REVIEW
The Stairs
4.5 stars
Directed by Hugh Gibson
Rated: 14A for substance abuse, depictions of violence, and coarse language
Runtime: 95 minutes
Screening Sunday Jan. 21 at 3 p.m.
Skype Q & A with the director to follow
Metro Cinema
8712 109 St. in Edmonton
Tickets are $13 (regular price) or $8 for students, children and seniors. They can be purchased at the door or through the theatre’s website. More details can be found at www.metrocinema.org.
It’s pretty fair to say that the subjects and the environment of director Hugh Gibson’s documentary The Stairs are as far removed from the placid life of this fair burg that they might as well take place on Mars.
But they don’t.
It’s Toronto and they’re people: flesh and blood, just like you and me, despite the bullet wounds, the track marks on their arms, the wrinkled sadness of decades in the sex trade. They have the life experiences that no one really aspires to, only the experiences they only end up in.
These people are the heroes of this story: Marty, Roxanne, and Greg. You’ve never met heroes like this but that’s because you haven’t lived a really hard life.
They’re heroes not just because they survived far too many years on the street. Of course they did but then they turned around and tried to help others through community social work. Gibson only followed them for five years with the unblinking camera that does more to show them as regular people than anything else.
Gibson started this project after making some educational films for Toronto non-profits. Some health agencies wanted him to focus on programs that they were running for crack users and street sex workers. He didn’t come from this community. These were not his people, yet they are still constructive, productive members of society.
“This was something very, very new to me. The learning curve for me was very, very steep. I went in not really knowing that needle exchanges were something that was even done in Toronto,” he said.
He became curious enough about the people involved with the programs to follow them on a new film project, one that would answer some questions he had.
“Isn’t there an opportunity to make something that really flies in the face of all that’s out there on these subjects?’ These topics – drug use, sex work, poverty – they’ve been covered a lot. But the more I get to know people in this community, the more I start to wonder things like, ‘Well, how come I’ve never seen someone like [them], how come I haven’t really seen their side of things?”
It all culminated in an idea – this idea – to humanize people and their lifestyles that have been dehumanized. Such a non-judgmental approach has earned him much acclaim. It premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival and won the award for Best Canadian Film at the Toronto Film Critics Association Awards that same year.
Now, it’s coming to the Metro Cinema on Sunday Jan. 21 and Gibson is arriving with it for an audience discussion. Well … he’s Skyping in the Q & A. He’s familiar with taking his film to viewers who are far removed from the content. He often gets some pretty good questions about it too.
“I’m really glad when people say things like ‘I didn’t realize that people work in these health agencies who have lived experience, who are actively using drugs, who are active in the sex trade. Is that a thing?’ I do hear that quite a bit. I’m glad when people are discovering these things and opening their eyes and their hearts.”
