The Cinematheque

Virtual Screening

“An unflinching exploration of beauty, identity, sex, and self in the wake of a life-changing event … Knight brings a raw vulnerability that Polak captures with a clear-eyed respect and intimacy.”

Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times

Vancouver Premiere! The opening film of last year’s IFF Rotterdam, and screened in the main competition at Sundance (the first Dutch film to do so), Sacha Polak’s English-language debut is a revelation. Dirty God begins in the burn unit of a London Hospital, as Jade (astonishing newcomer Vicky Knight), a young single mom, is released after months of recuperation from the effects of an acid attack by her ex-boyfriend. Returning to the Hackney council estate flat she shares with her mother, Jade is greeted with tears and screams of ​“monster” by her two-year-old daughter. So begins Jade’s journey, as she struggles to reconcile her outward appearance with her desperate desire for things to return to the way they once were. In her dramatic debut, Knight, herself badly burned in a fire at age eight, brings an intensity and flinty stoicism informed by personal experience to the lead role. 

The Cinematheque is pleased to join with the UBC Department of Psychiatry and the Institute of Mental Health in presenting Frames of Mind, a monthly event utilizing film to promote professional and community education on issues pertaining to mental health and illness. 

Virtual access to a film is provided for seven days, at the conclusion of which we present an online seminar featuring conversations with special guests and an audience Q&A via Zoom.

Free Live Q&A
December 14th (Monday) 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm PST Purchase a ticket to watch the film and receive an invite to a free live Zoom Q&A with Dr. Stephen Anderson and Dr. Anthony Papp from the BC Professional Firefighters’ Provincial Burn Unit at VGH; Alim Somji and Anita Zvonar, two Canadians with lived experience of facial differences who are working and thriving in their communities; and Dr. Nicolas Bergeron, a psychiatrist at the Centre hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) with particular expertise in trauma stemming from his liaison role at the Montreal Burn Centre.

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

To stream this film & attend the Q&A:
Click on the ​“Stream” button above.
This will take you to the distributor website, where you can pre-order the film.
Purchase a virtual ticket for $7.99 USD (plus tax).
The film will be available to stream December 8–14.
You will also receive a link to the live Zoom Q&A on December 14.
This film is only available to watch in Canada.

“An extraordinarily intimate and closely focused character study. In a frank but sensitive way, Polak delves into areas that most other filmmakers would be far too timid to go near.”

Geoffrey Macnab, The Independent