Venezuela has the largest proven oil reserves in the world. It was once so rich that Concorde used to fly from Caracas to Paris. But in the last three years its economy has collapsed. Hunger has gripped the nation for years. Now, it’s killing people and animals that are dying of starvation. The Venezuelan government knows, but won’t admit it!!! Four in five Venezuelans live in poverty. People queue for hours to buy food. Much of the time they go without. People are also dying from a lack of medicines. Inflation is at 82,766% and there are warnings it could exceed one million per cent by the end of this year. Venezuelans are trying to get out. The UN says 2.3 million people have fled the country - 7% of the population.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Casting 3 SPANISH speaking VETERINARIANS in L.A. for "Dr. VET L.A."


Hi everybody,

Happy holidays!

This is such a great opportunity. I am casting 3 SPANISH speaking VETERINARIANS in L.A. for "Dr. VET L.A." a National Geographic Latin America TV show. There is already "Dr. VET Miami" this time, they're coming to the west-coast!  Thought maybe you have great recommendations as I am not from here and I don't own a pet.

OMAVA Producciones, a production company headquartered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, is currently producing a four-part non-profit documentary in Spanish for The National Geographic Channel Latin America Division, presenting how the management of a veterinary center is at the time of the action. The four-part mini-series will show different situations and emergency cases that occur in the day to day in a veterinary hospital or clinic of Los Angeles and surroundings, highlighting actions that veterinarians and technicians perform when it comes to animal care.

In Behalf of The National Geographic Channel I would like to thank you in advance for your interest, support and cooperation in this project.

Best,
A.
----------------------------------------
Ms. Airam Cordido
Omava US Representative
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"Reach for the moon; even if you miss, you will land among the stars." Oscar Wilde.
"I am not what happened to me. I am what I choose to become." Carl Jung.
"Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today..." James Dean.
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Monday, October 15, 2012

Mobile TV searches for breakthrough...


 Mobile TV searches for breakthrough...

Enticing devices and services can't shake lingering concerns
By CHRIS MORRIS

The history of mobile television has been rocky at best. While the allure of streaming live network programming to viewers over their handheld devices is undeniable, delivering that content in ways that don't abrogate rights agreements and can somehow be monetized has proven mercurial. Loudly trumpeted efforts have fallen short, victims of poor design decisions, overpriced services and/or confusion about the target audience.

While the idea of watching television on a 3.5" screen might not make sense to anyone in their mid-30s or older, mobile TV is a logical extension of how Generation Me has grown up with entertainment. It's also a way for broadcasters to reclaim some of the younger viewers who increasingly spend free time multitasking with their handheld devices and may be staying away from TV sets entirely.

The backers of mobile TV are, if nothing else, persistent. They're also diverse, ranging from media mogul Barry Diller and Cox Television to the Scripps Television Station Group and PBS. At this year's Consumer Electronics Show, the topic of mobile TV might not have been front and center, but it was certainly being buzzed about among attendees. Now, recent advances in the field have some wondering if it is finally ready to come of age -- and just as important, if it will clear the legal obstacles it's bound to face.

The initiative got a big push recently with the commercial launch of Mobile TV, a Web and mobile service that lets viewers watch live programming from ABC, CBS and NBC, as well as 25 cable channels including CNN, ESPN, MTV, USA and AMC.

Currently live in 50 markets, Mobile TV offers some 130 stations to viewers, depending on their location. The free service is available on many Android smartphones and tablets, but notably does not work on iOS devices such as the iPhone. (The programs are livestreamed via a Website, which uses a Flash media player -- something Apple products do not support. The site asks the viewer's zip code, so as to provide local network channels.)

Competing service Dyle mobile TV has a slightly smaller offering (90 stations in 35 markets), but is run by a partnership that includes Fox, NBC, Cox Media Group, E.W. Scripps Co., Gannett Broadcasting and Hearst Television. The free service is built into the Samsung Galaxy S Lightray. However, TV antenna attachments for iOS devices are expected to go on sale this fall, which will make the service available to iPhone and iPad users. Pricing for those attachments has not yet been announced, but it not expected to exceed $150.

Dyle's service runs on a separate broadcast network spectrum, so it doesn't take a bite out of cellular data allowances. Many of the other new services are following this pattern as well to bypass data caps.

"New opportunities to extend video watching beyond the living room … point out the unique benefits for broadcast spectrum, and resolve challenges in our wireless 'data-cap' world," read a statement from Salil Dalvi and Erik Moreno, co-general managers of Mobile Content Venture.

The idea might be consumer-friendly, but not every mobile TV company is being embraced so warmly. Aereo, which broadcasts exclusively in New York City and is backed by Diller, has been tied up in legal fights since it was first announced, with the networks arguing that the newbie had failed to acquire licenses to deliver their broadcasts over the air. They're particularly upset with Aereo's option to save or record programs for later viewing.

