Robin Aubert’s dark and quaint crime dramedy “Welcome to Kingston-Falls” world premieres in the International Panorama section of Series Mania, with the six-part series debuting its first two episodes at the Lille festival ahead of a planned broadcast with Radio-Canada later this year.
Produced by Encore Television and Lynx Films, the French-language series stars Maxime Le Flaguais as conflicted investigator Gabriel Serpent. In 2023 Le Flaguais received a Canadian Screen Award nod for best lead performance for the Joëlle Paquette film “Rodeo,” and he returns here alongside Marie-Ève Milot (“Mirador,” “True North”), Martin Heroux (“Ravenous,” “4 et demi…”) and many more. Encore Television Distribution is handling international sales.
Set in the fictional rural community of Kingston-Falls, inspired by Aubert’s childhood surroundings in Danville, Quebec, the series follows Serpent as he investigates the discovery of a disfigured corpse while simultaneously attempting to prevent the closure of his small-town police station.
Aubert, whose previous work spans both film and television in Québec’s independent sector, serves as creator, writer and director across all six episodes. Speaking with Variety at Series Mania, Aubert discussed balancing dark humor with violence, shaping the series and developing a visual language.
The series opens on a darkly absurd image. How did you land that balance between humor and violence?
I think it comes from this desire to express life in a truthful way. There are so many absurd elements in life that you think, “If I told this in a story, no one would believe me.” I also feel we should allow ourselves to be more playful. Melodrama kills poetry and that lightness that is so deeply human. Laughter is a wonderful shield against the negative energy around us. It’s rare to go through a day without laughing or at least smiling at something, not necessarily bursting out laughing, but at least smiling. I don’t think we smile enough on television. People deserve to smile.
As creator, writer and director of the series, did you find the level of authorship across the project shaped the series’ voice and cohesion?
Yes, very much so. If only in terms of emotional investment, but also from a logistical standpoint. You end up knowing the project so well that you understand where the money needs to go, what must be preserved, and what matters less. I’d say it’s like playing chess with a friend, you want to make the right moves to succeed, but you do it with a sense of enjoyment.
The investigator Gabriel Serpent is a very interesting character. Can you speak about his development?
Serpent came together in fragments, much like the images in the series. You wake up in the morning and learn a little more about him. My creative process is shaped by mystery, but also by personal material. For example, his relationship with his father is closely tied to the one I have with mine. Short sentences, subtext that carries more weight than the dialogue, two chairs, the landscape of our village. In fact, I also call my father “Pop” in real life. In their conversations, they often mention a character named Manon. As for her, I still don’t know who she is, and I want to return to the writing to discover that.
Kingston-Falls seems idyllic on the surface. What interested you about disrupting that kind of small-town setting?
Most of my films have been shot in my village or in neighboring ones, just like this series, which was filmed in Danville, a town near Kingsey Falls where I spent a good part of my childhood. In fact, most of the characters really exist. Of course, they’ve been fictionalized, I’m not making documentaries. I transpose reality as I perceive it, in a colorful and timeless way. I have a very idyllic vision of my region. But the idyllic is the perfect backdrop to disrupt that postcard image. Putting beauty alongside ugliness is wonderful for a creator, it generates compelling scenes.
How did you approach the visual style to support this blend of crime and dark comedy?
We used cameras that had been gathering dust on suppliers’ shelves. I wanted to recapture that video feel from about 20 years ago. I missed its texture, its grain, but also its limitations. The more constraints you give yourself, the more creative you become, I think. Modern cameras are too sharp for my personal taste. The details are precise, but all the images end up looking the same. It’s beautiful, but very dull. I wanted oranges, browns, earth tones, autumn, something both rough and luminous. I really wanted the audience to have an experience.
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