NFB SHOWS VANCOUVER ON DRUGS

Halfway through the decade and a mere four years away from the
world's eyes on Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Straight
peered into the National Film Board's records to find out what
stories are being told about our fair city.

Of the 20 documentaries the National Film Board made and/or
distributed about Vancouver between 2000 and 2005, 10 focus on
extreme violence or the Downtown Eastside.

They are: The Drug Awareness Package which included Through the Blue
Lens and Flipping the World (about drugs and the Downtown Eastside);
Exiles in Lotusland (about Quebecois street youth in Vancouver); Fix:
The Story of an Addicted City (about safe-injection sites); Heroines:
The Photographic Obsession of Lincoln Clarkes (about Downtown
Eastside prostitutes, violence, drugs, and crime); The David Snow
Story (real-life sex-crime documentary); ExtraOrdinary Lives--Episode
3--Triumph (about a Vancouver RCMP officer who returned to work after
being shot during a sex-offender arrest); "Our City Our Voices:
Follow the Eagle" and "Our City Our Voices: Slo-Pitch" (two short
films by residents of the Downtown Eastside); and Terry Driver: The
Abbotsford Killer (self-explanatory).

Angela Heck, public-relations director for the NFB's Pacific and
Yukon Centre, told the Straight that there's something to this trend.

"I think what this shows is the NFB is reflecting social issues that
are of concern to society," Heck said. "The stories are surrounded by
a spirit of improvement. The underlying story is one of hope. We have
to be able to discuss these issues before we can solve them."

Heck pointed out that the NFB did not choose these films on its own.
The selection process includes a first reading with a mixed 10-person
panel and a vetting by members of the filmmaking community.

Although Heck said there's no particular scheme to change direction
before 2010, the NFB--supported movies that are currently in
production do not have a focus on violence or drugs as a group. For
example, Citizen Sam, about new mayor Sam Sullivan, is being shot
right now. The NFB is also producing films about a Vancouver-based
deaf comic, and another film about disabled arts.