RECOVERY
BEYOND THE STEREOTYPES
Surviving Earth is a new film that rejects stereotypes and easy explanations to shine a light on the complexities of substance use and family, says Sophie Wilsdon
This week, I sat in a steering group with BDP Creative Communities members, staff and volunteers, thinking about how best to celebrate BDP’ s 40th birthday in a concert later this year. The group felt strongly that although there’ s so much to celebrate, it’ s also vital we take time to recognise what and who has been lost in those many years – and what the reality of drug use can be for individuals and their families.
It’ s this reality – the messy plurality of drug use – that is captured in Surviving Earth, the debut feature film by writer / director Thea Gajić. Themes of relationships, parenting, drug use, relapse, resilience after trauma and survival through music are delicately and accurately played out through Thea’ s own lived experience.
Surviving Earth is based on the true story of her father, Vladimir Gajić, and centres on his life after arriving in the UK in the 1990s, having fled the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Set in Bristol in 2015, the story focuses on Vlad’ s life post-rehab, his relationship with his daughter, and his role as a drugs worker while also pursuing success with his Balkan band, Fuzia.
The film has a particular resonance to BDP in that its lead characters, Vlad, Duncan and Misko, were group workers here for many years and formed
Fuzia with other colleagues including myself. Misko sadly passed away before the film went into production, bringing an additional poignancy.
PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL The film touches so many intersections of drugs work and recovery that cross between the personal and professional, and it will have a particular resonance for anyone whose life has been touched by addiction in some way. Our field is full of people with lived experience, which brings invaluable insight, knowledge and understanding. But it can also make it hard for people to ask for help when struggling with their own triggers while maintaining a job in the drugs field, on top of other responsibilities.
Thea wanted to touch on this directly in the film.‘ I’ m very keen to break the negative stereotypes around addiction and see how highly functioning people can be even when they need help to get clean,’ she says.‘ If we break those taboos, more people would feel safe to speak about it, and ultimately more lives would be saved.’
The film’ s story is told from the daughter’ s perspective, and tenderly explores the ways children navigate living alongside parental substance use.‘ One of the most challenging things was deciding whose point of view to tell the story from,’ she says.‘ It’ s
22 • DRINK AND DRUGS NEWS • APRIL 2026 WWW. DRINKANDDRUGSNEWS. COM