The service charges users $80 per year -- or up to $12 per month for usage and access to the DVR functionality. Technologically, the company has taken a different path than its competitors: Several large antenna arrays are set up in Brooklyn, each filled with thousands of mini-TV antennas (which fit on the tip of your finger). Each of those arrays can receive local over-the-air TV broadcasts. Each Aereo user is assigned his or her own individual mini-antenna.

In July, Aereo scored a key victory when a federal judge refused to block the service at the request of NBC, ABC, CBS, PBS, Fox and other content providers. The decision is being appealed.

Cable and satellite companies are still largely opposed to mobile TV broadcasts, as they circumvent traditional outlets among a growing segment of the population. These traditional distributors -- mostly cable and satellite companies -- remain largely opposed to mobile TV broadcasts, which they feel can carve away a growing, younger, segment of the population.

"Anyone under 30 gets (the idea of mobile TV) immediately," says P.J. McNealy, CEO and founder of Digital World Research. "They're used to consumer content on smaller screens. They discover content -- like music, movies and TV shows -- via YouTube. They're very familiar with the (miniscreen) experience."

The under-30s are the audience being chased by the Mobile500 Alliance, a consortium of station owners who believe in the mobile television vision.

"We are keenly focused on delivering broadcast television to mobile devices so consumers have television when they want it, and where they want it," says Colleen Brown, who chairs the Mobile500 Alliance board of directors, and is also president and CEO of Fisher Communications.

Mobile TV faces challenges beyond the networks and wooing an audience, though. There are several technological hurdles in its way as well.

Bandwidth, an early challenge, is one that's quickly being overcome, thanks to the rapid spread of LTE/4G networks. But smartphones and tablets must also be upgraded, with faster processors, among other things, before mobile TV becomes commonplace. Memory capacity isn't a big concern, since the industry is a long way from DVRing shows on mobile devices, and cloud-based storage is the likely route for that anyway. But streaming media quickly devours the life of batteries that run today's mobile devices.

While the future might seem promising for mobile TV, it's important to note the industry has seemingly been on the cusp before. Qualcomm launched FLO TV in 2009, with big plans that included a mobile personal viewing device as well as a presence in cars -- all this with the support of CBS, NBC, ESPN and CNN, among others.

Consumers weren't interested in a $250 dedicated viewing device, though, especially one that came with a $9 monthly fee (and a three-year contract). A year later, Qualcomm pulled the plug on the system.

"It's a fit and start because consumers want entertainment. They (also) want sports and they want local," McNealy says. "The infrastructure for delivering all that technically is already out there, but we're not (yet) at a point where people are streaming (onto) their iPhones."

Thank you Los Angeles Times



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French court fines film pirates


French court fines film pirates

Five men ordered to pay $1.4 million for Web scheme
By ELSA KESLASSY

PARIS -- A Paris court has sentenced five French pirates to three-to-six months in jail, and fined them a total of 1.1 million Euros ($1.4 million) in damages.

The five men belonged to two powerful pirate teams known as Cinefox and Carnage that provided Internet users with hundreds of films obtained illegally.

Damages will go to right-holders, which according to French reports, include Disney, Universal and Warner Bros..

The court decision comes as France's anti-piracy regime, known as Hadopi, is currently being revised amid a months-long industry consultation led by former Canal Plus topper Pierre Lescure.

The jail sentencing of individual pirates marks a radical departure Hadopi, which says that anyone found guilty of three infringements will have its internet subscription suspended for up to one year. In three years since its inception, Hadopi hasn't cut off anybody's Internet access, and its role has been confined in large parts to educating consumers about piracy rather than punishing violators.

Thank you Variety.


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Abu Dhabi: Sales Agents To Become Global Distributors...


International sales banners will reinvent themselves as video-on-demand global distributors, Abu Dhabi festival goers are told.

Abu Dhabi – Movie industry attendees at this year's Abu Dhabi Film Festival heard that producers and sales agents will work much more closely together as the internet revolutionises the movie business.

Arab Youth, Entrepreneurs in Spotlight on Final Day of Abu Dhabi Media Summit

Abu Dhabi Bolsters Its Expanding Media, Entertainment Sectors
And representatives from the two business strands of the international film business will also share revenues as a result.

Production Finance Market chief Angus Finney told Abu Dhabi Film Festival goers that the internet will play a part in the evolution of the two businesses.

Right now, sales agents charge a fee for each territory sold then often walk away. In the future sales agents and filmmakers will work together throughout a film's lifespan, "especially with video-on-demand," Finney said.

Speaking at a masterclass, Finney said: "Sales agents will be aligned with producers ... the market is changing so fast that sales agents could take control of all rights. The right sales agent will become increasingly able to control internet release."

The internet has destroyed Hollywood's "push economy" -- studios dictating when and where customers can see films – in favour of a "pull economy."

Catch-up TV and on-demand streaming have put the customer in the driving seat, something which Hollywood has been slow to accept, Finney noted.

