& Through a Pluc Lens
Wednesday, Dec. 8, 10:25
p.m. CBC TV channel 3.

Kathazine Hamer
News Reporter

WHEN you arm seven
police officers
patrolling the worst
area of downtcewn
Vancouver with video
cameras, you end up
with a unique sort of
film.

Through a Blue Lens,a
National Film Board. docu-
mentary directed by Veronica
Mannix and shot exclusiv ely
in the Downtown Eastside, is
the result of two years’ worth
of work on the streets.

Constable Al Arsenault has

' continuously photographed
the street addicts and down-
and-outs on his Main and
Hastings area beat. His col-
league Const. Toby Hinton
thought thar the photos
could be a vital educational
tool for drug prevention talks

‘to high school students. . -
+The Downtown Eastside

"is the site of the worst drug
and HIV crisis in Canada —
and Hinton decided that cap-
turing the same images on

* film might have even more of

.an impact on teens consider-
ing taking drugs. :

“.” One digital videocamera
later, the Odd Squad was’

: formed, .

- For Mannix, whose earlier
film, Down Here, also.
explored the lifestyles of:
Downtown Eastside residents,
the Odd Squad’s work",

“touched a personal chord.”
She had ‘already witnessed the «

- ... struggle of one of her own

family members with hervin
vaddiction::
‘<3. Ft was while shooting.
Down Here thar Mannix and

husband Dan — an award-.

, of Hark

cameraman — first
encountered the Odd Squad
cops, offering to give them a
crash course in videography.

The Mannixes also coll.
orated with Odd Squad
members, filming them film-
ing the six addicts who
agreed to Fi the gritty
detail of their everyday lives
— if it meant saving others
trom the same fate.

Through a Blue Lens packs
a powertul punch. As unique
a relationship as the police

have with the addicts,
proffering advice more often
than handcuffs, it’s tough to
watch a man going into hero-
in overdose in a back alley
doorway. Or a pretty young
women, paranoid and high
on cocaine, rolling around
hysterically i in the middle of
the road. Or a girl so feverish
with “dope worm” hallucina-
tions that her arms are half
eaten away by scars where she
tried to dig them out. The
first time we see her, she
barely even notices that her
boyfriend has just shot him-
self in the head.

But there is a brave spirit
in all of these characters, too
— and a deep sense of trust
between them and the offi-

- cers filming them.

Mannix says she was
“impressed by the office
understanding and patience. 1
was inspired by the strong

connection which grew

between these ovo unlikely
groups of people.”

Through a Blue Lens is
clearly a project the
Vancouver Police are
immensely proud of.

A premiere held Nov. 20
at Granville Street’s Vogue
Theatre had to be one of the
most remarkable debuts the
local fim community has
seen in recent years.

Veronica and Dan Mannix
arrived in a navy BMW,
escorted by an entire convoy
iding, siren- -blar-
ing, light-flashing cops, and
disappeared into the midst of

- a heaving crowd.

The audience was studded
with uniformed and broad-
shouldered police officers,
much to the breathless
delight of many females pre-
sent. -
Over 1,200 people attend-
ed the screening, and were
serenaded by the Vancouver
Police Pipe Band in full
Hibernian regalia. Naturally,
Scotland the Brave was

- phete courtesty National Film Board

NIKKi, a Downtown Eastside addict for many years, came to the premiere of
Through a Blue Lens drug-free. Her appearance ieft many viewers in tears.

A number of viewers w
in tears after the film was
shown, especially when Nikki,
one of the addicts featured
onscreen, appeared on stage
clad in a long velvet dress,
looking a picture of health.

Nikki had been on the
streets for years, but before
that, she grew up riding hors-
€s, going to private schools,
being sent on trips to
Europe. Nething her parents
could do, she says in the film,

_ could have stopped her. from ~

taking drugs.
She had been clean for
four months now, she said

. : photo courtesy ations! Film Soard
THE “Odd Squad” officers of the Vancouver Police Dept. formed a unique rela-
tionship with street addicts whose lives they documented over a two year period.

proudly at the premiere. Her
gown had come courtesy of.’
her own fairy godmother —
department.

vas one of the.

strangest shopping experi-
cnees sPve ever had,” she -

joked, to loud applause, “I
was W: alking through the mall

» followed by a couple of police

officers with a video camera.
Through a Blic Lens will
be broadcast commercia!-fi
Dee. 8 on CBC Television
The. Magazine. A panel dis-
cussion follows, to be chaired
by Brian Stewart and Gloria

-Macarencko.

s wholsale framing available

“Artists For Kids: Gallery.

810 West 21st Street, North Vancouver, BC
viewing by appointment * phone 903-3797
: www.artistsfkids.com