ROGER EBERT.COM | 12 SEP 2016

"With an attention to nuance worthy of Kartemquin standards, Gibson finds subtle ways of involving us within the lives of subjects, such as the engagingly talkative Marty."

TVO | 21 JUN 2017

The Agenda with Steve Paikin | "Defying Drug Addiction" (38:46)

The Agenda welcomes the filmmaker and the main subjects of the award-winning documentary, The Stairs, which examines the lives of habitual drug users in Toronto's Regent Park.

FILMMAKER MAGAZINE | 4 JAN 2017

"One of the best documentaries of the year, The Stairs, directed by Toronto-based filmmaker Hugh Gibson, is a profoundly empathetic look at three drug addicts cooperating with a harm reduction program at Toronto’s Regent Park Community Health Centre."

METRO MONTREAL | 20 MAR 2018

Avec The Stairs, le réalisateur Hugh Gibson met en lumière le parcours semé d’embûches de travailleurs sociaux toujours aux prises avec de lourds antécédents de toxicomanie.

«Les dénouements heureux, ça n’existe pas. Il y a des jours heureux, et c’est pourquoi l’expression “un jour à la fois” existe. Mais un ex-toxicomane demeure en rétablissement jusqu’à la fin de ses jours. Tant que tu seras vivant, tu poursuivras ce combat. Où est le happy end dans tout ça?»

CALGARY HERALD & EDMONTON JOURNAL | 19 JAN 2018

Five Stars (out of 5)

"Director Hugh Gibson spent five years following his subjects for this remarkably clear-eyed and non-judgmental story. Gibson wisely keeps his focus narrow - there are no police spokespeople and no addiction experts, except those whose expertise comes from experience."

WINNIPEG FREE PRESS | 30 NOV 2017

"Filmmaker finds hope in the haunted but humane souls of outreach workers... this timely, intelligent and important Canadian documentary... give(s) subjects the time and space they need to tell their own stories.

And what stories they are. Marty with his restless energy, Greg with his bursts of rueful self-awareness and Roxanne with her untouchable strength are far more than their addictions. Compassionate and intimate, the film finds its hope in the complicated humanity of its subjects."

GLOBE & MAIL | 24 NOV 2017

Taking Theatrical Distribution into your own hands, literally.

"Who knows how audiences will react in India. It varies by location. In Argentina: shock. South Korea: surprise. In Baltimore, some found it quaint (remarked one viewer, "Nice how the Canadians have due process"). A common thread has been empathy toward the subjects – admiration for their strength, resilience and striving to help each other."

CARBON ARC | Atlantic Film Festival, 16 SEP 2017

"It's a breathtakingly effective way of truly humanizing what we see, and making us do the work ensures that everything in the film will have a life beyond the screen. The Stairs is the kind of experience that you take home with you. When you get there, you'll be a little more aware of what that word actually means."

Georgia straight | 19 ApR 2017

“The Stairs delivers humanizing portraits that are needed more now than ever”

"When Hugh Gibson began shooting The Stairs in 2011, he didn’t know how his documentary about a group of past and present drug users living in Toronto’s Regent Park was going to end. Through five years of filming, that’s what kept him going: searching for a conclusion.

GLOBE AND MAIL | 6 OCT 2016

It’s tempting to call The Stairs “a hard look at the epidemic of drug abuse and violence.” But that feels a bit cheap. While Gibson doesn’t shy away from the realities of the local drug and sex trade, his camera lingering as users huff crack in sunken stairwells, The Stairs rarely feels exploitative, gawking or self-consciously gritty. “To me, it was more about showing an honest depiction of what their lives were like,” Gibson says. “It was important to have the community embrace it. And to have the community involved in the filmmaking process, to take ownership of their own storytelling.”

NATIONAL POST | 7 OCT 2016

‘It had to be honest’: How Hugh Gibson captured life in a community of drug users and sex workers

CBC Radio | 7 Oct 2016

"This poignant documentary will change how you look at addiction and street life"

POV | 11 SEP 2016

"As a work of journalism it’s quite effective, following stories too often ignored. But as cinema it’s equally effective, illustrating colourful characters with remarkable stories, none of whom easily conforms to a traditional heroic journey."

CINEMA SCOPE | 6 SEP 2016

"Roxanne, a former sex worker and user who seems to be doing very well, but who talks about the deep wounds past traumas have left on her; Greg, a fascinating, proud biracial man who struggles do deal with the aftermath of being beaten by police; and Marty, a charismatic user and counsellor to users who is a natural in front of Gibson’s sympathetic, perfectly distanced, humanely engaged camera."

POV | Fall issue 2016

"The title of Hugh Gibson’s new documentary The Stairs refers to a stairwell that once served as a makeshift living space for Martin Thompson, a habitual drug user who’s diligently pulled himself back from the brink of oblivion. “Sit down in my living room,” he says with the same excitable cheerfulness that marks most of his pronouncements. Later in the film, Martin—Marty to his friends—will share a self-penned song about his one-time home.:

TIFF REVIEW | 29 AUG 2016

How an Iranian master influenced a Canadian filmmaker: Hugh Gibson curates The Review

Abbas Kiarostami's surprising effect on a TIFF '16 doc

"It is good fortune that... only human nature provides us with a refuge that has any depth to it.” - Abbas Kiarostami