Debates about homelessness took centre stage at “Films and Forums about Homelessness,” hosted by Movie Monday on Jan. 25.

“There are lots of great films out there, and [watching them] is a great way to address any topic,” said Bruce Saunders, who heads Movie Monday.

Five documentaries were played and debated on topics ranging from the homeless experience in Santa Monica, Calif. to an interactive tent city tool kit. The debates were facilitated by several people who had issues of homelessness close to their hearts.

The filmmakers of Something to Eat, a Place to Sleep, and Someone Who Gives a Damn had travelled from Vancouver to talk about their film — a number of brief clips and still images featuring homeless people and their housed advocates.

“I didn’t like [my family’s] attitudes,” said Les Merson, one of the filmmakers. “My kids ... were coming home and saying things like ‘The homeless are the boogeyman’ ... and I kind of understood that, because you’re afraid of things you don’t understand. And that’s why I decided to do this film, to explore an issue that I didn’t understand that needs to be dealt with.”

Merson described how his family’s attitude has changed, to the point where they regularly picnic with one of the homeless people featured in the film — a 58-year-old woman named Anne.

Gloria, a 26-year-old woman also appearing in the film, was present at the event. Merson and collaborator Ken Villeneuve, who self-financed the film, helped Gloria find a place to live when she stopped taking street drugs.

“I love Gloria now. She’s like a sister to me,” Merson said.

Merson and Villeneuve have handed out over 300 copies so far, for free. Over the course of the evening, Merson urged those who got a copy to show it to as many people as possible, even going so far as to ask if anyone in the room knew an elected official they could show their film to.

City of Vancouver tenant assistance co-ordinator Judy Graves was also present for the Q & A. Discussions ranged from the potential of human connection for the homeless to the possible impact of the Olympics. Graves said the outlook on that front looked bleak.

“[The Olympics] is one of the instruments we can use for leverage,” she said. “It’s not what happens during the Olympics or before, it’s what happens after.... What will happen is that the price of land in Vancouver will go up, yet again, and it’s higher than most of us can afford now. And rental housing will become more scarce.”

However, Graves also described the situation with hope, saying new mayor Gregor Robertson and new shelter plans seem to be working well.

Tent cities were also hashed over in a second forum, led by Chris Johnson of the Temporary Autonomous Shelter Committee, a group seeking to find solutions to homelessness through the use of temporary shelters to help people stabilize.

“Basically the idea is create something we can implement very soon, and not in a typical service-provider fashion, but in a self-help collectively organized kind of way,” Johnson said in an email. “We realize that we’re not solving, ending or even addressing homelessness. We are working to create disaster relief, to keep people alive until solutions are created.”

Though conversation was lively throughout the event, Saunders lamented the lack of controversy in the room.

“In some ways, we’re preaching to the converted,” he said. “But you can’t force people [of differing opinions] to come and watch the movies with us.”