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Hollywood homelessness

March 14 2016
Richard Gere spoke at the Glasgow Film Festival Richard Gere spoke at the Glasgow Film Festival
Richard Gere attends the closing night of Glasgow Film Festival for the first UK screening of his new film

American Actor Richard Gere attended the closing night of Glasgow Film Festival for the first UK screening of his new film about street homelessness.

Gere said he hoped ‘Time out of Mind’, which he co-produced, would help him raise awareness about homelessness.

The 66-year-old said: "I'm very proud of this movie. I spent a lot of time putting this together – about 12 years of my life – so I'm happy there's a chance for people to see the film and engage with it in a serious way like this.

Gere has been working with Coalition For The Homeless and other NGOs for many years, which has influenced his work. He added:?"I am amazed at the unbelievable patience and generosity of spirit and compassion that people in these organisations have and I've seen it all over the world."

In the film that goes on general release in the UK in March, Gere plays a down-and-out man with mental illness who struggles to survive on the streets of New York City, sleeping on benches, eating out of dustbins and begging for spare change.

The film won the International Critics’ prize at the 2014 Toronto Film Festival and had been widely applauded by film critics for its bravery in tackling the subject matter in a way that doesn’t trivialise the core issue of homelessness.

Initial viewers have given the film a more mixed response. It's been suggested that this is due as much to the film’s unusual style, which some see as boring, as the fact that it deals with the difficult issue of homelessness.

Gere is eager to let people know what he noticed playing the role.

He said “It was bizarre, as long as I was in character, I could see people from two blocks away, making a judgment based on how I was dressed. I was very visible to them. People are afraid of being sucked into a black hole of failure and misery.

"But then it touches something deep in all of us. None of us are that secure that it couldn’t be us also.”

Enjoy the film or not, the fact that Hollywood is dealing with the issue of homelessness in a major release has to be good news. The bad news is the numbers of homeless on the streets and in temporary housing continues to rise at record levels both here and in the USA.

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