A Victoria based filmmaker, in partnership with the United Way and other agencies involved in reducing homelessness, are holding a screening of a homeless documentary in Red Deer tonight.

The film, titled Us & Them, follows the lives of 4 chronically homeless individuals in Victoria over a span of ten years.

Community Impact Development Officer for United Way Central Alberta Lori Jack says this film gives a comprehensive view of homelessness.

“It’s a rich experience about what happens to the people living on the street, the people who are experiencing homelessness. The things that have impacted them that led them to that place, and the things that affect them while they are living on the streets. The hope is to have more empathy and understanding of what’s happening there, and hopefully long term it helps us a community come to understand those challenges, and find better strategies and solutions.”

Jack says the filmmaker plans to hold a sharing circle after the film screening.

“A sharing circle … will be led by one of the elders in our community, it’s a chance for everybody at the end to talk through what they experienced and what it felt like to them, and just to debrief in a different kind of way.”

The film will be shown at the Welikoklad Event Centre tonight at 7pm.

There will be an introduction provided by filmmaker Krista Loughton prior to the film screening.

She hopes her documentary helps shed a light and put a human face on the increasing problem of homelessness.