Studios have not helped themselves by erecting "walled-gardens around their content, making movies harder to access."

Such a move, Finney said, goes against the grain of the internet.
"They are also terrified about plummeting DVD revenue, which has accounted for 60% of a movie's earnings. The user is the new king," Finney said.

The British born film consultant, author and one time film financier, quoted Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who said the question is not what is going to change in the next 10 years, but what's going to be left standing by the end of the decade?

Disney, he noted, has reacted to the new horizontal world we all live by getting rid of its silo mentality, tearing down walls between theatrical and home entertainment.

But Finney remains upbeat about prospects for theatrical. Exhibition will become even more important, he claimed.

"Watching films in a cinema is a unique experience that will not be completely replaced by watching films on cellphones or tablets," Finney said.

This is despite the growing importance of handheld devices, which, Finney said previously, will take over as the dominant screen "within months, not years". He said: "Exhibition rights will continue to be sold territory-by-territory, while internet rights could be sold as a single block."

Finney was sceptical about independent producers handling the release of their own films pouring cold water on evangelists for self-distribution, pointing out how hard the sales business is.

Finney was managing director of sales agent Renaissance Films, which went bust in 2005. Movies that Finney handled sales on included The Mother and The Luzhin Defence.

"As a producer you may think you're in control of your film's release, but you have to deal with the same battle for eyeballs which everybody else is dealing with. Distribution is a full-time job," Finney said.

This year's Production Finance Market runs October 17 and18 during the BFI London Film Festival in the British capital.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter.


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YouTube Mulls Allowing Original Content Partners to Charge for Subscriptions...


Robert Kyncl, global head of content at the Google-owned video site, tells the Abu Dhabi Media Summit that a majority of channels would likely remain ad-supported.

ABU DHABI - YouTube is looking at giving its original content channel partners the option to charge users for subscriptions, Robert Kyncl, global head of content at the Google-owned online video site said here Wednesday at the Abu Dhabi Media Summit.

YouTube Expands Original Content Initiative Abroad With 60-Plus Channels

Sarah Silverman, Adam Carolla Launching YouTube Channels With Veteran Comedy Producer (Exclusive)
If the site does go ahead with this approach, "the majority will be ad-supported, and there will be some that will be paid," he predicted.
He later told THR that there are no set plans though and that it was too early to say when such subscriptions could be offered or at what prices.
Industry observers have previously wondered if and when YouTube could offer the subscription option as a potential revenue stream besides advertising.
Kyncl said YouTube's goal for now continues to be "taking the friction out" of the ad process to maximize ad revenue for the site and its partners. Promising advertisers that they only pay when ads are actually viewed draws higher ad rates and benefits all sides, he said.
YouTube typically sells ads against the channels and keeps all revenue up until it recoups its original investment. After that, YouTube and the content partner split ad revenue roughly 50:50.
Kyncl also said that when offering content in a branded and popular context, it draws higher ad rates. For example, he said videos of dogs on skateboards may draw minimal costs per thousand advertisers of $2 or less, but that goes up to $20 when the dogs on skateboard appear on a branded Tony Hawk channel.
Earlier this week, YouTube added more than 60 new original content channels to its lineup, including some from international content partners. The news took the company's original programming push to a more global audience.
In a session entitled "The War for the Living Room: The Internet Takes on Television," Kyncl also predicted that mobile usage by YouTube users will continue to rise. About 50 percent of consumption in parts of the Arabic-speaking world already happens on mobiles, he said.
Asked about the increasing usage of mobile devices during TV viewing, known in the industry as the rise of the "second screen," he quipped that for him, television rather than iPads or smartphones are the second screen.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter


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U.K. Production Fund Tsar Ben Roberts to Deliver Keynote Address to Producers


The BFI Film Fund director, in charge of the U.K.'s largest single public movie production fund, is expected to lay out his vision for public funding for the next five years.

LONDON – U.K. public funding movie tsar Ben Roberts is lined up to deliver this year's keynote address at the Film London Production Finance Market (PFM) Oct. 17.

