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The Stairs

"The Stairs" tells the story of three social workers who survived decades of street involvement, including drug use and sex work.
While using their experiences to help their community, each struggles to maintain their newly-found stability. Told over five years, "The Stairs" is a non-judgemental character study of life on society’s margins. Defying stereotypes through intimate portraits, its remarkable subjects are by turns funny, surprising, shocking and moving.

  • Hugh Gibson
    Director
  • Hugh Gibson
    Producer
  • Alan Zweig
    Executive Producer
    Hope, Hurt, When Jews Were Funny, A Hard Name, Loveable, I Curmudgeon, Vinyl
  • Cam Woykin
    Cinematographer
  • Hugh Gibson
    Cinematographer
  • Ryan J. Noth
    Editor
    The Road to Webiquie
  • Andres Landau
    Editor
    Unarmed Verses
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 35 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    September 12, 2016
  • Production Budget:
    100,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    DCP
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    Yes
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Toronto International Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    September 12, 2016
    World
  • RIDM (Montreal International Documentary Festival)
    Montreal
    Canada
    November 12, 2016
    Canadian Competition. Special Jury Prize: Magnus Isacsson Award. Honorable Mention: Student Jury
  • Mar del Plata International Film Festival
    Mar del Plata
    Argentina
    November 25, 2016
    International
  • Jeonju International Film Festival
    Jeonju
    Korea, Republic of
    April 27, 2017
    Asian
    International Competition
  • Maryland Film Festival
    Baltimore
    United States
    May 5, 2017
    United States
  • 48th International Film Festival of India
    Goa
    India
    November 20, 2017
    India
  • Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival (GZDOC)
    Guangzhou
    China
    December 11, 2017
    China
    Golden Kapok Award (Nominee - Official Competition)
  • Maple Movies Film Festival (touring Germany)
    Berlin, Hamburg, Munich, Wiesbaden
    Germany
    October 5, 2017
    Germany
  • Vancouver Theatrical Release
    Vancouver
    Canada
    April 21, 2017
  • Toronto Theatrical Release
    Toronto
    Canada
    October 10, 2016
    Theatrical Premiere
    Toronto Film Critics Assoc: Best Canadian Film, 2016
  • Regent Park Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    Audience Award
  • Kingston Canadian Film Festival
    Kingston
    Canada
  • ReFrame Film Festival
    Peterborough
    Canada
    January 28, 2017
  • Belleville Doc Fest
    Belleville
    Canada
    March 3, 2017
  • Atlantic International Film Festival
    Halifax
    Canada
    September 16, 2017
  • Buffalo International Film Festival
    Buffalo
    United States
    October 8, 2017
  • Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival
    Sebastopol
    United States
    March 22, 2018
    California
  • BAM Cinematek
    New York
    United States
    April 18, 2018
  • Museum of the Moving Image
    New York
    United States
  • Metrograph Cinema
    New York
    United States
  • Canadian Theatrical Release (2017-18)
Distribution Information
  • Grasshopper Film
    Country: United States
    Rights: Internet, Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Hotel, Airline, Ship, Video / Disc, Free TV, Paid TV, Console / Handheld Device
    Country: Canada
    Rights: Internet, Video on Demand, Pay Per View, Video / Disc, Free TV, Paid TV, Console / Handheld Device
  • Midnight Lamp Films
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: All Rights
Director Biography - Hugh Gibson

A graduate of York University (BFA: Film), Gibson participated in the Berlinale Talent Campus (’05), TIFF’ s Talent Lab (’06) and TIFF STUDIO (’12). Selected credits include writing/directing the acclaimed short drama, Hogtown Blues (’04: TIFF; Bilbao FF: Audience Award), and producing short doc A Tomb with a View (’14: TIFF, VIFF, Hamburg). He produced A Place Called Los Pereyra (’09, IDFA, BAFICI, RIDM), which screened extensively in Latin America and Canada. The Stairs, his feature debut as director, premiered at TIFF and won the Toronto Film Critics Award for Best Canadian Film of 2016.

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Director Statement

Each character in The Stairs leads a volatile life, where progress can be difficult to gauge. Defining the direction they’re heading in their own narrative can be tricky. The stairs are also a very real place: somewhere to use, work, sleep and even die.

In a dramatic, transitional period for Toronto, the complex struggles of these characters continue to intensify. Given Canada’s changing legislation regarding drug policy and sex work, and ongoing debates about violence against women, the material has never been more relevant. While the film’s location is specific, its stories are universal. Greg’s encounter with police is but one example. The same conflicts with public health, housing and crime happen everywhere: there’s a Regent Park in most cities.

Since 2011, I’ve been granted remarkable access to vastly misunderstood and misrepresented lifestyles. There are many films about poverty, drug use and sex work, but very few that allowed subjects to take ownership of their stories, using the film as a conduit for their own self-expression.

As I got to know Marty, Roxanne, Greg and others in their community, I felt that I’d rarely seen their experiences on film, and rarely seen anything that captured the essence of their personalities: funny, warm, unapologetic; focused on family and their community.

In a large community of under-serviced individuals, many yearn for expressive outlets. Together we saw the film as a way of capturing the honesty of their experiences; revealing their perspectives. I wanted to see, understand and feel stories that don’t get reported.

Harm reduction remains unknown to most North Americans, despite affecting millions. Like the film’s subjects, its non-judgmental approach to health care has often been ignored, or hidden in plain sight. A crucial element of harm reduction is dignity. In my film, each character seeks to attain or restore it, and is routinely denied. It’s also integral to my artistic approach. Subjects spoke for themselves and I strove to accurately capture their stories. Understanding their perspectives and giving them a voice is significant, given the community’s rampant stigma and discrimination. Dignity was part of technique, as well as subtext.