Award-winning doc combats stigma around drug addiction
Hugh Gibson realizes that addiction and recovery are oft-covered subjects, whether in documentaries or in the news. But, the Toronto filmmaker wondered, why hadn’t he seen people like Marty, Roxanne and Greg before?
“What I had been seeing was the sort of traditional view of someone who uses drugs or has performed street-based sex work,” Gibson said. “But what I was seeing while making the film was people who are articulate, extremely funny, smart, who are poets, grandmothers, grandfathers, people who are very much concerned with the well-being of others, who have a sense of community. These were things I wanted to focus on.”
For The Stairs, which is showing at the Plaza from Jan. 19-25, Gibson spent five years following habitual drug users help other addicts through harm-reduction methods while also battling their own addiction issues. Specifically, the documentary looks at the trials and tribulations of three people, including Marty, a former crack user and budding poet.
“Marty came in one day and said, ‘Hugh, I’ve got a poem I wrote, and it’s about my experience sleeping in stairwells for years, and how I came to be in these programs.’ I don’t think we even had an interview scheduled but I had my equipment and I set up and he laid this poem on me and I was knocked flat on my ass.”
The Stairs, which last year won the Rogers Best Canadian Film Award from the Toronto Film Critics Association, is Gibson’s feature directorial debut. It grew out of educational videos Gibson was asked to make by two Toronto health agencies for their respective harm-reduction programs.
“That era, going back to 2011, the Stephen Harper years, was a very different time for perception of harm reduction,” Gibson said. “These agencies’ programs’ funding was threatened. It was the same time that Insite was under fire. These videos were intended to show people what the programs did. But very importantly, they were intended to be made in the voices of the clients themselves.”
Gibson spent time one-on-one with clients who had benefited from the programs.
“They would talk in unrehearsed, unfiltered ways about what their experiences were, and about harm reduction, which I knew basically nothing about,” he said. “They were my guide. The whole process became really personal and involving for myself but also for the people who participated. They ended up seeing it as a sort of outlet for self-expression. I learned how rare those opportunities are in the world of street involvement. And it became really personal for the participants.”
The characters’ lives ultimately determined the filmmaking process. Gibson trusted the material to give him an ending.
“Early on in filming, we had a meeting, everyone involved in the film, and I was saying, ‘Here’s what I think the movie is going to be, do you guys have ideas? Who wants to participate and who doesn’t?’ Then someone interrupts me and says, ‘Hey, how do you know if it’s going to have a happy ending?’ Of course, I had no answer. Before I could say anything someone else chimes in and says, ‘Well, that depends on us, doesn’t it?’”
In many major cities like Vancouver and Calgary, addiction and drug use have become part of the daily news diet. What can The Stairs tell us?
“With the film I wanted to humanize things that have been dehumanized. I wanted to combat all of the stigma and the misinformation surrounding drug use, sex work, homelessness,” he said. “There’s a lot of talk about all of these issues. But we don’t necessarily hear from the people affected. We don’t necessarily think about them as the complex, well-rounded individuals that you’ll see in the film.”
The Stairs airs Jan. 19 at 6:45 p.m., Jan. 20-21 at 3:30 p.m. and Jan. 22-23, 25 at 9:15 p.m.
Following the screening on Jan. 19, there will be a Q&A panel with Jessica Holtsbaum, co-founder Changing the Face of Addiction; and Chelsea Burnham, Alberta Addicts Who Educate And Advocate Responsibly (AAWEAR); moderated by Herald writer Meghan Potkins. On Jan. 20, a Q&A session features Leslie Hill, executive director HIV Community Link; Rosalind Davis, co-founder of Changing the Face of Addiction; and Don Baker, AAWEAR.