U.K.'s Production Film Market Pacts With India
Producer Marianne Gray to Deliver Keynote at The Film London Production Finance Market
The PFM, staged in association with the BFI London Film Festival during the shindig, is to give the stage to Roberts, the man with overriding responsibility for the U.K.'s largest public film fund, currently at £18 million ($28.8 million) annually and set to rise to £24 million ($38.4 million) by 2017.
Former Universal Pictures International executive and Protagonist Pictures CEO Roberts is expected to deliver his vision for the future of his funding unit and to explain to the industry heavy crowd the whys and wherefores of his fund and its application process.
This year's PFM also promises a "senior producer panel" discussions with Stephen Woolley (Number 9 Films), David Parfitt (Trademark Films), Peter Watson (Recorded Picture Company/HanWay Films) and Andrea Calderwood (Slate Films) all signed up for the discussion.
The panel is charged with analysing the challenges producers face making product aimed at the international market and share views on how the U.K. can develop stronger international relationships under the new U.K. funding system.
Running since 2007, the event aims to connect producers and financiers to encourage fresh film financing relationships by facilitating 800 face to face meetings and a further 300 financier-to-financier meetings over the two days.
Film London and British Film Commission chief executive Adrian Wootton said: "I am delighted Ben Roberts will be our keynote speaker this year. Coupled with some of our most successful homegrown film-makers on the producer panel, the PFM will give attendees a taste of how the U.K. industry will effectively engage with the international industry in the future."
The PFM is supported by the BFI, the Mayor of London, MEDIA and U.K. Trade & Investment and runs Oct. 17 and 18.
This year the PFM has corralled 52 producers presenting projects with €305 million ($393 million) of production value, up from €245 million ($315 million) in 2011.
Organizers said there are also a number of new territories – including Turkey, Finland and the Czech Republic – coming to the PFM this year.

Thank you Hollywood Reporter


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Michael Moore's New Plan: Eliminate the Oscar Documentary Rules


Michael Moore's New Plan: Eliminate the Oscar Documentary Rules

Published: October 14, 2012 @ 6:41 pm






Michael Moore has taken another look at the Academy's notoriously messy documentary process, and he has a new proposal:
The way to fix the documentary rules is to eliminate the documentary rules.
Todd Wawrychuk/AMPAS
Instead of making additional tweaks in an often-changed system that this year has overwhelmed voters with a glut of fourth-quarter screeners, Moore has decided that the best approach is to stop worrying about qualifying runs, reviews or TV movies vs. theatrical docs.


"Instead of making one fix after another, how about no rules?" said Moore on Sunday, adding that he was revealing his plans for the new proposal for the first time to TheWrap. It was just last year, following a push led by Moore, that the Academy reworked its rules surrounding documentaries.
"What I'm going to propose is that instead of going back to the drawing board and making up new rules, let's just put an end to that right now. No more special documentary rules. How about we play by the same rules as every other branch?"
The approach, he said, would mean that documentaries would qualify for the Oscars under the same standards that other films are subject to – standards that are less restrictive than the doc-branch regulations.  (For one thing, they require only a one-week run in Los Angeles County, not one in L.A. and one in New York.)
"We should abide by the rules that every other branch has to abide by," he said. "And we should leave it up to the Academy staff to decide if films qualify, the same way they decide for every fiction film."
The Oscar-winning director doesn't foresee any alteration to the main change that was made when the new rules were instituted earlier this year; that change was the elimination of small screening committees that created the 15-film shortlist.
The elimination of those committees, he said, has been unanimously embraced by the branch and will continue in the future, as will the Academy's decision to foot the cost of preparing and sending screeners of every eligible documentary to all branch members.
But Moore said he has also talked to Academy CEO and COO Dawn Hudson and Ric Robertson, to his fellow Documentary Branch governors and to some New York-based members, and gotten support for eliminating all special documentary rules and saying that any film that meets the overall Academy qualifying criteria will also be eligible in the Best Documentary Feature category. 
"The response to this has been very good," said Moore. "I think the counter-intuitive nature of it might actually be the solution. And everybody loved the idea of not having to read any more articles about the documentary branch coming up with another new rule."
Moore still has to propose the change to the doc branch's executive committee; if they approve it, he would then take it to the AMPAS Board of Governors.



