'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.