CARLA'S STORY ON CELLULOID

Documentary Made To Give Meth Addicts Hope

Two years ago, the Times told readers the story of Carla Meyer, a
young woman from Chilliwack battling to beat crystal meth addiction
and get on with her life.

Now her story is reaching a wider audience. She is one of the main
subjects of a new documentary called Letter to Myself.

The film's director Beth Miller completed it this fall after working
on the film for the last year or two. It focusses on Carla and another
young woman named Kim taking part in a recovery program in the
Vancouver area.

Already the film has attracted some accolades, winning a platinum
honour from the AVA Awards in Texas.

"It won an award," she says. "That's the first festival I sent it
to."

(Carla told the Times in an e-mail she thought the film is excellent
and that it gives people a chance to see more about the issues she was
talking about in previous news stories.)

Miller is now considering entering the documentary in other festivals
such as Toronto's esteemed Hot Docs fest.

She came up with the idea after reading a submission from Kim (last
names are not used in the film) to the Vancouver Sun about her
struggles with crystal meth, but Miller, who generally makes films on
medical education topics, was only vaguely aware of the drug and its
history.

"I really didn't know what crystal meth was," she says.

The experience was eye-opening for Miller and she contacted Charlford
House, the Vancouver recovery program for young woman where both Kim
and Carla were staying.

The film received some money from the Union of B.C. Municipalities as
part of its strategy to help communities fight the spread of crystal
meth. Miller also got some funding from the National Film Board of
Canada, though she emphasizes the 22-minute film was completed for
relatively little money.

The project, Miller says, gave her 18-year-old daughter a look into
the stories and the struggles of meth addicts, and she hopes other
young people will be able to see how easily they can become addicted.
"It's more for schools and people that are considering recovery, just
to give them some hope," Miller says.

She thinks the stories of typical teens such as Kim and Carla and how
easily they can be lured into the trap of crystal meth will resonate
with teenagers more than a film focussing looking simply at the seedy
underside of the drug. She wanted to feature people that kids can understand.

"I didn't want to make another scare tactic film," Miller
says.

As well, she didn't want to repeat work about drug abuse that had
already been done.

"You can't get any scarier than the Through the Blue Lens series that
the NFB made," Miller says.

Much of the film focusses on Kim, though Miller wanted another person
to fill out the story, so Carla was a natural.

"You could make a six-part mini-series of her whole life," Miller
says.

The director got an extension to finish and was able to add material
about a relapse by Kim, but the film ends optimistically with a shot
that could be of any young person on any day: Carla rollerblading down
the street. You might even think she doesn't have a care in the world.