A population of young people in Kenya, known as the “Zombies of Nairobi,” wander the streets in a daze, seemingly half alive due to consuming dangerous inhalants. The campsites where they live are filled with mounds of garbage and create a desolate…
Building on the success of Fentanyl: The Drug Deadlier than Heroin—one of the first documentaries to reveal the scope of Canada’s opioid crisis—filmmaker Patrick McGuire partnered with VICE Canada and CTV’s W5, the country’s leading investigative news program, to create…
This video uncovers the complex reality behind Methadone Mile, speaking with everyone from Harvard doctors and crack dealers to addicts fighting for survival and those who have overcome addiction to help others. As they dig deeper, they explore how this…
This documentary discusses the magnitude of the opioid crisis / overdose epidemic in Canada, travelling across the country to investigate these struggles and the importance of harm reduction initiatives across communities. You’ll learn about what harm reduction entails and why it is…
Soft White Underbelly interviews Archie Karas, a gambler who arrived in Las Vegas in 1995, gambling with just $50. He then turned it into $40 million within three years, but then lost it all in just three weeks. Archie Karas passed away at…
Bilal is silently struggling with the pressures of university, family life, and finances. As he searches for an escape, the devastating effects of a hidden gambling addiction begin to consume every part of his life. Gambling has taken control, threatening…
This short film shows the devastating effects of a gambling disorder and how it affects not just the individual themselves, but those around them. In the film, teenager Brady Thornhill takes out a loan from an online payday site to…
After Michelle Wong’s brother, Philip, died by suicide at the age of 36, she felt compelled to understand the reasons behind his death. Her documentary, Pieces of a Dream, is both a personal search for answers and a way of…
In this presentation, Dr. Luke Clark, Director of the Centre for Gambling Research at UBC, takes a closer look at the modern conceptualization of Gambling Disorder as a behavioural addiction. After a quick overview of how it’s diagnosed and how common it is,…
Understanding Joy takes a deep look into the life of Joy, a 57-year-old woman whose gambling addiction led her to embezzle $700,000 from two employers. Now facing sentencing, Joy wrestles with the weight of her actions and tries to help…