Bevel Up

“The title of Nettie Wild's new documentary tells you a lot about the film itself. The term ‘bevel up’ refers to the best way to inject drugs intravenously, with the bevel side of the needle pointed up, in order to take it a bit easier on your veins. This is a good summation of the film’s intent: blunt, practical and trying to reduce the damage to people who are already dealing with enough problems. Bevel Up: Drugs, Users & Outreach Nursing follows Vancouver’s street nurses as they seek to provide health care to people who probably wouldn’t or couldn’t visit a clinic or a doctor. Sex workers, addicts, street kids and the mentally ill are their principal clients. . . Bevel Up focuses mainly on nurses Caroline Brunt and Liz James, following along behind them as they venture into parts of Vancouver that might make tough men tremble . . . The documentary introduces many of the ancillary issues surrounding healthcare, [including] the politics and legalities of drugs [and] the ethics that inform policy and directly affect how healthcare workers do their jobs” (Dorothy Woodend, The Tyee). “Startling in its intimacy, compassion, and real-life drama” (National Film Board of Canada). Colour, Digibeta video. 45 mins.

Post-screening discussion will include a presentation of the interactive menus on the DVD version of Bevel Up.