"The executive committee may say, 'When we changed the rules last year, we decided to give it two or three years. Let's stick with that,'" he said. "Or they may say, 'You're right, why not?' I think that sometime within the next year or two, this is what we should do."
A year ago, in an effort spearheaded by Moore, the Academy overhauled its doc process in an attempt to fix what had been years of oversights, puzzling nominations and controversy over a process that put too much power in the hands of small committees.
By eliminating the committees and ensuring that the branch's 173 members would all receive screeners of every qualifying doc, Moore promised a new era of fairness, democracy and full representation.
But another rule, which was designed to weed-out made-for-TV docs and what Moore called "vanity projects" by requiring a review in the New York Times or the Los Angeles Times, failed to have any effect on the size of the field.
Michael MooreWhat's worse, Moore admitted, is that documentary releases weren't spread out through the entire year.
Voters, who earlier in the year received boxes of 10 or 12 screeners, received a package around the beginning of October that contained more than 70 screeners.  With ballots due back in early November to create the 15-film shortlist, the prospect of wading through that many docs flabbergasted branch members – and the total number of entries, which Moore said was more than 130, meant that the push to limit the number of qualifying docs had failed completely.
In fact, this year's total sets a new record for the largest number of documentaries to ever qualify for the Oscars – and it means that the category has set a new record for three consecutive years, and four out of the last five. 2008's total of 94 set a record, as did 2010's 101 and last year's 124.
(The International Documentary Association, which has less restrictive qualifying rules, also reports that the number of eligible films has gone up every year in the last five years.)
The number of films, Moore admitted, places enormous pressure on voters. "Nobody is going to watch all 132 movies," he said. "But you don't have to watch all of them.
"Nobody in any other branch feels an obligation to watch every fiction film that is released. When they pick the five nominees for Best Editing, not a single editor is saying to him or herself, 'But I didn't see "Resident Evil 3' yet! It's not fair!' Nobody goes that deep into the weeds on this."
The old committee system would have ensured that every eligible film was viewed by voters, but it would hardly have delivered fairness: Even if the majority of the branch volunteered for committee duty, the sheer number of entries this year would have meant that each film would probably have been viewed by no more than 10 members in the first round of voting.
Those numbers would make only one or two low scores potentially devastating, and would rob the vast majority of branch members of the chance to help their favorite films. (Committee members could only vote for the 12-15 films they received, which were selected randomly.)
In the aftermath of the avalanche of fourth-quarter titles (with 11 more due shortly), the doc branch sent a letter to its members pushing back the deadline to Monday, Nov. 26, which will move the release of the shortlist from mid-November into early December.
It also created a password-protected bulletin board on the AMPAS website, on which members could log in and post recommendations for films that should be seen.
Academy members are traditionally discouraged from campaigning, and Moore insists that the bulletin board will be policed. "You can't go there and campaign," he said. "You cannot attack. You cannot go on and say, 'This film sucked.' You can post a sentence or two about why voters should watch a movie."
Traverse City Film Festival(Moore himself said he plans to go on the bulletin board this week and post his own recommendations, beginning with the docs he programmed at his own Traverse City Film Festival.)
The sheer number of members of the doc branch – 173 currently, though Moore is pushing to increase that by at least 50 percent, arguing that non-fiction filmmakers deserve to make up more than three percent of the Academy – will ensure that every deserving film will be seen by enough voters to give it a chance, Moore argued.
Initially, he admitted, his reaction to the glut of releases was to try to figure out a way to change the rules to cut down on the number of eligible films. Then, in the last week, he had a change of heart and realized that that was a problematic goal.
"We're not ever going to create a perfect system," he said. "So we should just switch over to trusting ourselves, and trusting our staff to vet these films, then let the chips fall where they may.
"This is what our members do for a living. They have a sense of what to watch – and when you have 170 voting, what they watch is going to run the gamut."
Repeatedly, Moore went back to the same theme: It's time for the doc branch to stop fiddling with its qualifying rules every year, time to give up on fine-tuning its definitions of what constitutes a proper documentary.
"At some point it begins to look a little ridiculous if the Documentary Branch changes its rules every year," he said. "The intent behind it has been good, the intent has been to reform a very bad system of voting. 
"But if you look at what we do, I don't think we're better than the Directors Branch or the Actors Branch or the Writers Branch or the Editors Branch.
And I think this sense of Documentary Branch exceptionalism is not becoming of us. I think we should act and behave as every other Academy branch and every other member has to act and behave.
"I liken this to taking documentaries off the kids' table, and letting them sit with the grownups."

Thank you the wrap.com !



More info: http://www.thewrap.com/awards/column-post/michael-moores-new-plan-eliminate-oscar-documentary-rules-exclusive-60621
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Sunday, October 14, 2012

Kazakh film biz steppes out...


Kazakh film biz steppes out
Revamped studios, emerging talent lure Western filmmakers
By WILL TIZARD

'Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe'

ALMATY, KAZAKHSTAN -- In the place where Sergei Eisenstein once created agitprop for Stalin to help inspire the Russian effort to beat back the Nazis, Kazakhfilm studios has put $7 million into "Myn Bala: Warriors of the Steppe," an epic historic saga of a small band of traditional herdsmen fending off hordes of invading Mongols. The pic's scrappy characters make for a fitting metaphor for a country that until recently was the butt of Borat jokes, but is now engaged in a monumental effort to make an international name for itself, not just as a shooting locale but as a source of directorial talent.
The newly renovated collection of soundstages, labs and post facilities has a prime location in the former capital of Almaty, and is at the forefront of a charge to rebuild Central Asian filmmaking.

Kazakhstan's Oscar foreign-lingo submission this year, "Myn Bala" is a sweeping adventure tale whose global rights were picked up by Jeff Rayman's 108 Media. The company has since sold video and DVD rights to Germany, France, the Netherlands, the Middle East and the U.K., and plans on a theatrical run in the U.S. with Paladin Films in the fourth quarter.

The film's glossy production values haven't just set a new standard for local pics -- they also serve as a calling card for the formerly Soviet-run Kazakhfilm.

The studios' sales director, Ilyas Akhmet, calls the ambitious pic's $2 million local take "an unbelievable success" and adds that a 2013 production date is slated for the studio's next major project, U.S. helmer Chuck Russell's 3D adaptation of "1001 Arabian Nights," starring Liam Hemsworth.

