Canada 2022
Director: Colin Askey
80min DCP
Wednesday June 14th @ 7:00pm, The Cinematheque (1131 Howe St)
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Film Description
A public health emergency around what came to be known as “the overdose crisis” was first declared in this province in April 2016—the same year the grass-roots Overdose Prevention Society began offering its harm reduction services. In the intervening seven years, a staggering 11,171 deaths in BC have been attributed to this ongoing crisis. Supporters of OPS are convinced this number would be much higher if not for their frontline efforts. Having moved from their first location, a tent, to their current space on East Hastings Street, OPS provides a safe, warm, non-judgmental drop-in where people can test their drugs, pick up clean needles, and inject in safety, as well as access other services. A veteran of ten years work in the DTES, Askey was known and trusted. Using a fly-on-the-wall observational approach, his film portrays the community members who work at OPS (most either current or former drug users) with the same clear-eyed compassion as those who use its services.
“Intimate and revealing—quietly but firmly humanizing drug use and the people who engage in it.” — Paloma Pacheco, POV Magazine
“Director Colin Askey doesn’t gloss over the frequently-grim reality of serious substance use disorders … but he insists on the humanity of drug users and the communities they call home.” — Kate Knibbs, Wired
Post-screening Discussion:
Post-screening discussion with Sara Blyth and Amy Evans. Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia
About the Panel:
Sara Blyth is the executive director and co-founder of Vancouver’s Overdose Prevention Society and former Vancouver Park Board commissioner. She is a long-time community activist who has been working in the Downtown Eastside for over a decade providing grassroots services, opportunities, and responses to the overdose crisis.
Amy Evans is a manager at Vancouver’s Overdose Prevention Society with five years recovery. She found her passion doing harm reduction work in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.
Dr. Harry Karlinsky, the Series Director of Frames of Mind and a Clinical Professor in the UBC Department of Psychiatry, has a longstanding commitment to professional and public education. He has presented nationally and internationally on topics ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to information technology to narrative medicine to PTSD and to the use of films in health care education.
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