LOVE IN THE TIME OF FENTANYL

LOVE IN THE TIME OF FENTANYL

Directed by: Colin Askey | 80 min | 2022 | Canada

Set in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, Love in the Time of Fentanyl is an intimate, observational look beyond the stigma of injection drug users, revealing the courage of those facing tragedy in a neighborhood that's often referred to as ground zero of the overdose crisis. 

The Overdose Prevention Society (OPS) opened its doors as Vancouver's number of overdose deaths reached an all-time high. As a renegade safe injection site that employs current and former drug users, its staff saves lives and gives hope to a profoundly marginalized community. The film follows; Sarah, an activist who opened OPS without government approval; Trey, a graffiti artist and former heroin user; Ronnie, a seasoned frontline worker nicknamed Narcan Jesus; Norma, a much-loved Indigenous elder in the community; and Dana, an active fentanyl user who constantly saves lives at work. 

With loved ones dying in unprecedented numbers, the staff at OPS do whatever it takes to save lives, keep the doors open, and try to find radical new ways out of the devastating and widely ignored crisis ravaging their community.

PRECEDED BY THE SHORT FILM: Shopping for the Dead

Directed by: Gerry Curtis | 12 min | 2021 | United States

In the 19th century, Chinese émigrés brought their ancient religious practices to Southeast Asia where they have been preserved, while disappearing from their native China. Now many of these practices are starting to vanish from modern Southeast Asia as well. 

In Shopping for the Dead, we are introduced to the world of Joss paper and meet one of the last working Joss artists in Singapore.

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