Rayman believes "Myn Bala" will do solid arthouse business in North America, similar to the $5 million minted by another steppes-set historical epic, "Mongol," in 2007. (That film nabbed a foreign-language Oscar nom.)

"The film's landscape is stunning," he says, adding that its epic visual nature and grandeur should travel well.

The deep roots of this nomadic society, where yurts are still common outside the city and many still know the folk songs that have helped pass long, freezing winter nights for generations, were never successfully severed by decades of Soviet efforts to industrialize the areas. Although the Russians built dozens of prison camps here and considered Kazakhstan essentially an extension of Siberia, the natives' fierce independence often caused their old overlords to throw up their hands -- and sometimes run for cover.

That same determination and resourcefulness are key to rebuilding the film sector, say international bizzers. Kazakh horse wranglers are in demand abroad for training actors to ride, while Kazakhfilm has spent the past year creating the country's first CGI-animated fantasy, "The Book of Legends: Mysterious Forest." (Still the years of Russian domination have had consequences. The young cast of "Myn Bala" had no trouble galloping through canyons, performing their own swashbuckling stunts and working all day in dust, snow and baking heat. But they needed help learning Kazakh. Youth here speak mainly Russian these days.)

Anna Katchko, a Moscow-based producer for the first German-Kazakh co-production in recent memory, "Harmony Lessons," says the crop of new local talent is promising. She helped organize the first showcase of young directors at last year's Eurasia fest, Kazakhstan's biggest annual film event, and this year's edition in September drew even more new features.

Festival scouts such as South Korea's Lee Yong-kwan say they've been following the Kazakh film renaissance for some time, and are now running focuses on the region, which fascinates foreign auds with a diversity of filmic styles and strength of storytelling.

The Berlinale's Nikolaj Nikitin predicts that soon, to Europeans, Kazakhs will be partners, saying they offer film perspectives no one else has.

Golden Globe award reps also came calling this year to court Kazakh filmmakers, encouraging new auteurs to submit pics and offering to hold press conferences abroad for those who make the cut.

The country's policy of outreach dates from its active cooperation with the U.S. in tracking and securing enriched nuclear fuel left behind by the Soviets not long after the first days of its independence in 1991. The outbound focus now means that budding Kazakh filmmakers, along with all other university students, are funded by the state to study abroad as long as they agree to return and work in their native land for three years.

Many are fast absorbing Western production and marketing savvy, and talk of film "branding" and franchises as often as they do story and character.

Others are intent on following their own hoofbeats, willing to bypass the development-to-distrib support that Kazakhfilm can offer those it favors.

Helmer-scribe Adilkhan Yerzhanov, whose topical film "Constructors" follows the story of canny young Kazakhs forced to steal building materials in order to save their land from the maw of corrupt local officials, is content to work independently. His low-budget feature debut has already won foreign fest programmers' interest.

But whether going big or going it alone, Kazakh filmmakers clearly aren't put off by struggle. That quality, more than any one filmmaking asset, may just get them to their goal -- no matter how long and winding the road.

Thank you Variety


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U.K. focuses on development...


U.K. focuses on development...

Funding will likely grow to $11 mil next year
By ROBERT MITCHELL

Ben Wheatley's dark comedy "Sightseers," which played at the Toronto film festival, was developed with coin from the BFI Film Fund.

BFI Film Fund director Ben Roberts says a key area of the org's focus is developing talent and projects, with 150 funding opportunities planned each year.

"Development is the bedrock," says Roberts. "We talk about areas where the U.K. is underdeveloped. Everyone says, 'Where are our animation, comedy, family films? Why aren't you supporting them?' but we're not getting them. That's a development issue. There's a cost to comedy writing, so we have to understand those costs. There's a paucity of people writing for family; we need to understand what the development issues are."

The rise in BFI spending will encompass different areas. "This year we are spending about £14 million ($22.5 million) on production and about $6.4 million on development," says Roberts, who adds that such spending will likely grow to roughly $11 million next year.

John McVay, chief executive of U.K. trade association Pact, says development funding will be key to the U.K.'s independent sector. Although private funding for development in the U.K. is increasing, often via tax incentives, the majority of such coin still comes from the BFI and broadcasters BBC Films and Film4.

Film4 is one of the largest providers of development funding, spending approximately 15%-20% of its $16 million-$24 million overall annual budget on front-end coin. "Nearly half our team is involved in development," says Tracey Josephs, Film4's head of production. "There has been a marked increase in (this) activity in the past couple of years." Josephs says development spending at Film4 in the past year has reached nearly $4.8 million. Ben Wheatley's "Sightseers," which unspooled at Toronto, was developed by shingle Big Talk with money from Film4 and the BFI Film Fund.

