Drugreporter and Harm Reduction International co-organises the International Harm Reduction Film Festival next week in Porto, sponsored by Elton John AIDS Fund. There is an incredibly strong selection of movies – browse the programme and watch some trailers below!
MONDAY
13:00 – 14:50 – Reaching out to the community I.
Bevel Up
Director: Nettie Wild, Canada
45 minutes
This documentary, produced as a teaching tool, gives us an insight into the challenging work of street nurses in Vancouver. It explores the medical, legal and ethical questions raised in the delivery of health care to people who use drugs.
Needles
Director: Melissa Munroe & Ben Stewart, Canada
54 minutes
Needles follows staff and clients of Mainline Needle Exchange (Halifax, Nova Scotia,
Canada) program, who believe in harm reduction by treating drug addiction as a
health concern and not a crime or a moral issue.
NEEDLES TRAILER from Clerisy Entertainment on Vimeo.
Q and A
10 minutes
15:00 – 17:00 – Reaching out to the community II.
Lugard’s story – why I’m taking on Kenya’s drug laws
Director: Cara Lavan, UK
2:21 minutes
In this short film, Lugard explains why he established Anyone’s Child Kenya. Lugard has worked in harm reduction for years and lost a friend who uses drugs to a ‘mob justice’ attack in Kenya. ‘Mob justice’ is just one example of the effects of the stigma prohibition creates around drug use and users.
Highway Mike
Director: Colin Askey, USA
5:31 minutes
This video tells the story of Mike, an outreach specialist at Washington Heights
CORNER Project, explaining who has used outreach to change his life for the
better.
Mudjalili: Sharing lived experience with Aboriginal men in drug and alcohol
outreach
Director: Richard Mockler, Australia
5:31 minutes
The movie depicts how a peer support worker, Colin, works with Aboriginal men in
a remote Australian location.
A Place of Hope
Director: Conor Ferguson, Ireland
5 minutes
‘A Place of Hope’ takes the audience behind the scenes of Merchants Quay
Ireland’s Riverbank Centre. It’s an honest depiction of the day-to-day and
intertwined realities of homelessness and addiction and the battle to keep hope alive.
Sparkle in the Dark – Harm Reduction in Montenegro
Director: Istvan Gabor Takacs, Hungary (the film was shot in Montenegro)
12:42 minutes
This movie documents the collapse of harm reduction in Montenegro after the retreat of international donors, and the struggle of the NGO Juventas to create sustaniable funding for live-saving programs.
Baluard
Director: José González Morandi, Spain
52 minutes
Chronicle of the day to day of a center of harm reduction for drug users in
Barcelona, Baluard. The film is a compilation of “postcards” of the professionals
working at the facility, showing the social-health care that they give to people in lack
of it.
“Mi Sangre es su Sangre”
Director: Brigitta Sanchez-O’Brien & Paul Campa
21 minutes
A short documentary uncovering the humanity behind struggling addicts, and the efforts of local NGOs to combat a mounting health crisis exacerbated by intravenous drug use in Tijuana.
Q and A
10 minutes
17:00 – 18:50 – Opiate Substitution: Compassion and Care
Liquid Handcuffs: A Documentary to Free Methadone
Directors: Helen Redmond & Marilena Marchetti, USA
67 minutes
This movie shines a spotlight on the
closed world of methadone clinics. An international cast of methadone users,
activists, and healthcare providers explain the benefits and the barriers to getting
the medication.
Liquid Handcuffs (Documentary Short) from Nicolas James on Vimeo.
Looking back and moving forward: My journey with drug dependency
Director: Sai Kong Kham, Myanmar
8 minutes
This movie follows Sithu Min Than, a young man from Kachin State in Myanmar, struggling to recover with the help of opiate substitution treatment.
Jakarta Crystal Injustice
Director: Yohan Misero, Indonesia
8 minutes
This is a movie about Maulana, a client of methadone maintenance treatment in
Indonesia who had to face the inconsistency of Indonesia's draconian drug law.
Petr’s way
Director: David Pesek, Czech Republic
9 minutes
This movie explores how opiate substitution improves the life of a person who uses drugs in Prague, Czech Republic.
The Story of Lu Lu Aung: A true insights of a female drug user from the Land of Kachin
Director: Asian Harm Reduction Network, Myanmar
4 minutes
It is unfortunate that a girl used various kind of drugs crazily. She couldn’t quit from
using drugs although she want to quit. Later she met with AHRN Outreach worker
and he took her to AHRN office. Finally she found a little lamp for her life and she
have awaken from all her nightmares. AHRN supported her with necessary
treatment and Methadone.
Q and A
10 minutes
TUESDAY
13:00 – 14:15 – Saving Lives: Preventing Overdoses
Anyone’s Child: Nadia’s story
Director: Cara Lavan, UK
2:27 minutes
Nadia’s son, Ben, died of an accidental overdose at a festival in Germany. In this
video Nadia explains why she believes drugs should be legally controlled and
regulated.
