Byron Bay Film Festival
www.bbff.com.au
Aussie pot culture explored in Byron Film Festival doco
The film Marijuana Australiana provides an unprecedented overview of the history of cannabis in this country, writes Digby Hildreth CANNABIS is a subject that whose lives are made bearapolarises people and pro- ble, and PTSD-stricken vetervokes extreme claims from ans who say it is saving them both sides of the debate: from alcoholism and suicide. there’s the ‘cannabis cures Baron’s purpose with the cancer’ crew on one side, and film was ‘to demystify cannathe reefer madness mob on bis as a medicine and some of the other. the issues around recreational But the more the prohibi- use… to make it clear that it’s tionists shriek, the more their an organic herbal medicine voices are lost in the blue haze and have viewers make that rising off the two million or leap in their minds: “It’s just so Australians who like to a plant”.’ spark up on a regular basis. But Marijuana AustraliIndeed, as one observer in ana isn’t a pro-pot polemic Richard Baron’s documentary or a piece of dreary agit-prop. Marijuana Australiana notes, Its purpose may be serious the warnings to the youth of but it is deftly handled, and his era – the 60s – about this there’s plenty of fun, cour‘evil sex drug’ had the teens tesy of the anarchic energy of piling into their cars and Nimbin MardiGrass and its heading off to find some in dancing Ganja Fairies – and the wild plantations of the the wry soundtrack of songs Hunter Valley, which they that serenade the Faeries soon deforested. and other peculiarities of the But the consequences of weed world. The title song the prohibitionist stance – Nimbin Girls and Goin’ Hydro formalised and funded as are all examples of the finest, part of the war on drugs – are funniest Aussie vernacular. no laughing matter. The growers, the dediThe antis are given their cated, determinedly larrikin fair share of screen time in producers such as bush this intelligent, timely and doctor Tony Bower, are the rollicking documentary, memorable voices here: they which has its world pre- adore their plants, take pride miere at the Byron Bay Film in their product and, tellingly, Festival. are benevolent, barely makIt’s just that the interviews ing a living. with the heads, home pharThey are true believers, macists and horticulturalists maverick scientists whose are more eye-opening and product is ‘made with love entertaining than those with and motivated by compasthe director of the National sion’, as Baron notes. Cannabis Prevention and InTheir care and connoisformation Centre Institute, seurship are astonishing – Prof Jan Copeland, and oth- and so is their courage. Most ers opposed to legalisation, have seen the inside of a including senior police. prison and have no wish to And, increasingly, there is return: but they carry on, quian irresistible call for legalisa- etly defiant. tion coming from the parents Baron is full of admiraof epileptic children whose tion: ‘One breeder was fo30-a-day seizures have been cused on aromas and tastes stopped by doses of medici- and was breeding out effects nal cannabis, cancer sufferers like dry mouth. It’s to that North Coast news daily: www.echonetdaily.net.au
granular level. ‘There are illicit breeders who have even been instrumental in breeding cannabidiol (CBD) back into cannabis, to offset the psychotropic effects of THC and offer other health benefits,’ he says. ‘It’s not a Big Pharma innovation. ‘None of this is addressed in the current debate, which is obsessed with how to sanitise it, and put it in the same system as the synthetic stuff.’ People around Nimbin are experts in cannabis, the keepers of the knowledge, notes Nimbin identity Michael Balderstone, but ‘no-one has come here to ask us about it’. Baron’s background is in audio production, then sound design for film. He cut his teeth as a filmmaker with Lafranchi’s Memorial Discotheque in his last semester at Sydney’s University of Technology. He’s embarrassed by the fledgling work now and just wants to get his new ‘rambunctious’ creation in front of as many eyeballs as possible. ‘I’ve been intimately involved with this story. A bit too closely perhaps … ‘It’s extremely personal to me. It’s my baby and it’s time to deliver it to the world.’ The festival includes other explorations of alternative pharmacology, most notably Going Furthur – the destination of the bus that took Ken Kesey and his LSD-inspired Merry Pranksters across America in the 60s, spreading the word about altered states and alarming the uptight citizenry. Fifty years on from those first trips, Kesey’s son Zane took the Furthur bus – and his father’s legacy – back on
the road, for its longest-running tour in history. Recruiting new pranksters along the way, the Furthur crew travelled more than 15,000 miles in 75 days, visiting music festivals, tribal gatherings and national landmarks to re-establish The Bus as a symbol of radical self-expression and cultural revolution. Through archive footage
and more than 400 hours of film, we explore the roots of the early 60s culture and how the mission of those first few freaky idealists influenced a new generation. The producer/director of Going Furthur, Lindsay Kent, will be in Byron Bay for the screening of the film. Make sure to wear some flowers in your hair.
Marijuana Australiana, Going Furthur and Going Furthur with Burning Man screen at the Byron Bay Film Festival. Going Furthur will screen at both the Byron Community Centre and the Pighouse Flicks Lounge Cinema. The Byron Bay Film Festival runs over October 14–23. Tickets are on sale at www.bbff.com.au.
The Byron Shire Echo September 28, 2016 15