Photo courtesy the Us and Them Facebook page
For years, La Loche’s Karen Montgrand battled homelessness on the streets of Victoria, British Columbia. On Thursday night, a story chronicling her journey will be featured in Prince Albert.
The film Us and Them details the journey of four different women experiencing homelessness on the streets of Victoria.
Krista Loughton, the film’s director, says she had the honour to befriend these women and embark on a journey of healing with them for 10 years.
“I sent out to help them, but they clearly ended up helping me,” said Loughton.
The director says she had to face her own emotional issues during filmmaking.
“I really grew when I had to look at why I was doing what I was doing. Who was I really trying to fix?”
La Loche’s Karen Montgrand is one of the women Loughton journeyed with. She says the two have become close and they speak on the phone almost every day.
“Our relationship has been through all sorts of ups and downs, but now we call each other sister,” said the film’s director. “There’s no one like Karen, she is a complete original.”
Montgrand and Loughton will be at a screening Thursday at the John M. Cuelenaere Public Library at 7:00 p.m.
Loughton hopes the film will help break stereotypes surrounding homelessness for those who watch.
The duo will then travel to screenings in La Loche, Saskatoon, Regina and Ottawa.