FIX: LAYS BARE ISSUES OF THE URBAN DRUG SCENE

It's easy for the audience to label the emotions seen on screen on FIX: The
Story of an Addicted City.

What may be difficult is for audience members to define the emotions felt
while watching the documentary about drug use in Vancouver's Downtown
Eastside neighbourhood.

It's not a pretty film, but then urban documentaries rarely are. Fix, an
urban documentaries which follows the stories of a development-minded
businessman, a heroin addict, a police officer and a city mayor as they
deal with drug abuse in the poorest neighbourhood in Canada, is not going
to break that mold.

That's one of the reasons documentary filmmaker Nettie Wild looks forward
to the discussion period which follows most screenings of the film. There's
a chance for audience members to put into perspective the sometimes
disturbing images they've seen in the film and then talk about possible
solutions to the questions posed by the film.

There's also a chance for Wild to step out from behind the lens, and
participate in the process a little bit.

"For me, it's one of the changing roles of this project, working with the
film in the communities," said Wild.

As a filmmaker, Wild was focused on getting the story, which meant keeping
herself -- her viewpoints and her personal perceptions -- out of the story.

"As much as I enjoyed getting to know these characters, I was a filmmaker,"
said Wild. "I can't make a suggestion on whether they should attend a
specific rally, I have to be able to live with myself to not have
influenced events, other than the presence of my camera."

Wild's camera was ever-present in her trips to the Eastside, an area of the
city she confesses she hadn't set foot in other than to drive through
before she started to film the documentary.

"It liberated a whole part of the city. Now I can really see that
neighbourhood. It's turned into the hood for me," said Wild of how the
documentary opened up the Eastside to her over the many months of filming.

Also opened up were Wild's eyes. Her camera acted as a passport to a
culture she hadn't experienced before, one which was initially as
suspicious of her as she was of them.

The filmmaker's bridge-building approach was a simple one, built on
respect. Wild wasn't sure what to expect at first, and said she believed it
would be harder for her to gain acceptance.

"They passed the word we were asking first (before filming)," said Wild of
two women they filmed near the beginning of the documentary process. "They
became our passports, and at the same time forced me to park my assumptions.

"It ended up the complete opposite, people started telling me their life
stories."

There were times, though, when Wild would stray on the side of caution by
blurring a face. Having a signed talent release form was one thing; having
a talent release form signed by someone who was impaired by heroin use was
another.

To Wild, that's part of the point. There were times during the making of
the documentary when she had moments of clarity in which she suddenly
understood a part of large, complex story between drug users, the police,
the residents, and the politicians that make up Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

"Although at the time you think 'God, this is going to be so complicated, I
can't even figure it out, how is an audience going to?', what we always try
and do is shove ourselves straight into it, not shy away from it.

"Inevitably, somewhere in that murk, is something that will make the
audience and me go 'Oh, now I get it!'

"Those are the magic moments."

Canada Wild Productions presents FIX: The Story of an Addicted City, on
Thursday, May 1 at the Pen-Mar Cinema Centre on Martin Street. Tickets are
available in advance for the 7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. showtimes. A discussion
forum will take place after the 7 p.m. show featuring former Vancouver
mayor Philip Owen, Caroline Brunt, and Penticton nurse Colleen Maloney.