CT playwright’s new documentary highlights opioid crisis in inner cities

Growing up in Hartford, Sharece Sellem said it’s her dream to produce theater that marries art with advocacy, so she often centers her plays on real-life issues through fictional lives.

Her latest project though uses real people to help viewers understand the root causes of addiction and its impact on Connecticut inner city communities in her new documentary, “Silence on the Streets.”

Since 1999, more than a million people in the U.S. have died of a fatal drug overdose, with a majority of the fatalities caused by opioids, such as fentanyl, data shows.

“(The documentary) gives life to the data. It makes the data brief. It makes it human,” Sellem said. “We’re so accustomed to looking at data, which is so important, but now it puts a face to the data so we can really see and feel how this is substance use and all the interconnected issues truly impact us and hurt us not only as individuals but as a nation.”

The 90-minute film explores the history of opioid and fentanyl use in Connecticut’s inner cities starting in the 1970s, focusing on New Haven, New London, Meriden, Norwich and Hartford, Sellem said.

It specifically looks at the Black, Brown, Latino and Native American communities and how the various economic and social conditions they face shape their experiences with addiction and recovery as a result.

The narrative is built through several interviews conducted with leaders working to address the various issues relating to opioid addiction, such as psychologists, addiction treatment providers, recovery coaches, city officials and harm reduction organizations. The documentary also features an interview with Record-Journal reporter Mary Ellen Godin, whose family has been affected by the opioid crisis.

In addition to expert voices, the film features individuals from Connecticut’s inner cities who have lived experience with substance use disorder, drug trafficking, poverty and recidivism.

Sellem also included her and her father’s stories in the story. She said her father was instrumental in coordinating interviews since he often volunteers at different organizations throughout New London to support others in recovery.

Her father struggled with addiction and was in and out of incarceration when she was younger, she said. Also, her family dealt with other social determinants of health, like poverty.

She said listening to people’s stories was therapeutic for her and helped her feel affirmed in her own experiences.

“Piecing all of it together, especially the historical part, I found it to give me more clarity about my own history and really how we got here,” Sellem said.

Although the film premiered last year, there will be more showings of the film in the coming months, including one in April at the Meriden Public Library hosted by the city’s Health and Human Services Department and TriCircle, a local nonprofit that provides resources for individuals and families impacted by substance use.

This is how those behind its creation want people to see it.

The film is only available for public viewings where organizations, city agencies and nonprofits request to host a film showcase for the public. New England High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area, which funded the film, will pass along a link. The hosts are asked to bring in local resources and experts to talk with audience members after the movie.

“We could put it on YouTube or make it widely available for everybody to see, but to us, that defeats the purpose,” said Robert Lawlor, a drug intelligence officer at the New England HIDTA. “(We) don’t want people watching it in their living room. What we want is a community group, coalition, nonprofit, to hold an event where they screen the film, and they have really important conversations and dialogues after the film about the themes and the issues that the film brings up.”

Lawlor said they’re also showing in other states including Rhode Island and Delaware, where Sellem now lives. Although New England HIDTA is willing to offer its experts for panels, Lawlor said they encourage the hosts to bring in local leaders and resources to speak with the audience.

“For these kinds of things, you really want for the community to be having these discussions with the people they trust, know and rely on,” Lawlor said. “We really believe it’s important to have the local context and the local subject matter experts also be part of those discussions because those are the people that are going to be actually doing the work in the communities.”

Lawlor said he hopes the documentary will inspire people to have conversations about addiction and how social determinants of health, like poverty, recidivism and financial struggles, impact drug use.

“Addiction is so complex and to really deal with addiction and substance use, you need to pull those layers back,” he said. “Until we start talking about the foundations of addiction, on what leads people to addiction and what are some of the root causes of addiction, we aren’t going to be able to address addiction itself.”

Lawlor and Sellem connected a few years ago when she was researching “Matthew Rising,” a play that debuted in 2020 and dove into the impact of opioid addiction through the eyes of a family living in New Haven. Although the story itself is fictional, she said created the narrative after extensive research on the opioid crisis and the impact of addiction.

“I feel like I was living my truth and was able to speak truth to the environment and community that I belong to,” she said. “So I was very comfortable writing that play showcasing that play, but we still do have a lot of stigma in our communities surrounding addiction (and) surrounding mental health.”

The idea for an educational film started with a discussion on the best ways to do community outreach and host discussions about available resources, Lawlor said.

New England HIDTA had received funding from the Office of National Drug Policy to create a series of educational videos about addiction for law enforcement. However, the funds were repurposed to create a film for the general public.

Lawlor added that there was a need for a more up-to-date film about opioid addiction that analyzed the “root causes” of addiction while living in an inner city, such as food insecurity, poverty and gaps in health care access.

“We wanted to talk about what are the unique challenges that lead minorities living in an inner city to addiction,” he said.

Sellem said that the reception so far has been positive but admits that she has had a few people come up “pretty tear-filled,” noting how emotionally heavy the film is. She said she hopes audiences leave the movie educated and empowered after learning how hard it is to break systemic cycles of addiction and its impact on the community.

“Addiction is more complicated than someone is just using because they’re sad. It’s deeper than that… I think they come out more educated about the issues and they start to recognize that this is everyone’s problem,” Sellem said. “It’s not just one community’s problem, but it really is everyone’s problem.”