Film crew from France shoots Alice Munro documentary in Wingham

With the Literary Garden bearing her name, a film crew from France is taking in Wingham, Ont. Tuesday as they begin production on a documentary about native daughter, Alice Munro.

“We come for a French TV program called Invitation Voyage. The program is a cultural program in which we come to places around the world that inspire artists, and Wingham is the hometown of Alice Munro,” said the documentary’s director, Florence Troquereau.

The now 91-year-old Munro was born in Wingham in 1931. She’s a world-renowned author who won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013. Many of Munro’s award-winning short stories are based on her formative years in Wingham, which is why the French crew is in town.

“We thought it would be great to stop here to explore the small town she mentions all over her work to understand a little more about what it is about, and to try to touch it,” added Troquereau.

Showing them around town is Alice Munro fan and local history buff, Carol Phillips.

A documentary film crew from France shooting their documentary about Alice Munro in Wingham, Ont. on Feb. 28, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

“The world knows Alice Munro and because the world knows Alice Munro, they’ve been introduced to Wingham. A small town full of secrets, and full of wonderful stories,” said Phillips.

The French crew is only in Wingham for one day before moving on to Northern Ontario and the Milton area, where some of Munro’s ancestors were buried.

“What we are interested in is the relationship between a place and an artist, and what inspired him or her so much,” said Troquereau.

“The team from France is here, and they’re going around town today, just looking to see the magic that Alice saw,” added Phillips.

There’s no air date yet for the Alice Munro documentary, which will be available to viewers in France and Germany later this year.

Alice Munro sign in Wingham, Ont. as seen on Feb. 28, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)