Flak
FLAK & DREAM TOWER to premiere at BAFICI, Argentina
10/03/10 11:03
FLAK Now on DVD!
30/11/09 13:33
FLAK is now available on DVD! Purchase for only $9.99 from DVDSWELIKE.COM!
Made by Ron Mann when he was 16, FLAK is a look into an unpolished Toronto of the past, and an insightful window onto current social predicaments.
“It cannot be doubted that we live in a complacent time..."
So says the introduction to this recently re-released work of angry, political drama, which Ron Mann made when he was just 16 years old.
In 1970s Toronto, a group of young men living in the shadows of a gypsum plant discuss the political options availble to average citizens in a post-1960s world. To combat the befouling of their air, some advocate for "proper channels," others for bombs. Through raw, 16mm black-and-white footage of heated arguments, distractions and daily routines, and with a mournful soundtrack, Mann gives us a portrait of political frustration from 30 years ago which looks eerily like a cross-section of the same attitudes and issues that fuel today's headlines.
BOUNUS SHORT: "Ron Mann's Lost Film"
Made by Ron Mann when he was 16, FLAK is a look into an unpolished Toronto of the past, and an insightful window onto current social predicaments.
Cinefest Sudbury honours filmmaker RON MANN, "Tribute Canadiana"
08/09/09 15:23
Cinefest Sudbury honours filmmaker RON MANN with a retrospective of his works.
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Flak - Tuesday, September 22, 4:00pm
Ron Mann, Canada, 1976, 30 Minutes
Made by Ron Mann when he was only 16 years old, FLAK captures the apolitical spirit of the 1970s – a drastic change from the intense activism of the 1960s – by following a group of roommates as they wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change.
Echoes Without Saying - Tuesday, September 22, 4:00pm
Ron Mann, Canada, 1983, 28 Minutes
ECHOES WITHOUT SAYING celebrates the development of Coach House Press, an innovative Toronto-based publishing and printing house that since 1965 has produced distinctive and experimental books of poetry, fiction and visual art.
Dream Tower - Tuesday, September 22, 4:00pm
Ron Mann, Canada, 1994, 47 Minutes
Rochdale College was one of the most controversial experiments ever to have taken place in Canada. Intended to be a radical educational institution, Rochdale rapidly became a meeting place for North America’s burgeoning drug culture and a focal point for the best and worst dreams of the Canadian generation of baby boomers.
Grass - Monday, September 21, 3:30pm
Canada, 2001 80 Minutes
Ron Mann’s much-celebrated GRASS presents a humorous and surprisingly balanced history of recreational marijuana use. The most controversial drug of the twentieth century – smoked by generations of musicians, students and workers to little discernible ill effect – marijuanacontinues to be reviled by the vast majority of governments around the world. With a rueful yet incisive script, extraordinary production values, narration by Woody Harrelson and an impressive soundtrack featuring original songs by Mark Mothersbaugh, GRASS charts the terrible loss in imprisoned lives and billions of dollars wasted fighting a drug that refuses to go away.
Know Your Mushrooms - Sunday, September 20, 3:30pm
Canada, 2008 73 Minutes English
In Ron Mann’s latest feature documentary, we follow uber myco visionaries Gary Lincoff and Larry Evans (two of the more expert and unforgettably mercurial characters in the community) as they lead us on a hunt for the wild mushroom and the deeper cultural experiences attached to the mysterious fungi. Combining material filmed at the Telluride Mushroom Fest, along with animation and archival footage and a neo-psychedelic soundtrack by the Flaming Lips, KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS opens the doors to perception, takes the audience on a longer, stranger trip and delivers them to a brave new world where the fungi might well guide humanity to a saner, safer place... with extra cheese...
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Ron Mann, Canada, 1976, 30 Minutes
Made by Ron Mann when he was only 16 years old, FLAK captures the apolitical spirit of the 1970s – a drastic change from the intense activism of the 1960s – by following a group of roommates as they wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change.
Ron Mann, Canada, 1983, 28 Minutes
ECHOES WITHOUT SAYING celebrates the development of Coach House Press, an innovative Toronto-based publishing and printing house that since 1965 has produced distinctive and experimental books of poetry, fiction and visual art.
Ron Mann, Canada, 1994, 47 Minutes
Rochdale College was one of the most controversial experiments ever to have taken place in Canada. Intended to be a radical educational institution, Rochdale rapidly became a meeting place for North America’s burgeoning drug culture and a focal point for the best and worst dreams of the Canadian generation of baby boomers.