BBC Films' Joe Oppenheimer says few distributors get involved so early in the production process, and most production companies aren't resourced for such spending. "That said, companies like Focus, Working Title, Studiocanal and Fox all spend money on development," he says. "Producers give up certain rights but that's the same with us or Film4."

Larger production companies such as Shine Films, Exclusive Media Group or Big Talk also have development coin. The European Union's Media program provides several development funds for producers with at least one distributed feature on their resumes, and regional bodies such as Creative England, Creative Scotland, Film Agency Wales and Northern Ireland Screen provide talent development activities and support.

Oppenheimer believes companies working together on development allows for better scripts. "We have a limited budget," he says. "If we share development costs, it helps get more films made."

BBC Films' development funding pool is unspecified, but flexible. The broadcaster's budget was recently cut from $19.25 million to $17.6 million, but it remains one of the country's biggest supporters of film.

Roberts says the BFI also is making a "massive" commitment to first-time filmmakers. Better still, a producer doesn't cede rights to the BFI, which recycles all money recouped from any development investment for future projects by that producer.

Prime minister David Cameron stirred a hornet's nest in January when he called on Britain to make more "commercially successful pictures," but Roberts feels no pressure to take this as a marching order.

"The joy of a creative industry, to a degree, is not having any clue what's going to work and what isn't," he says. "We wouldn't need a public fund for film if there was certainty.

Thank you Variety



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Saturday, October 13, 2012

L.A. feature film shoots plunge in third quarter...


 L.A. feature film shoots plunge in third quarter...

After two consecutive quarters of growth, feature film shoots on the streets of Los Angeles plunged in the third quarter.

On-location filming fell 21% in the three-month period ending Sept. 30, generating only 1,640 production days compared with the same period a year ago, according to a report from FilmL.A. Inc., the nonprofit group that handles film permits for the city. (One production day represents a crew's permission to film a single location in a 24-hour period.)

The slide in feature activity marks a stark turnaround from the first and second quarters, when film production rose 16% and 9%, respectively. The data apply to film shoots on streets and noncertified sound stages, as opposed to shooting on studio lots.

Film industry officials attributed the decrease to the ongoing rivalry from other states and foreign countries luring business away from Hollywood and the fact that fewer feature projects qualified for California's film and television tax credit program this year.

So far in 2012, only 22 feature projects have been approved for the state film tax credit, which is allocated in June. The state, which awards $100 million a year via a lottery, approved 40 projects in 2011. State lawmakers recently approved legislation to extend funding for California's film tax credit through mid-2017.

"We applaud the recent two-year extension of California's film incentive program, and support expanding the program to stop the production outflow and attract a more diverse slate of high-value productions,'' FilmL.A. President Paul Audley said in a statement.

State film tax credits were awarded to several locally produced TV shows, including "Body of Proof" and "Rizzoli and Isles."

Nonetheless, those shows accounted for a tiny share of overall TV location filming in the third quarter. The television category had a weak quarter, slipping 1.4% to 4,245 production days, led by a 20.5% drop in reality TV and a 18.5% decline in TV dramas. Broadcast networks increasingly have been eyeing New York and other states for their new dramas.
On the other hand, sitcoms and and TV webisodes continue to show rapid growth in Los Angeles. Sitcom production jumped 48% in the quarter while TV webisodes surged by 149%, FilmL.A. said.

"The television landscape is changing in Los Angeles, and economically, the sector has taken a turn for the worse,'' Audley said. "Many of the new TV projects we're coordinating permits for have low spending and employment impacts. More needs to be done, policy-wise, to help return sought-after TV drama projects to Los Angeles."

Commercial activity in the L.A. area decreased 5.3% to 1,635 days in the quarter afer posting big gains in the first half of the year.


Thank you Los Angeles Times


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Entertainment unions, groups hail state film tax credit extension...


Entertainment unions, groups hail state film tax credit extension...

A broad coalition of unions representing the entertainment industry hailed Governor Jerry Brown's decision to sign into law a two-year extension of California's film and television tax credit.

"We commend the legislature and Gov. Brown for recognizing that the motion picture business is an integral part of the economic and cultural powerhouse that has been California during the last 100 years," said a statement issued by a coalition of entertainment industry unions, including the Directors Guild of America, the Teamsters, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and SAG-AFTRA.

Brown approved legislation that was overwhelmingly supported by the state Assembly and the Senate. The bills provide $200 million for the state film tax credit, extending funding through 2017.

California offers a 20% to 25% credit toward qualified production costs, which employers can use to offset any business tax liability they have with the state.

Although the program is limited and not as competitive compared with what some other states offer, the bills were widely supported in the entertainment industry as a means of slowing the exodus of film and television production from California.

While the bills were expected to be approved, their support from the governor was not assured given the competition for scarce government resources. Backers originally pressed for a five year-extension, but that goal proved unrealistic.