Safer is Better – For Andrew
Director: Colin Askey, USA
4:47 minutes
Andrew’s mom talks about what it’s like to lose a child to an overdose and why she
supports safe consumption spaces.
Anyone’s Child: Penny’s Story
Director: Cara Lavan, UK
3:57 minutes
One weekend Penny’s son, Aidan, took heroin, but it was too strong and he
tragically died of an overdose. In this video she explains why, had Aidan’s heroin
been regulated, like medicines such as paracetamol are, or had he had been able
to use heroin assisted treatment, he might still be alive and with her today.
#SeeTheLives Video Series
Director: Colleen Nuc, Canada
6 minutes
The film is an edited compilation of our #SeeTheLives video series. Each of the four
videos in the series focuses on a different story of the death of a child related to
substance use, through the eyes of a bereaved parent.
For Yams
Colin Askey, USA
4,39 minutes
The video opens with Tatiana Paulino, mother of the late Steven Rodriguez (aka
A$AP Yams from the New York hip hop collective A$AP Mob), explaining how it
felt to lose her son to a drug overdose.
Steel Town Down
Director: Shawney Cohen, Canada
39,33 minutes
Tens of thousands of people have died of opioid overdoses across the United
States in Canada in recent years, with the death count far surpassing the peak of
the AIDS epidemic.
Q and A
10 minutes
14:20 – 16:30 – HIV activism
#NONexistentWEexist
Director: Igor Kouzmenko, Ukraine (film was shot in Russia)
51,44 minutes
This is documentary film shows how vulnerable communities fight stigma and dehumanisation in 7 Russian cities – Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Naberezhnye Chelny and Kaliningrad.
From Durban to Tomorrow (Preview)
Director: Dylan Mohan Gray, India
40 minutes
Through interviews with five activists from around the world, From Durban to Tomorrow
looks back at the achievements of the AIDS movement as result of the watershed
International Aids Conference in Durban in 2000.
FDTT TRAILER 1 from Dylan Gray on Vimeo.
Crackdown on Civil Society
Director: Istvan Gabor Takacs and Péter Sárosi, Hungary
30 minutes
This movie investigates why governments launched a crackdown on civil society organisations fighting for the rights of vulnerable populations in Eastern-Europe and Central-Asia.
Q and A
10 minutes
16:45 – 19:00 – Nightlife/Psychedelic Harm Reduction
Chemsex and the City
Director: Stefan Plejic, Serbia
5 minutes
A journey into the dark side of the Belgrade’s chemsex scene, raising awareness on overdoses, sexual assaults and methods to prevent them.
The Psychedelic Science Frontier
Director: Jerzy Afanasjew, Poland
12 minutes
The movie features the pioneering work of the Czech National Institute of Mental Health on advancing psychedelic science.
The Last Dance 100
Director: Le Liu, USA
100 minutes
The Last Dance is a feature-length documentary covering the 2010 fallout from an annual
electronic music festival – known as Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC) – at Los Angeles Memorial
Coliseum. This film highlights L.A. County’s groundbreaking harm reduction program in
response to the Ecstasy-related death of a 15-year-old festival-goer.
Official Trailer: THE LAST DANCE (Now streaming on Vimeo / YouTube) from The Last Dance on Vimeo.
Q & A
10 minutes
WEDNESDAY
12:30 – 14:30 – Making Women’s Voices Heard
Chance to Sam: Netti’s story
Director: Agnes Pakozdi, Germany
16 minutes
The film features the story of Netti, her son Sam, and their experience with services for
pregnant women who use drugs in Berlin.
Forbidden fruit is always better
Director: Malkhaz Berzenishvili, Georgia
17,39 minutes
This movie gives an intriguing insight into the lives of Georgian women who suffer from the consequences of the war on drugs in a country with repressive drug laws – and shows the wisdom they use to survive and fight back.
Clara
Director: Colin Askey, USA
3:27 minutes
This video tells the story of Clara, a current drug user and outreach specialist at
Washington Heights CORNER Project that has trained over a thousand people in
naloxone response.
Martha
Director: Colin Askey, USA
4:33 minutes
This video tells the story of Martha, an HIV testing specialist at New York Harm
Reduction Educators (NYHRE) that is motivated by her own lived experience.
A Moment of Compassion
Director: Brenda Goodman, USA (the film was shot in Mexico)
13 minutes
The movie features the Wound Clinic, a mobile street clinic based in Tijuana, focused on providing humanitarian medical care for the homeless and poorest communities on the US-Mexico Border.
Crossings: Stories of Migrant Sex Workers
Director: Istvan Gabor Takacs
40 minutes
Crossings is a sex-worker produced documentary about the effects of
criminalisation on migrant sex workers in Europe and the powerful ways of their
resistance. The film tells the untold stories of five people from five European
countries (Serbia, Macedonia, France, Spain, and Norway) who come from very
diverse backgrounds but have something in common
Q and A
10 minutes
