No No: A Dockumentary

Wednesday, October 21, 2015 – 7:30pm
USA 2014. Dir: Jeffrey Radice. 100 min. DCP

VANCOUVER PREMIERE! ? A big hit (pun intended) when it premiered at Sundance and SXSW, No No: A Dockumentary tells the outsized story of baseball icon Dock Ellis. Famous for pitching a no no (or no hitter) for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1970 while “tripping balls” on acid, Ellis was both a man of his time (drug use in pro baseball at the time was so rampant that players taking the field without pharmacological assistance were known as “playing naked”) and, as an outspoken critic of the entrenched racism of the day, ahead of the curve. Claiming he had never pitched a major league game when not high, Ellis checked himself into rehab in 1980, spending the rest of his life as a drug counsellor, working mostly with inmates. “Unfailingly entertaining and occasionally even mind-blowing.” (Soren Anderson, Seattle Times).

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Post-screening discussion with Dr. Rob Roy, a Registered Psychologist with thirty years of experience in clinical, sport, and forensic psychology. Dr. Roy has been working with athletes since the early 1990s, with a clientele that includes youth, recreational and competitive athletes, professionals and world champions. In recent years, his practice has focused on the assessment and treatment of athletes suffering from mental illness.

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

Trailer