GRITTY MOVIE TACKLES TABOOS ABOUT METH USE

Filmmakers Spent A Year Doing Research

When Ronan Reinart set out to make a film about the effects of
crystal methamphetamine on youth, he did everything they teach you
not to do in film school.

"It's not just controversial subject matter," he said.

"There are taboos left, right and centre. We do everything you should
not theoretically do." For example, there is a 10-minute sequence
where a biker forces a kid to perform a lewd act in exchange for crystal meth.

"We thought that was going to be an issue," the Vancouver lawyer said.

"The industry loved it because nobody will show that." The film is
called Run Rabbit Run. It has been screened once in Vancouver and is
being shopped around to various film companies for wider release.

The premise is simple. A young art student just looking for a good
time meets a meth dealer and gets sucked into the life that comes
with drug addiction.

Reinart and Kate Twa, the director, spent a year researching and
interviewing meth users, RCMP narcotics officers, paramedics and
medical professionals to convey the true grit of meth's underworld.

"There's something going on at a really grassroots level that really
affects lives," Reinart said.

"I didn't know, for example, that when people take ecstasy at clubs,
often times, crystal meth will be mixed with the ecstasy they get. I
had no idea that in preparing those drugs, there would be some person
in some garage mixing chemicals they didn't understand." The film is
not meant to be preachy.

"It's a story," Reinart said resolutely.

"We're not trying to wag fingers at anybody. It's fascinating to us
as filmmakers that this stuff happens. And in our view, nobody has
tackled this with the realism it deserves." The trailer can be seen
at www.runrabbitrunmovie.com mcootauco@theprovince.com