Through a Blue Lens

Still Longshots follows four at-risk young people through a video-making workshop. Beat, 24, has been off and on the streets since age 13 and is finally trying to leave the dangerous world of dealing drugs for good. Meanwhile, his pal David, 19, finds the quick cash of dealing dope all too alluring. Despite showing talent behind the camera, he drops out of the video workshop to become a downtown "street boss." Dave Z., 23, is a fiercely independent former heroin addict who credits his love for his dog with helping him quit. Edith is 19, on her own, and dealing with her epilepsy. She is in her first apartment after a youth spent in foster homes. Learning to make videos about their lives becomes a creative healing process for these young people. Rounding out the experience is the chance to meet a group of former street kids who did a similar workshop more than a decade earlier. The younger group spends a weekend with Carrie, now 32, who lost custody of her children because of heroin addiction and an abusive partner. Victor, now 35, never left street life - or his alcohol and drug addictions - far behind. Then there are Scott, 36, and Jeanette, 32, who share a son and are both pursuing artistic careers. Over the weekend, surprising, sometimes disturbing parallels emerge between the old and new groups, along with glimmers of hope for the younger ones.

L'agent Al Arsenault montre à des élèves du secondaire la diapositive d'une adolescente de 18 ans, au regard étonné, qui se tient devant un bar du centre-ville de Vancouver. «Elle se drogue, vous croyez?», leur demande le policier. «Non», lui répondent les élèves. Alors, il passe à une autre diapositive de la même jeune fille, Shannon, photographiée six mois plus tard. Son visage est couvert de plaies et d'ecchymoses. «Elle se pique. Elle ne savait pas qu'elle resterait accrochée. Elle le sait maintenant...» Toute la classe en est bouleversée. Avec six autre policiers, Al Arsenault filme en vidéo l'existence de jeunes toxicomanes pendant ses rondes de quartier. Son but : créer un outil éducatif visant à prévenir la consommation de drogues chez les jeunes. Son équipe a formé un groupe à but non lucratif, surnommé The Odd Squad (la brigage insolite), qui est à l'origine d'une relation particulière entre les policiers et les toxicomanes du centre-est de Vancouver. C'est leur émouvante histoire que raconte La Vie en bleu, un percutant documentaire dans lequel des toxicomanes parlent ouvertement d'eux-mêmes et de ce qui les a jetés à la rue. S'ils ont choisi de témoigner ainsi, c'est pour empêcher que d'autres ne connaissent le même cauchemar. Avertissement : Ce film contient des propos et des images crus. À visionner au préalable.

Bevel Up: Drugs, Users and Outreach Nursing (Biseau vers le haut) explores how to deliver the most effective - and least judgmental - healthcare to people who use drugs. This groundbreaking teaching DVD combines a 45-minute documentary with an additional 3.5 hours of interactive menus and additional interviews and footage. Available in English and with an option for French subtitles, the Bevel Up DVD also includes a 100 page English teaching manual and a French language version on a CD-ROM. Bevel Up: the documentary (45 min) follows street nurses from the outreach street program of the BC Centre for Disease Control as they work with youth, sex workers, and street-entranched men and women in the alleys and hotels of Vancouver's inner city. The footage is startling in its intimacy, compassion, and real-life drama. Divided into chapters, each segment offers additional compelling on-location footage and expert interviews. Key ethical, practical and legal issues are discussed and debated by the nurses featured in the documentary as well as a nursing ethicist and nursing practice consultant from the British Columbia College of Nurses. Bevel Up also features an additional 26 expert interviews that further examine key topics dealing with healthcare and drug use. The people interviewed range from one of Canada's top doctors in brain chemistry (with animation illustrating the effect of heroin, cocaine, and crystal meth on the brain) to clients who use drugs demonstrating drug use and how it affects them. In between, menus tackle many subjects including: Drugs and Pregnancy, Mental Health, Prohibition, and Sex Work.