“Light” by David Ehrenreich
Seeking to combat the stigma attached to addiction and humanize those lost to it, the film paints a raw picture of Vancouver’s drug crisis through one boy’s tragedy. Collaborating with research scientist Dayna Fast and youth harm reduction advocate Kali Rufus-Sedgemore, whose voice and story lead the film, it explores the work of CPDDW (Coalition of Peers Dismantling the Drug War) in the city’s Downtown Eastside, capturing the three-dimensional personalities of young people with dependencies – often left absent from news reports.
The film is inspired by the true story of 'the boy' who lived a life on the street and died of poisoned drugs at 14 years old. It's told through the memories and perspective of Kali, one of the few people who build a steady relationship with him.
Straddling the line between fiction and documentary, the film also gathers real people from the community for a dinner scene: an unscripted documentary of young people with dependencies, who also act as youth harm reduction advocates in Vancouver. Making considerations on-set to allow connections and conversations to unfold, Light illuminates the complex realities of those at the core of the fentanyl crisis, developing an alternative visual vocabulary for telling their stories.
FROM THE DIRECTOR
“Living On is an experimental film project series that brings together young people who use(d) drugs, researcher Danya Fast, and filmmakers in Vancouver. Imagined in collaboration with the youth narrator, these short films allow young people to author and illustrate their own stories about drug use, recovery, care, overdose and living through loss. They move beyond familiar, often stigmatizing, images of drug use in order to develop alternative visual vocabularies for telling these stories.
I made ‘Light’ with the trust of Kali Rufus-Sedgemore, who’s voice and story lead the film. My intention was twofold; first was to make something as honest and raw as the story Kali shared with me. Respecting the boy and his tragedy by truthfully recounting the story, while also acknowledging its place within the crowd of thousands of other tragedies that occur each year as a direct result of the toxic drug supply crisis. The second, was to respect the boy and his tragedy by truthfully celebrating that he and his community are beautiful, funny, thoughtful, complex people with hopes and dreams. The boy is not a statistic, he was just like me and you.
The scene I’m most proud of directorially is the dinner sequence. I didn’t want it to be fictional, it needed to be the real thing. It took an incredible amount of care and effort from our whole team to not only design and light the space, but also work in a way that allowed for authentic connecting and discourse between the subjects on camera. It’s not that we couldn’t have written and cast that with actors, it’s that no matter how good they were, we wouldn’t then be showcasing community. I just felt so important to bring the actual people onto the movie set, to give them that care and attention.
I envision Kali and the boy as intrinsically linked, separated by a generation. The boy floated around the streets alone, a ghost by society’s standards, and it took a motivated advocate like Kali to build a relationship and actually do something to help, it’s Kali’s compassionate gaze that illuminates the boy.”
-David Ehrenreich
CREDITS
Director + Editor// David Ehrenreich
Production Company// Kiddo Films
EP// Michael Milardo
Producer// Amber Brown
Research Scientist// Danya Fast
Cinematographer// Bryn McCashin
Production Designer// Daren Luc Sasges
Art Director// Grace Alvarez
Wardrobe Stylist// Monika Wiatrowska
Casting Katrin// Braga Vaka Street Casting
Production Manager// Dan Code
Starring
Kali Rufus-Sedgemore
Harris Lowe
Peter Craig Robinson
Music
Elori Saxl
Crack Cloud
Kewbitz
Co Starring
Mazel Jensen
Shane Douglas
Haleigh Anderson
Sarah West
Natasha Pawluk
Katey K
Sam Pilson
Ivan Augustine Yaco
Jaye Simpson
Zee Saint - Clair
Emilya Guerrero
Paymon Montorabi
Grips// Andriy Lyskov & Krystal Chan
Gaffers// Rachel Chen & Adrian Dean
1st AC// Luke Strahm
Production Sound// Sam Beatch
DIT & Swing// Aya Garcia
Sound Design + Mix// Sharon Tseng
Colour// Dave Tomiak
PA// Jules Petterson
Grip + LX// Sparkys
Camera// Brightside
Post Services// Elemental
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