Lloyd Nicholson

Imagine being in your 2nd year of film school and the big project of the year is to produce and direct your own film. CAIN was my 2nd year project at Sheridan College Ontario, 1978. I last saw the film in 1985, almost 35 years ago. If you can get past some of the really poor edits (I couldn’t afford a copy to edit from first) and not very good sound reproduction, and a print that was far more scratched up than I remember, then you may find some gems here to ponder.

It was, a monumental undertaking. Adapting the 1821 Lord Byron play to the screen, making what was then the longest running film produced at the college. The producing, casting, directing, acting, and editing was all consuming for a good 8 months. At first glance, perhaps not the most contemporary subject, but many of the themes in this play have kicked about in my head over the decades. The original play, written in the feverish period at the birth of the Industrial Revolution, questioned authority, from the origin of humans to the drudgery of so many peoples’ work lives, to, was there an all-seeing, all-knowing “god”. Many of these questions still seem worth exploring.

When I look at the film, I am reminded of the numerous hours people put into this film, and the hardships of filming on location, outside, mostly in a brutal 1977-78 Ontario winter. I don’t know how many batteries we went through as this was a time before rechargeable’s, and batteries had to be kept warm if they were to last anytime at all. It was bloody cold during many of our shoots. Because of the incredibly difficult problems that flowed from the outdoor winter shooting, I think my “vision” of the picture is more cramped than what emerged later in the summer shoot. I want to thank, again, all cast and crew who worked on this (listed below) so many many years ago!

Lloyd Nicholson

Cain – Maurice Godin
Cains wife, Adah – Shelley Hoffman
Cain & Adah’s son – Chris Hoffman
Abel – Matt Gould
Abels wife, Zilla – Caroline Cruikshank
Eve – Mary Susan Yankovich
Adam – Francis Forte
the Spirit – Lloyd Nicholson
Angel of Gods voice – Matt Gould

Production Manager – Coleen Matthews
Assistant – Cheryl Campbell
Continuity – Coleen Matthews, L. Nicholson
Cinematography – Philip Hoffman
2nd Camera – L. Nicholson
Sound – Ed Wever (deceased 2017)
Boom – Coleen Matthews

In 1987 I produced a video for Rogers Community Cable called “Alternate Therapies for Persons with AIDS”. It was in many respects ground breaking because it involved many PWA’s speaking to their issues. This came at a time when the newspapers in BC had headlines like “AIDS Baby Scare”. Variations on the theme of AIDS “PANIC” echoed right across the continent.

Doctors would not take patients, dentists and their assistants turned AIDS patients away, people lost their jobs and were evicted, family relations and relationships disintegrated. In BC, we had “serious” politicians proposing in the legislature that all persons with AIDS (at the time overwhelmingly gay men), be shipped off and abandoned on some remote island.

And the gay community was under attack. Little Sisters, the only official gay bookstore in Vancouver was fire bombed, and gays were openly attacked on the street. The dream of any sort of sexual liberation that gays and lesbians (& the women’s movement in particular) had fought so hard for some kind of equality, seemed dead. And in the community, the lovers, best friends, and acquaintances were dying, sometimes all alone.

At the time when this was made, now over 30 years ago, there was only one anti-retro-viral treatment, the experimental, and very controversial drug, AZT, which was not very effective. The majority diagnosed during this time did not live beyond 5 years, and I knew some who barely lasted a year after their diagnosis. So in this atmosphere, I produced this documentary to try and bring some hope back to what seemed like a hopeless situation. While it does have a few technical flaws, I am so proud of the many many hours, months and months of work that Wendy Chapman, my reporter on the show, and the very small crew, gave of their time to help me get this on the air. And in the end, it won Rogers Best Documentary of the Year.

It is now a testament to the time, a time that has now thankfully passed and turned out for the better. Back then, any sort of effective treatment was over a decade away. And who would have guessed that all the people who came forward with love and compassion to help, would super-charge the palliative and chronic care approaches of the medical community and general population. And who would have thought that maybe, just maybe, all that good will would eventually bring the landmark stepping stone of protection of sexual orientation into the law of the land in Canada. Who would have thought that tragedy would turn around to triumph? And who would have guessed that this tragedy would broaden the Gay and Lesbian sexual movement for equality rights to broaden it’s family into the LGBTQ?

No, there is no “cure” for AIDS per se, but treatments are light years ahead of 1987, and new break-through’s seem truly not so far off.

I want to thank again my crew and Wendy Chapman. But I also want to note that every one of the people with AIDS who appeared in this documentary have long ago passed away, and thisis a tragic loss of their youth and potential promise, and they must not be forgotten, for they were many, and are still.

Lloyd Nicholson

Production of Rogers Cable 4 West End NTV, 1987
Directed & Edited by Lloyd Nicholson
Videography: Lloyd Nicholson
Reporting: Wendy Chapman
VTR & Sound Operations: John Cambell, Bob Maheux, David Marwood, Stuart Davidson, Kenn Livingston
Graphics: Tania Beyer

Special thanks to the staff of The Persons With AIDS Coalition, AIDS Vancouver, St. Paul’s Hospital, and all those who participated.