Pubdate: Fri, 09 Apr 2010
Source: Daily Sound (Santa Barbara, CA)
Copyright: 2010 Daily Sound
Contact: http://www.thedailysound.com/contact/Letters-to-the-editor
Website: http://www.thedailysound.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4995
Author: Colby Frazier

'CASH CROP' TO SCREEN FOR FREE AT VICTORIA HALL THEATRE

Film shows people and places behind marijuana

Marijuana, as a topic, doesn't fit well into any box.  Like gay 
marriage or abortion, it's a hot-button  political issue. Nearly 
everyone has something to say  about the plant.

For many Californian's, marijuana is medicine. For law  enforcement 
officials, its semi-legal status in this  state can be a vague, 
confusing and problematic  equation. For others, marijuana is a 
livelihood: they  grow it like a farmer grows strawberries, with 
pride and love. And a great number of others sell it, some  from 
legally operating storefronts, others from the  shadows. A great many 
more smoke it, eat it, or consume  it in some other fashion.

And like any consumer product, legal or illegal,  marijuana can spawn 
greed, crime, addiction, abuse and  other unsavory results.

But behind each marijuana plant is a person, a fact  explored in the 
film "Cash Crop," which will have its  local premier tomorrow at 4:20 
p.m. at the Victoria  Hall Theatre.

Director Adam Ross said the film doesn't advocate any  position: it 
simply shows the people behind the crop,  which, though difficult to 
accurately figure, is  thought by many to be California's No. 1 cash crop.

"It's not really just about marijuana," said Ross, who  is based in 
Malibu. "It's about American issues of self  governance, 
entrepreneurship, states rights, medicine,  organic agriculture, law 
enforcement, different aspects  of commercialism. There's a lot of 
very, very core  issues that are highlighted in the film."

The film over the course of two years, following the  trail of 
marijuana from the Mexico border, up the coast  through Santa 
Barbara, and northward to the so-called  Emerald Triangle, referring 
to Mendocino, Humboldt and  Trinity counties, all of which are known 
for their  abundance of marijuana production.

The main character, and narrator of sorts, is Sefton  Graham, 
director of the Greenlight Collective, one of  three marijuana 
dispensaries operating in Santa Barbara  that is permitted by the city.

Graham said he's seen a lot of films about cannabis,  and "Cash Crop" 
is the best.

"Rather than trying to lay out a story, it just kind of  lets people 
talk," he said. "It's just kind of here it  is, you tell me."

Ross said his goal was to humanize the often divisive  topic of 
marijuana. Along the way, he said the film  inevitably touches on a 
slew of social issues.

While the film explores the criminal element of  marijuana, Ross said 
he tried to steer clear of the  sensational side of the drug, 
focusing instead on the  regular people who grow and use marijuana.

"There's a lot of just folks that are doing this," he  said, noting 
that in some of the communities he visited  marijuana accounts for a 
significant portion of the  local economies.

In one community, Ross said the local Medical Marijuana  Advisory 
Board hosted a debate for candidates running  for sheriff and 
district attorney.

Although "Cash Crop" begins in Mexico, Ross said the  foreign drug 
trade plays second fiddle domestic  production. He said Santa Barbara 
is the films true  starting and ending point.

"It was kind of just like showing people where their  milk comes 
from," he said.

Ross described the film as "experiential," and said  it's far from a 
typical documentary about marijuana and  the people who smoke it.

"You get to know the sheriff and what he deals with,  what the grower 
deals with," he said, adding, "You get  to know them as people rather 
than just a bunch of  info."

If nothing else, Ross said the film is honest. The  characters do the 
talking, and he said the audience is  left to reach a conclusion.

"More than anything it's a cultural movie," he said,  adding later, 
"It's very authentic and real."

Graham also commented on the realness of the film,  saying it's so 
real "that it's kind of scary."

In capturing this reality, "Cash Crop" transcends its  core topic, 
moving from a film merely about marijuana,  to a movie about people, 
and the places they inhabit.

"It's not even so much about cannabis, it's about  America aE&" Graham said.

The film, which was shot in high definition, will be  screened 
tomorrow at 4:20 and 7:30. Both showings are  free. The Victoria Hall 
Theatre is located at 33 W.  Victoria St.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom