cannabisnews.com: There's Smoke, But No Ire





There's Smoke, But No Ire
Posted by FoM on November 04, 2000 at 06:55:05 PT
By Shelly Decker, Edmonton Sun
Source: Edmonton Sun
The buzz about Grass has as much to do with its content as with the audience that's smoking up while the tape rolls. When the 80-minute humorous documentary about marijuana plays in our city tonight at 10 at the Citadel Theatre's Zeidler Hall, director Ron Mann expects the haze factor to soon follow. "I know that Edmonton is an enlightened city. I've gone around the world and I haven't been in a town where there hasn't been a busload of pot smokers who showed up for the screening. 
I'm almost positive that Edmonton won't disappoint me," said the award-winning Toronto director, whose documentary is being shown as part of the Global Visions Festival. "It's very much like a '70s midnight movie atmosphere. It's kind of hard to see through the haze. Definitely, it does great concession sales," laughed Mann, who began smoking the contraband when he was 16 years old. While some of the information is serious, much of the film was created with a light touch, said Mann, 42. "The film is humorous. It's an irreverent look at marijuana prohibition ... I set out to make reefer sanity instead of reefer madness," he explained, adding it's not just pot smokers who will enjoy Grass. "This film fights for the right for you to party." With an estimated 72 million wacky-tobacco puffers in the U.S., Mann hit on a large interest group with this flick, narrated for free by Hollywood hemp activist Woody Harrelson. "I asked him why he narrated this movie and he said: 'I just want to do what's right,' " recalled Mann, who may be filming Harrelson's next documentary when the actor bikes through America discussing his diet in April. Grass is loaded with notable snippets, including John Lennon footage donated by Yoko Ono. It also pokes fun at old anti-marijuana campaigns that used to proclaim smoking weed would lead to murder and insanity. Mann said he was motivated to roll tape after he learned about the staggering numbers of people arrested for pot possession and the billions of dollars spent by the American system to uphold this law, he said. The film was almost smoked out in Ontario when the province's film review board initially rejected it due to a few seconds of footage that showed government testing of chimpanzees being forced to smoke marijuana. That decision was soon reversed and it played in June. Despite the fact Mann is Canadian, the film is strictly devoted to the American system. It follows the drug's presence in the U.S. from the turn of the century to today. Mann, who's known for offbeat documentaries including Comic Book Confidential, Twist and Poetry in Motion, doesn't think people should have free access to the drug. He believes there should be government controls reserving it for adults only and to limit the quantity sold. It's a responsible approach, says the father of four youngsters, who's been making films since he was 12 years old. And if his own kids end up toking when they become adults? "If they grow up and they make the decision to smoke pot it's up to them, but what I really wouldn't like is if they got arrested and thrown in jail." Note: Expect filmgoers to be lazy and hazy when they watch pot documentary. Tickets to see Grass are $7. Source: Edmonton Sun (CN AB) Author: Shelly DeckerPublished: November 4, 2000Address: #250, 4990-92 AvenueEdmonton, Alberta, T6B 3A1 Canada Copyright: 2000 Canoe Limited Partnership. Fax: (780) 468-0139 Contact:  sun.letters ccinet.ab.ca Forum: http://www.canoe.ca/Chat/home.html Website: http://www.canoe.ca/EdmontonSun/ Related Articles & Web Site:Grass The Movie - A Ron Mann Filmhttp://www.grassthemovie.com/ The Things He Did On Grass http://cannabisnews.com/news/6/thread6066.shtmlGrass - Salon Magazinehttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6065.shtmlDan Mindus On Grass - National Reviewhttp://cannabisnews.com/news/thread6005.shtmlCannabisNews Articles - Ron Mann:http://cannabisnews.com/thcgi/search.pl?K=Ron+Mann
Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help




Post Comment


Name: Optional Password: 
E-Mail: 
Subject: 
Comment: [Please refrain from using profanity in your message]
Link URL: 
Link Title: