 5 - Arts and Crafts
Michael visits a quilt maker in Cape St. George and craft shop and a painter in Mainland. Michael speaks to Tyson Jesso about the hand made crafts available in the store and Voncie Renouf display some of her quilts. Finally, Michael Lainey gives our host a painting lesson and discusses his career as an artist
Episode 6 - The Bloody Boots
Mark Cormier tells a spooky story passed down to him by his father and dramatized by Michael Fenwick. Two men go into the woods to earn some money as lumberjacks. What starts innocently enough, turns into a terrifying ordeal with a surprise ending.
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