* Director/writer/cinematographer: Paul Cowan * Producer: Keith Martin * Diary by: Etan Vlessing

Montreal-based documentary-maker Paul Cowan returns after Give Me Your Soul, an exploration of the commercial porn industry, with Westray, to unspool as part of the Perspective Canada program at the Toronto International Film Festival.

The film follows on earlier documentaries Cowan has completed for the National Film Board that deal with social injustice and class inequities. Not one to shy away from controversy, Cowan talks to surviving miners and widows about a 1992 coal mine disaster in Nova Scotia that cost 26 lives and severed the economic lifeline for a struggling community, and which saw the leading players go scot-free, despite an RCMP investigation and a public inquiry.

‘This is the real story of the workers, and the judicial inquiry. Nobody really knows what that’s all about,’ Cowan says of his motivation for uncovering the wounds and legacy of the Westray mine disaster.

Cowan talks about how he came to tell that story.

May 9, 1992: An explosion rips through the Westray coal mine in Plymouth, NS. The disaster traps 26 men a mile below ground. In the nearby village, shocked family members await word on the fate of their fathers and husbands as the international media reports from outside the mine’s gates.

Summer 1995: Cowan begins taped interviews with three miners and three widows on how their lives were changed by the Westray disaster, and shoots early footage in and around Plymouth.

But a lack of money at the NFB, and other factors, leads him to shelve the tapes and move on to other projects.

December 1997: The Nova Scotia government releases the long-awaited Westray report into the mine disaster. ‘This report will not be put on the shelf,’ provincial public works minister Don Downe pledges. ‘It will remain on top of the agenda until all the issues are addressed. We owe it to the miners, the families and all Nova Scotians.’

Summer 1999: NFB producer Keith Martin is talking with Cowan and the idea of resurrecting the Westray project comes up. ‘I met with Paul, saw his original footage and thought that this was too good to ignore. I told him we should do something with this,’ Martin recalls.

Spring 2000: Even before a broadcast licence is secured, the NFB solves Cowan’s financing needs by underwriting the entire cost of the documentary, around $440,000, eschewing the need for financial partners.

‘It’s rare for the NFB to fully finance a film, as it’s a bit risky. But I always figured Westray would be a great film,’ Martin says.

Fall 2000: Cowan and a small production team complete another three weeks of shooting, updating interviews with earlier subjects and adding new footage.

The film recreates the events leading up to the mine disaster, and the immediate aftermath. The compelling narrative captures the lives of humble miners trapped in their work for a lack of alternatives, and heartless mine inspectors and management ignoring the simplest of safety rules.

Martin insists the delay in shooting Westray since 1995 served the project well. ‘The 10th anniversay is coming up. In 1995, the government inquiry had not finished. And different story elements have developed further since then,’ he says.

For example, Frasier, a former low-ranking mine manager who was troubled by safety infractions at the Westray mine, eventually overcomes a drinking problem and makes peace with Bernadette, one of the mine widows. Their first steps at friendship are poignantly captured by Cowan.

Another development saw a grieving Native woman, originally interviewed in 1995 over the death of her husband at Westray, eventually die herself before the film is completed. Her death was likely caused by a ‘broken heart,’ Martin ventures.

Winter 2000: The documentary is edited at the NFB facilities in Montreal. Wry narration is provided by Michael Jones and Katie Malloch. Music for the film includes songs by Men of the Deeps.

Spring 2001: Cowan and the NFB do a private screening for the Westray Families’ Group, comprised of relatives of the miners killed in the explosion.

‘They made a few comments before we mixed the film about inaccuracies in the narration, which we fixed,’ Martin recalls.

Summer 2001: The NFB speaks to CBC, which first considers Westray for its Witness documentary strand, but eventually decides to air the film as a special in early 2002. No licence fee has yet been agreed.

August 2001: The film is shown at the Montreal World Film Festival, before moving on to the Perspective Canada series at TIFF, and the Atlantic Film Festival.

‘You don’t often get this kind of publicity,’ Cowan says of the chance to bring his film to Toronto, in front of the international media and film buyers.

‘With a documentary, you hope that word of mouth will bring exposure. You can’t go around with publicists and tell journalists to choose your film over Tom Cruise’s latest movie,’ he says.

Martin adds that the NFB hopes to recoup its investment in part by selling the film internationally, especially to England and Australia where mine disasters are common.

‘In terms of other countries, the Westray story has enough human interest. It’s the retelling of an old story,’ he says.