Drugreporter and Harm Reduction International co-organises the HR23 Film Festival next week in Melbourne, sponsored by Elton John AIDS Fund. This is the final programme of the film festival.
MONDAY
11:00 – 12:45 – Wxmen Stop Harm
Change How You See Us
Labels matter. The words we choose when we talk about people who use drugs can serve to shame and blame, and frequently reinforce negative stereotypes. Stigma around drug use and the people who use them – which can result from, and be a driver of, the criminalisation of drug use – leads to discriminatory treatment in healthcare settings, including the denial of basic services that can protect someone from HIV. We must change damaging narratives around drug use – away from punishment and towards a public health and rights approach, reinforced with love and compassion. (1 minute) Director: Theo James Krekis. A film from the Elton John AIDS Foundation.
Motherhood and drug use: between stigma and parenting
The documentary was shot in four countries – Russia, Georgia, Ukraine and Belarus and follows mothers who use drugs in their every day routine. Director: Deutsche Aidshilfe. (60 minutes)
Survivors Project Manifesto
Between 2021 and 2022, the É de Lei Drop-in Centre carried out the Survivors Project, which brought together prison survivors and their families. They produced this manifesto. Director: Bruno Rico. (6 minutes)
Undocumented
Undocumented is a short documentary ideated and produced by women who use drugs in Kenya in 2021. It highlights some of the negative effects that have been brought about by the war on drugs, and calls for more humane and evidence based drug policies. Director: Nelson Isiye Kala. (32 minutes)
Metzineres Reporters at Support. Don’t Punish 2020
A short video questioning the stigma and discrimination faced by womxn who use drugs, featuring a community event organised by Metzineres in the El Raval neighbourhood of Barcelona. (6 minutes)
We Stand Up for Our Rights | Support. Don’t Punish 2022
This video features another advocacy event organised by Metzinered in Rambla del Raval, Barcelona. Director: Carmen Molina. (2 minutes)
12:45 – 13:00 – Break
13:00 – 14:45 – Drug Consumption Rooms
Love in the Time of Fentanyl
A group of misfits, artists, and drug users operates a renegade safe injection site in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. This film is an intimate portrait of a community fighting to save lives and keep hope alive in a neighbourhood ravaged by the overdose crisis. Director: Colin Askey. (85 minutes)
Inside New York’s first Overdose Prevention Centre
Take a look inside America’s first Overdose Prevention Centre in New York. Director: Cara Lavan (5 minutes)
Metzineres: From Survival to Fighting Back
Metzineres provides a safe haven for womxn who use drugs who are also surviving violence in Barcelona. They are not passive victims to be rescued – we can learn a lot from them about community empowerment. Director: István Gábor Takács. (15 minutes)
14:45 – 15:00 – Break
15:00 – 16:20 – Opioid Agonist Treatment
Swallow THIS: A Documentary about Methadone & Covid-19
A Documentary about Methadone & Covid-19reveals the profound impact of the pandemic on people who take methadone. Directors: Marilena Marchetti & Helen Redmond. (27 minutes)
My Choice – the importance of choice in drug treatment
There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to Opioid Agonist Treatment (OAT). My Choice highlights the importance of personal choice and shares the diverse experiences of people who use drugs from around Australia. Director: Conor Ashleigh. (9 minutes)
Daniel Ahmed: Why I set up a Heroin Assisted Treatment Clinic
Daniel Ahmed is the pioneer who set up a Heroin Assisted Treatment clinic in Middlesbrough. In this short film, Daniel explains a bit more about this treatment, why he was keen to introduce it, how he went about getting the clinic set up and the impact of this initiative on the local area. Director: Cara Lavan. (3 minutes)
Connecting with Care – CUPS, Calgary, Canada
This film features CUPS medical clinic. This innovative program offers a range of health services, including primary health care, opioid agonist treatment (OAT) and mental health services for Calgary’s marginalised communities. Director: Conor Ashleigh. (8 minutes)
Connecting with Care – Tayside, Scotand
Dundee is known as the overdose capital of Europe, with twice the national average of overdose deaths and a high prevalence of HCV. Community pharmacies – already in regular contact with people on Opioid Agonist Therapy (OAT) – were the cornerstone of this model of HCV care, which is helping move the city towards elimination. Director: Conor Ashleigh. (8 minutes)
Snap Out Of It
A portrayal of injecting drug user starting a new life after hitting rock bottom with positive reinforcement of an outreach worker by linking to Opioid Substitution Therapy (OST). Directors: Safal KC and Pratik Grung. (12 minutes)
REDEMPTION
This film features the struggle of a young person who uses drugs against discrimination and stigma in the health care system of Myanmar. Director: Wai Yan Min Oo. (11 minutes)
TUESDAY
11:00 – 12:50 – War on People Who Use Drugs
Generation 328
This film features the story of mothers who live their lives with a single hope: to bring home their unfairly convicted children, imprisoned in the name of the war on drugs in Belarus. Director: Veranika Nikanava. (18 minutes)
Kostya Proletarsky
The animated documentary is based on the true story of Kostya Proletarsky, a drug user and HIV activist who died as a result of mistreatment and torture at a Russian prison. Director: István Gábor Takács. (30 minutes)
Mariupol. The city that was killed
This is the story of Natasha Kaluzhskaya, a patient in an opioid substitution programme in Mariupol, Ukraine. Under the Russian sieage, Natasha rescued people who use drugs. Directors: Alexander Levin & Igor Kuzmenko. (30 minutes)
Targets
(The film was made before the war in Ukraine). This film is the story of women who use drugs in Ukraine, who are stigmatised as enemies of a ‘healthy’ society and denied help. These women are targets for anyone who denies them their human rights, including the right to life. The film is an attempt to understand why this is happening and how to stop it. Directors: Alexander Levin & Igor Kuzmenko. (29 minutes)
12:50 – 13:00 Break
13:00 – 14:45 – CHEMSEX and Nightlife Harm Reduction
What is chemsex?
