Andy Fiore(I)
Andrew Frank "Andy" Fiore (born November 29, 1965) is a Vancouver-
based award winning filmmaker. He is best known for his independent documentaries
featuring the poor, addicted and often mentally ill citizens of the
Downtown Eastside - one of Vancouver's oldest neighborhoods, notorious
for violence, sex trade, and open drug use. Educated at Ryerson
Polytechnic University (1987-1991) in the Radio & Television & Film
programs, Andy majored in documentary production and creative media
writing. After graduation Andy worked as a videographer/video editor
for various wedding photographers in Ontario. For a time he taught
animation at Seneca College, and then went on to work with Ron Wiseman
from KIDS TV. Throughout the 1990's Andy produced various commercial
and corporate films under the FIORE FILMS banner. In 1997 Andy produced
his first feature length documentary titled, Becoming Sound: The
Healing Journey. Inspired by his mother's battle with breast cancer,
the film featured five individuals with life threatening illnesses who
decided to take their health and healing into their own hands. Becoming
Sound premiered at Toronto's Whole Life Expo, and a week after the
premiere York University acquired 3000 copies of the film for their
nursing program. The following year Andy was commissioned to produce
Metabolic Therapy: The Ludde Protocol, a documentary featuring West
Vancouver health practitioner Dr. Frank Ludde, whose 12- week
intramuscular therapy program was touted as a natural cure for all
diseases. After a series of circumstances that changed the course of
his career, in 1999 Andy Fiore decided to go to Seoul, Korea to teach
English. Long-standing mental health issues were brought to light and
three weeks after arriving in Korea, Andy was diagnosed with
schizophrenia. Only willing to adhere to a medication regimen that
helped him for a mere 45 days, Andy experienced a relapse, and fell
into heroin addiction to deal with his schizophrenia. From 1999-2006
Andy lived homeless on the streets of Toronto & Vancouver. He turned to
petty crime to fund his addiction. During this time he served a series
of short jail sentences, despite his efforts to run from multiple
arrest warrants. His heroin addiction brought him to the brink of death
on multiple occasions. In early 2007 he suffered a massive overdose and
decided it was time to try and kick his heroin habit. He got onto a
methadone program and stabilized. Later that year he met met Sue
Pitura, a kindred spirit from Ontario, who soon became his life and
work partner. In 2009 Andy purchased a book on HTML programming for 50
cents at a flea market. The following week he created FIORE FILMS
blogspot and began producing documentary films with little equipment
and virtually no budget. From 2009 - 2012 Andy Fiore received three
small consecutive film grants from the Vancouver Foundation to produce
his documentaries. His films all deal with the struggles and challenges
of living in the Downtown Eastside with addiction and mental health
issues. Some of his titles include: Just You, Me & God: Recovery in the
Downtown Eastside; 10 City Blocks: Survival Sex Trade in the Downtown
Eastside; Occupying Vancouver: An Insider's Look at Homelessness; Out
of the Shadows: Revealing Bipolar Disorder, Understanding the Broken
Mind: Recovery From Schizophrenia; The 100 Block: ; Prisonization, and
more recently, There Are 400. In 2013 he was nominated by Vancouver
Coastal Health employee Amanda Schell for Coast Mental Health's Courage
to Come Back award for his work and recovery from both mental illness
and heroin addiction. Andy accepted the nomination and then became a
recipient of the Courage to Come Back award in the mental health
category on May 8, 2013. FIORE FILMS produces documentary films that
are regularly acquired by Universities and Colleges around North
America. Last year they broke into the U.S. market with the documentary
film, Prisonization. Some of the educational institutions that
regularly acquire these documentaries are: John Jay College of Criminal
Justice, University of California Irvine, Delta State University,
University of Northern Colorado & Stanford University in the U.S, and
York University, Concordia University and Ryerson University in Canada.
In 2011 Andy Fiore was commissioned by St. James Community Service
Society (now Bloom Group) to produce a fund raising campaign video. The
4 minute video helped Powell Place, a woman's shelter, to raise $4.4 million. In that same year Andy Fiore invited Dr. Gabor Mate to speak at a public screening of The 100 Block to a sold
out crowd at East Vancouver venue Shop Wrong. In 2013 Andy Fiore
received a small grant from the BC Arts Council to produce his first
docudrama called ROOM 6. Loosely based on the story of Andy Fiore's ten
year battle with mental illness and addiction, the script was
co-written with partner Sue Pitura. ROOM 6 was originally written as a
feature length film but due to a conflict with the lead actor the
production was cut short before completing principle photography.
Even with this interruption the core of the story remained intact.
What resulted is an intensely powerful and dark 35 minutes of raw truth.
On April 12, 2015 Room 6 was awarded the Royal Reel Award by the
Canada International Film Festival for best first time director.
Today director Andy Fiore and his writing partner Sue Pitura
continue to develop ideas for films.