The Cinematheque

New York filmmaker Nanfu Wang met Dylan, a charismatic street kid, on a trip to Florida. Charming, intelligent, and boyishly handsome, Dylan is ​“homeless by choice,” having abandoned a comfortable middle-class existence for absolute freedom on the road. For a few weeks, Wang tags along, capturing with her camera nights spent sleeping in the park, meals eaten out of garbage cans, and the ease with which Dylan receives offers of food, money, and shelter from strangers. Eventually, though, she becomes disillusioned with him, and heads for home. Wang’s next trip is to Dylan’s family home in Utah, where a meeting with his father forces Wang to re-evaluate everything she thought she knew about Dylan. Is his lifestyle an enviable symbol of American freedom, as she initially believed, or is Dylan only trying to cope with his demons in the best way he knows how?

Post-screening discussion with Dr. Sean Flynn, Clinical Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry, UBC, and a member of the Vancouver Assertive Community Treatment (ACT) multi-disciplinary mental health team. 

Moderated by Dr. Harry Karlinsky, Clinical Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of British Columbia.