This is a short video clip using humour and a totally non-judgmental attitude to educate people about chemsex. Directors: Hani Assaf and Simon Mathew Valentine. (4 minutes)
CHEMSEX
This short film is a harm reduction tool aimed at people using Chemsex. It has been produced by Aides, France’s leading HIV organization. Directors: Juan &Pierre GELAS. (4 minutes)
Chemsex. Sex, drugs and Public Health
This films go features the chemsex scene through the eyes of Gerard and Alex, whose experience supports the experts testimonies. In the documentary participate experts from different disciplines who work to respond to this situation from clinical medicine, psychiatry, psychology, research and the LGTBIQ+ community. Directors: Carlos Martínez and Debora Alvarez. (57 minutes)
Ask first
This short movie is part of an awareness campaign “Ask first – sex without consent is punishable” trying to prevent rape in the Norwegian chemsex scenes. Director: Hani Assaf. (3 minutes)
Side Effect-Sound of Melbourne
This movie takes a look at Melbourne’s underground electronic music scene; covering the journey of its rise and continual expansion, while contrasting the evolutionary history of the broader industry observed across the globe. Director: Hadi K.Tame. (32 minutes)
RAVE ON
A pixel animation short film to raise awareness of safe use of substances. “How will Chiara and Gaia manage to live the perfect rave? Let’s play the game to find out!” Directors: Chiara Cocci and Gaia Merli. (6 minutes)
14:45 – 15:00 break
15:00 – 16:30 – Drug Policy Reform
Catalonia challenges drug prohibition – Support. Don’t Punish 2021
A range of voices representing people who use drugs and civil society organisations speak up for ending the war on drugs on 26 June 2021, at the “Support. Don’t Punish” campaign event in Barcelona. Director: Carmen Molina. (7 minutes)
Putting UK Drug Policy into Focus
Putting UK Drug Policy into Focus explores arguments for harm reduction approaches and drug policy reform in the UK and wider afield. The film features interviews with academics and advocates from the UK and Europe and is intended to be used as an advocacy tool for public and professional audiences. Director: Adam Holland. (24 minutes)
The Doctor – Franjo Grotenhermen
The Doctor is a documentary about the life of Franjo Grotenhermen, a pioneering doctor who saw the therapeutic potential of medicinal cannabis. A doctor, a researcher, and a political activist who has been fighting for the right of his patients to have legal access to medical cannabis. Director: Eduardo Hernandez. (53 minutes)
WEDNESDAY
11:00 – 12:20 – Mobilizing Communities
TAKING BACK WHAT’S OURS! – Episode 6. Australia and New Zealand
The history of the movement of people who use drugs in Australia is a long and rich one. It is one of the few countries that has funded user organisations for over 30 years now. Director: István Gábor Takács. (37 minutes)
Second Lane
Second Lane is a story about drug addiction, living with it and fighting it. The film follows drug addicts and their peers and helpers at a a social and health care counseling center on Toinen linja (Eng. Second Lane) in Helsinki. Director: Sampsa Huttunen. (29 minutes)
Walking In These Shoes
A tribute to the late beloved harm reduction activist and mentor Derek Yee in Toronto, Ontario who died alone at home waiting for a bed at Casey House, the HIV specialty Hospital of Canada. It is also a call to action to the world’s only HIV specialty hospital to provide BIPOCs coordinated care 365/24/7 for people who use drugs without stigma. Directors: Samuel López/ Christian Hui. (13 minutes)
12:20 – 12:30 – Break
12:30 – 13:30 – Fighting Stigma
The wall of shame
In the last 3 decades marginalized people who use crack in Paris have been chased from one public park to the other by the police. Recently the police even built a wall to block the users from the rest of society. This new documentary explores the history of crack in Paris, and amplifies the voices of experts and residents who call for a better solution: safe crack consumption rooms. Directors: István Gábor Takács and Miguel Velazquez (41 minutes)
Durban Poison: Reducing the Risks for People Who Use Drugs
People who use drugs are some of the most marginalised and forgotten members of society in South Africa. This short film follows a peer educator as he works with people on the streets of Durban. Directors: Bart Love, AnotherLove Productions. (13 minutes)
Laneway Light – Beyond the Stigma
This short movie features Laneway Light – Beyond the Stigma, a campaign with images and artworks created by people who have experienced drug dependence, and their family members in Melbourne. Director: Lee Ramseyer Bache. (11 minutes)
13:25 – 13:35 – break
13:40 – 15:30 – Hepatitis C and HIV Activism
Choose Life: Edinburgh’s Battle Against AIDS
In the 1980s Edinburgh, Scotland, was known as the ‘AIDS capital of Europe’. Meeting the doctors, police; those caught up in the grip of heroin and local campaigners caught up in events they could barely understand, this landmark documentary reveals how the city struggled to confront this terrifying new disease. Director: Stephen Bennett. (59 minutes)
The HepConnect Documentary
This documentary features some of the initial grantees of the HepConnect Initiative in the Appalachian Region of the Southern region of the United States, Gilead staff, National Harm Reduction Coalition Staff and Consultants, and the vocal and lyrical genius of Sony Recording artist “Buwtye” performing her original song Can’t Breathe. Director: Orisha Aliye Bowers. (47 minutes)
