Randy was once a gifted nhl hopeful. Nicola was once a privileged girl raised in private schools and riding stables. The devastating effects of their addictions are apparent as Rockie-nominated doc Through a Blue Lens chronicles their lives as veteran junkies living on the streets of Vancouver’s notorious downtown East Side.

The Odd Squad, a group of seven Vancouver beat cops, has brought to the screen its view of the misery created by the high-volume drug trade that comes through the port city. With a concentration of 16,000 residents in a dozen square blocks, the streets of the East Side contain roughly 6,000 people who are addicted to intravenous drugs. The Odd Squad captured more than 90 hours of footage depicting life in this area where they patrol. Their motivation in becoming filmmakers was to create a compelling educational tool that would help steer kids clear of drugs.

In July 1998, each member of the squad selected two addicts to film, setting out to document their lives. When director Veronica Mannix told National Film Board producer Gillian Darling Kovanic about the educational video she was helping the officers create, Kovanic was interested immediately. ‘I asked to see some of the footage, and as soon as I saw it I [knew] there was potential for a primetime hour.

‘Over the next month, we put together a document that outlined the story arc, the characters, and the approach. Once it was approved by the nfb, we fast-tracked the project because the police were already shooting and the consultant/story editor, Michelle Bjornson, had agreed to stay on the project and work with the director. Shooting started on Christmas Eve.’

While the nfb film crew shot the interviews with the police that are used to hold the film together, the police continued to shoot their own footage on the streets. In a few instances, the crew also filmed the police talking to the film’s subjects and Kovanic says that, ‘When watching the film it is difficult to separate what the police shot and what the Film Board shot.’

Once the nfb finished shooting its 35 hours of film, Gemini-nominated editor Shelley Hamer was called in to help Mannix turn the 125 hours of total footage into a 52-minute film. ‘Because they are novices, a lot of the police footage had sound or framing problems. Some of the characters who were good couldn’t be used because we had technical difficulties with the material,’ says Kovanic.

Huge public response

Kovanic says public response to Through a Blue Lens has been huge. ‘It is really surprising because you can never anticipate a film grabbing people’s attention like that. We’ve had hundreds of e-mails, the police have had thousands of e-mails. The general comment seems to be, ‘Thank-you very much for recognizing that addicts are human beings – that this is a social and health problem rather than a criminal issue.’ ‘

With the original purpose – teaching kids to stay off drugs – in mind, an adaptation featuring two of the original subjects, Randy and Shannon, will be available in September. Geared at grades 8 to 10, the youth-driven piece will follow seven Vancouver high school students as they learn about drug addiction by interviewing police, recovered addicts, people in recovery, and those still addicted.

Kovanic believes the nfb considers Through a Blue Lens a success story because of its mandate to have a third of its films made by what it calls ’emerging filmmakers.’

‘The idea is to wrap a producer and a professional team around that filmmaker, plus [finance] the budget, and give them the opportunity to make something that can be international primetime.’

The documentary has also received nods from the industry, with nominations at Hot Docs!, input, and the Leo’s.

But perhaps the film’s most significant success is that after allowing the Odd Squad to use their stories to document the perils of drug addiction for the world to see, Nicola has found the strength to remain clean for the past 10 months, as has Randy for the past 12 months.

www.nfb.ca