A local movie buff is hosting a film screening in the hope of “moving the story on” when it comes to representations of addiction in film.
Filmmaker and cinephile Dominic Pillai, who is 15 years sober and lives in Withington, says he has curated the programme of three contrasting short films to challenge the “recycled” and “repetitive” storylines he sees in the cinema and on TV and to offer fresh perspectives.
Pillai says that whilst he can still appreciate the craftsmanship of films such as Trainspotting or Requiem For A Dream, they present “very specific” views of addiction.
Three different perspectives
The screening brings together three very different perspectives on substance use and recovery, showing a BAFTA-nominated documentary about heroin use, a hand-painted animation praised by Stephen Fry as “simply magnificent”, and a split-screen US video artwork exploring a father’s response to his daughter’s drug-related death.
Pillai, curator of social engagement with arts organisation Portraits of Recovery, said:
I don’t think depictions of addiction in mainstream films such as Trainspotting or Requiem For A Dream are necessarily wrong – and you can’t argue that they’re not great movies.
But not all addiction looks like this. We see the same narratives again and again because these are not films made by people with lived experience. Their reference points are other films about addiction, so storylines get recycled.
Recovery needs to be shown more in films
Pillai says that mainstream films tend to overfocus on “active addiction” rather than people’s recovery as it is “obviously more exciting” for audiences.
Recovery is more nuanced, and part of recovery is about removing drama from your life, which is obviously a harder sell to a film producer.
When addiction is used as a plot device, the focus is on moving the story along and keeping it exciting for audiences, rather than depicting accurate recovery journeys.
Three short films show three different aspects of addiction
The screening, at Stockport Plaza, brings together three very different perspectives on substance use and recovery.
- The first film, Milk (2024), combines digital, Super8, 16mm and VHS footage to offer a “raw and intimate” exploration of maternal loss and heroin use. Director Miranda Stern sets out to understand her mother, who died when Stern was just five months old, while confronting her own recovery from heroin use and contemplating future motherhood.
- Meanwhile, Small Hours: A Portrait of Alcoholism (2025), takes an entirely different visual approach. Narrated by actor Robert Bathurst (Downton Abbey, Cold Feet, Toast of London), the film is an oil-paint-on-glass animation created over eight years by Royal College of Art graduate Oscar Wyndham Lewis. In more than 5,000 individually painted images, it tells the story of a reclusive artist whose life has been hollowed out by alcohol addiction. After seeing this film, Stephen Fry sent Wyndham Lewis a personal message describing it as “astonishing” and “simply magnificent”.
- The third work, There Is No One What Will Take Care of You (2023), comes from US filmmaker Dina Fiasconaro and will receive its UK premiere at the event. The split-screen video artwork tells the true story of a Baltimore father following the death of his daughter from drugs supplied by a friend. With the friend facing a potential 50-year prison sentence, the father chose to support his recovery and release rather than pursue retribution
Pillai said:
Film is an accessible way of opening up difficult conversations and I hope that people come away from this screening with a greater understanding of recovery. I also hope it inspires aspiring filmmakers with their own lived experience of addiction and recovery to experiment with telling their own stories.
Watch Counter Narratives at Stockport Plaza on 29 September
Called Counter Narratives, the screening will take place at Stockport Plaza during Recoverist Month, Portraits of Recovery’s annual programme of arts events centring recovery.
Recoverist Month takes place every September to mark International Recovery Month, bringing artists, communities and audiences together through exhibitions, performances and creative events exploring substance use and recovery.
Counter Narratives
29 September 2026 6–8pm
Stockport Plaza, Mersey Square, Stockport SK1 1SP
Tickets: £2.50 Eventbrite
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