URBAN LEGENDS: NETTIE WILD, FILMMAKER, MOST RECENTLY OF FIX

Who: Nettie Wild

What: Kitsilano-based documentary filmmaker who has brought camera and crew
to the streets of the Philippines (A Rustling of Leaves, 1989), jungles of
Mexico (A Place Called Chiapas, 1998) and native villages of northern B.C.
(Blockade, 1993). More recently Wild filmed the drug fight in Vancouver's
Downtown Eastside for the riveting Fix: The Story of An Addicted City, at
Granville 7.

Roots: Born Nettie Barry Canada Wild in New York City, she lived there for
just 30 days before her mother (an opera singer) and father (journalist)
whisked her away to Vancouver. "My mother is a real patriot.

She wanted me to know that no matter where I ended up, I was Canadian at
heart."

Daddy knew Ghandi: "My father always told me, 'Net, the best story is right
under your nose.' Every Christmas I'd get a pen in my stocking with one
word attached to it, 'Write!' My father had a great nose for a story, but
was the most apolitical person.

He moved with incredible grace, everybody liked him The biggest story he
followed was the independence of India and Mahatma Ghandi, with whom he had
a relationship for 20 years--when he got arrested for making salt, when he
went to London, stayed at his ashram When dad went to see Ghandi for the
first time he didn't feel well and slept for awhile in a house on stilts.

When he awoke he stepped out and fell down (to the ground) and passed out.
When he awoke there was a guy in glasses patting mud on his forehead,
making sure he was okay. That's how they first met I've always wanted to
write a play called Mr. Ghandi and Mr. Wild."

Home is where the art is: Eighteen years ago, Wild was part of the activist
group that squatted at, and eventually secured co-op housing for, the
landmark Helen's Court complex in Kits. Her first documentary film, A Right
To Fight, resulted. "We're a hotbed of radicals, artistic people In 1982
people were being evicted from their homes (of the original Helen's Court)
and they didn't leave.

Rent money was pooled into escrow, which was very smart, and (the squat)
dragged on for a year When we decided to move there was an eviction party;
the (housing) issue was so hot that there was a punk band (called the
Evictims) that only played at evictions." When the landlord's financing for
a condo fell through, the city and the Canada Mortgage and Housing
Corporation built the co-op.

Origins of film in a Blood Alley bin: "I didn't know the term 'harm
reduction' before the film (Fix) In the spring of 2000 I parked in the
Woodward's lot with $30,000 in videotapes (not hers) in the car. I went in
to do some editing, came back and they were gone. I ran out to (Blood
Alley) and went straight to the nearest dumpster.

I opened it up, and I'm not sure who was more surprised and scared--me or
the guy shooting up in there It was a journey into hell trying to locate
those tapes and seeing people in those alleys." Some time later Wild
attended a meeting of injection-site proponents at St. Paul's Hospital
(where her grandfather founded the radiology department). "All these people
were on board with this harm-reduction thing--nurses, renegade
bureaucrats a crown prosecutor whose child was addicted to heroin, all
these amazing people.

I thought, 'Wow, here's a movie.'"

Casting directors need not apply: "I love capturing the drama of real life.
You couldn't make up the characters or the dialogue in Fix I follow
characters through a high-stakes time in their lives, people in conflict
with others and themselves. For instance, the mayor is putting his
political career on the line, the drug user, in the case of Dean (Wilson,
of activist group Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users), is putting his
life--and his love life--on the line. It's a love story it's different
than news, which would be hours long if I delivered it."

Livin' in a hellhole: "This is Canada's first drug election, to be won or
lost on the drug question As filmmakers we've held a mirror up to a social
movement as it's started to roll. We're a hellhole for drugs, but we're
dealing with it to out the shame of addiction.

That's what Dean's story is about, and Ann (Livingston) dealing with him in
that way. It's not about pretending that it's not happening, it's about
talking about it and grappling with the tough questions.

The tough question is: Is every single life precious?

Do we want to say that in some cases, it's negotiable, that we won't weep
when some junkie dies in an alley?

We as a community are starting to look at that, and realize that the junkie
is some mother's son or daughter.

It's starting to happen."

Screenings of Fix at Granville 7 Cinemas (7 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., 855
Granville St.) are followed by Nettie Wild-moderated forums on the drug
issue, this week offering outgoing mayor Philip Owen (Oct. 31), NPA hopeful
Jennifer Clark (Nov. 1) and COPE's Larry Campbell (Nov. 2).