Love in the Time of Fentanyl, 2022 (60 min)
Filmmakers: Colin Askey (Director), Monika Navarro (Producer), Marc Serpa-Francoeur (Producer), and Robinder Uppal (Producer)

As the number of overdose deaths in Vancouver, Canada reaches an all-time high, the Overdose Prevention Society (OPS) opens its doors—a renegade supervised drug consumption site that primarily employs active and former drug users. Its staff and volunteers save lives and give hope to a marginalized community as the overdose crisis rages throughout Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. The film follows Sarah, an activist who opened OPS without government approval, as she strives to raise awareness about the crisis; Trey, a graffiti artist and former heroin user who spends his days reversing overdoses and memorializing lost community members; Ronnie, a seasoned frontline worker nicknamed “Narcan Jesus,” struggling with burnout from the demanding work and witnessing so much loss; Norma, a much-loved Indigenous elder in the community, who cooks meals for the staff when she’s not administering naloxone; and Dana, an active fentanyl user who constantly reverses overdoses at work while struggling with his own drug use. With loved ones dying in unprecedented numbers, the staff at OPS does whatever it takes to save lives and find radical new ways out of the devastating but widely ignored crisis ravaging their community. Love in the Time of Fentanyl is an intimate, observational look beyond the stigma of people who use drugs, revealing the courage of those facing tragedy in a neighborhood often referred to as ground zero of the overdose crisis.

About the Filmmakers

Colin Askey (Director) is a filmmaker who focuses on issue-driven content for harm reduction, drug policy, anti-poverty, and social justice organizations. Recent work includes Haven, an award-winning short documentary set in Vancouver about North America’s first prescription heroin therapy program.

Monika Navarro (Producer) is an independent filmmaker and the Senior Director of Artist Programs at Firelight Media. Monika has 15 years of producing for public media, from her debut film Lost Souls (Animas Perdidas), which premiered on Independent Lens, to producing for World Channel, AmDoc, and the Peabody-award winning PBS series Latino Americans.

Marc Serpa Francoeur (Producer) is a documentary filmmaker and interactive producer whose work builds on lifelong interests in immigration, diversity, and social justice issues. Co-founder of Lost Time Media with Robinder Uppal, in 2020 they released No Visible Trauma, which had its World Premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Robinder Uppal (Producer) is a documentary filmmaker and interactive producer whose work builds on lifelong interests in immigration, diversity, and social justice issues. Co-founder of Lost Time Media with Marc Serpa Francoeur, in 2020 they released No Visible Trauma, which had its World Premiere at the Vancouver International Film Festival.

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Fonos, 2021 (9:03 min)
Filmmaker: Gabriela Badillo Sánchez (México)

Amidst the loss of her grandfather, Cloe blocks out her feelings and all sound from her world until an encounter awakens a memory in her that forces Cloe to confront her emotions.

About the Filmmaker

Gabriela Badillo Sánchez is an art director and creative producer, and co-founder of HOLA COMBO, a production company focused on creating audiovisual content with an eye for social responsibility. A Graphic designer for the Universidad Iberoamericana, she studied in the area of Design and Animation for ​​Televisa, where she was part of the Imaginantes project.

In 2013, Badillo created the animated series 68 voces-68 corazones (68 voices-68 hearts), an animated series of indigenous Mexican stories narrated in its original indigenious language, under the premise "Nobody can love what they don't know" created thanks to a grant from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts.

With more than 15 years of experience, her work has been recognized in national and international media such as PROMAX BDA, Productores Independientes Canal 22, GIFF, Short Shorts, Chilemonos, Recovering Voices of the Smithsonian, as well as by various national and international publications and festivals including the Mexican Film Academy and the Annecy International Animation Festival, being the first nomination for Mexico in the animated series category.

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About Indie Lens Pop-Up

Indie Lens Pop-Up is a neighborhood series that brings people together—virtually and in-person—for film screenings and community-driven conversations. Featuring documentaries seen on PBS's INDEPENDENT LENS, Indie Lens Pop-Up draws local residents, leaders, and organizations together to discuss what matters most, from newsworthy topics, to family and community relationships. Make friends, share stories, and join the conversation. For more information, visit pbs.org/independentlens/indie-lens-pop-up

About INDEPENDENT LENS

INDEPENDENT LENS is an Emmy® Award-winning weekly PBS series airing Monday nights at 10 p.m. ET. The acclaimed series, with Lois Vossen as executive producer, features documentaries united by the creative freedom, artistic achievement, and unflinching visions of independent filmmakers. Presented by ITVS, the series is funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, with additional funding from Acton Family Giving, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For more information, visit pbs.org/independentlens.