My name is Tania Worthington, and I’m a filmmaker and community member with lived and professional connections to the alcohol and other drugs sector. I made this short film, De Choix (French for “of choice”), as a way of exploring how experiences of substance use can feel from the inside, particularly the sense of connection, escape, and meaning that can emerge alongside more complex realities.
De Choix is a largely silent, visual story about a young woman navigating loneliness, pleasure, and desire in an urban environment. Rather than offering a clear moral or outcome, the film invites viewers to sit with ambiguity and reflect on how experiences are shaped by agency, context, opportunity, and human need.
Stigma around alcohol and other drug use often reduces people’s experiences to simple narratives of failure or risk, overlooking the full range of reasons people use substances and the roles they can play in their lives. I believe that listening to and sharing honest stories, without judgment or fear, helps create a more compassionate community response, where people are supported rather than silenced.
I hope this film invites reflection, conversation, and curiosity.