Canada, 2001 80 Minutes
Ron Mann’s much-celebrated GRASS presents a humorous and surprisingly balanced history of recreational marijuana use. The most controversial drug of the twentieth century – smoked by generations of musicians, students and workers to little discernible ill effect – marijuanacontinues to be reviled by the vast majority of governments around the world. With a rueful yet incisive script, extraordinary production values, narration by Woody Harrelson and an impressive soundtrack featuring original songs by Mark Mothersbaugh, GRASS charts the terrible loss in imprisoned lives and billions of dollars wasted fighting a drug that refuses to go away.
Canada, 2008 73 Minutes English
In Ron Mann’s latest feature documentary, we follow uber myco visionaries Gary Lincoff and Larry Evans (two of the more expert and unforgettably mercurial characters in the community) as they lead us on a hunt for the wild mushroom and the deeper cultural experiences attached to the mysterious fungi. Combining material filmed at the Telluride Mushroom Fest, along with animation and archival footage and a neo-psychedelic soundtrack by the Flaming Lips, KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS opens the doors to perception, takes the audience on a longer, stranger trip and delivers them to a brave new world where the fungi might well guide humanity to a saner, safer place... with extra cheese...
Far out! Woodstock, Planet in Focus & BAFICI selects FLAK
27/07/09 13:32
FLAK will have its U.S. premiere at the 10th annual Woodstock Film Festival and Ron will be on this years documentary jury.
Made by Ron Mann when he was 16, Flak is a gritty improvised drama screening for the first time in 30 years as part of this retrospective. Influenced by John Cassavetes' Shadows, Michelangelo Antonioni's The Red Desert, and above all, Robert Kramer's classic film Ice, Mann's working title was Viva La Dynamite, a phrase borrowed from Anaïs Nin.
But Flak isn't about blowing stuff up-it's about inaction. The film emphasizes boredom, inertia, and our tendency to talk about problems while being unable or unwilling to act.
As the film progresses, its ragtag protagonists wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change. Suffering because of polluted air from a nearby gypsum plant, one young man registers a protest with his member of Parliament; another advocates bombing. Both efforts appear impotent. For Mann, Flak was a metaphor for the apolitical spirit of the 1970s. Raw, direct, restrained, and impressive,
Flak is a look into an unpolished Toronto of the past, and an insightful window onto current social predicaments. - Astra Taylor.
UPCOMING SCREENINGS:
Woodstock Film Festival - Woodstock Community Center Oct. 2, 2009 at 5:15pm
Planet In Focus (Toronto) - Oct 21 - 25, 2009
BAFICI (Buenos Aires)
But Flak isn't about blowing stuff up-it's about inaction. The film emphasizes boredom, inertia, and our tendency to talk about problems while being unable or unwilling to act.
As the film progresses, its ragtag protagonists wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change. Suffering because of polluted air from a nearby gypsum plant, one young man registers a protest with his member of Parliament; another advocates bombing. Both efforts appear impotent. For Mann, Flak was a metaphor for the apolitical spirit of the 1970s. Raw, direct, restrained, and impressive,
Flak is a look into an unpolished Toronto of the past, and an insightful window onto current social predicaments. - Astra Taylor.
UPCOMING SCREENINGS:
Woodstock Film Festival - Woodstock Community Center Oct. 2, 2009 at 5:15pm
Planet In Focus (Toronto) - Oct 21 - 25, 2009
BAFICI (Buenos Aires)
"FLAK" 33 Years in the Making!
28/05/09 13:26
Influenced by John Cassavetes' Shadows, Michelangelo Antonioni's The Red Desert, and above all, Robert Kramer's classic film Ice, Mann's working title was Viva La Dynamite, a phrase borrowed from Anaïs Nin. But Flak isn't about blowing stuff up-it's about inaction. The film emphasizes boredom, inertia, and our tendency to talk about problems while being unable or unwilling to act. As the film progresses, its ragtag protagonists wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change. Suffering because of polluted air from a nearby gypsum plant, one young man registers a protest with his member of Parliament; another advocates bombing.
Both efforts appear impotent. For Mann, Flak was a metaphor for the apolitical spirit of the 1970s. Raw, direct, restrained, and impressive, Flak is a look into an unpolished Toronto of the past, and an insightful window onto current social predicaments - Astra Taylor.