"Unlike most other industries, ours is a highly mobile one -- film and television production can be shot anywhere," the coalition said in its statement. "Because of that reality, thousands of our members who live in California and want to work in California are dependent upon this state remaining competitive. We know firsthand that this program has created employment opportunities for them, and with that, health and pension coverage for them and their families."

The Motion Picture Assn. of America, which lobbies on behalf of the major studios, also praised the bills' passage.

"The state of California took a big step forward today, thanks to Gov. Brown and the legislature," said MPAA Chairman Chris Dodd. "The two-year extension of the state's production tax credit will keep California competitive for tens of thousands of production-related jobs. This is an important victory for California's economy, our national economy, and the hardworking men and women who comprise the film and television industry."

Thank you Los Angeles Times



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Friday, October 12, 2012

What if Cannabis Cured Cancer (Serbian subtitle)


What if Cannabis Cured Cancer 

(Serbian subtitle) video

Could the chemicals found in marijuana prevent and even heal several deadly cancers? Could the tumor regulating properties of cannabinoids someday replace the debilitating drugs, chemotherapy, and radiation that harms as often as it heals? Discover the truth about this ancient medicine as world renowned scientists in the field of cannabinoid research explain and illustrate their truly mind-blowing discoveries. QUOTES: "What If Cannabis Cured Cancer summarizes the remarkable research findings of recent years about the cancer-protective effects of novel compounds in marijuana. Most medical doctors are not aware of this information and its implications for prevention and treatment. If we need more evidence that our current policy on cannabis is counterproductive and foolish, here it is." -Andrew Weil, M.D. "A hugely important film" - Julie Holland, M.D. NYU School of Medicine Written by Anonymous

watch here



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Oncologist Donald Abrams defends Medical Cannabis on NPR’s “Science Friday”


Listen to the podcast here:
Feds to Debate Marijuana as Medicine
Transcript from NPR:
The federal government lists marijuana as a Schedule I controlled substance—meaning it has no medically accepted use. Next week, interest group Americans for Safe Access will present the scientific case for marijuana’s therapeutic effects to a federal appeals court, in hopes of relaxing federal restrictions. Oncologist Donald Abrams reviews the evidence on cannabis.

Published: October 12, 2012
IRA FLATOW, HOST:
Next Tuesday, marijuana will have its day in court because the United States Court of Appeals is set to hear arguments about the drug’s therapeutic and medicinal effects. But some doctors, like one of my next guests, disagrees with the government’s ban on medical use of marijuana, pointing to the drug’s ability to suppress nausea, stimulate the appetite, relieve pain, improve sleep, even fight cancer cells, in test tubes at least.
Is the science on cannabis compelling enough to convince federal officials? And have we done the rigorous science on marijuana that’s required of all drugs to get it to your pharmacy? Dr. Donald Abrams is chief of oncology at San Francisco General Hospital. He’s also a professor of medicine at the University of California in San Francisco. He joins us by phone. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY, Dr. Abrams.
DR. DONALD ABRAMS: Thank you, good to be here.
FLATOW: You’re welcome. Dr. Bertha Madras is professor of psychology – psychobiology, I’m sorry, in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Med School in Southborough, Massachusetts. She joins us by phone. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.
DR. BERTHA MADRAS: Thank you, good afternoon.
FLATOW: Good afternoon to you. Dr. Abrams, do you think it’s time? Do you think the evidence is there that the federal government should OK cannabis for general use?
ABRAMS: Well, I mean, let’s take a step back. Cannabis was on the formulary of the United States until 1942, when it was removed. So cannabis, which has been a medicine for thousands of years in other parts of the world, was available in this country, again, until ’42, when it was taken off our pharmacopoeia. So yes, I think that the Institute of Medicine in their last report in 1999 suggested that cannabis and cannabinoids, their active components, have use in treatment of nausea, vomiting, pain and loss of appetite.
And as a cancer doctor, I see patients every day, people who are benefitting from the use of cannabis. The problem is the government does not allow cannabis to be studied as a therapeutic agent because the only legal source is the National Institute on Drug Abuse, and they have a congressional mandate only to study substances abused as substances of abuse. So that’s a bit of a catch-22.
FLATOW: Dr. Madras, would you agree with that?
MADRAS: Frankly I disagree, and here are my reasons why. Number one is, yes, marijuana was removed from the pharmacopeia in the late 1930s, in fact, but because it was found that the safety and efficacy issues did not reach the bar that was necessary for drug approval.
The fact that Dr. Abrams claims that we cannot study cannabis in scientific studies is disingenuous because the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research, of which he’s a part of, in California, has conducted and has received millions of dollars from the California Legislature to study smoked marijuana as a medicine.
And as of today, I have looked at their site. They have precisely four published manuscripts on the medicinal uses of cannabis for which the Proposition 15 approved marijuana and a number of other publications that bear no relationship to these clinical trials.
So the clinical trials can go on. The marijuana is available for them. Cannabinoids are being studied and synthesized at horrendously large rates by medicinal chemists, and yet…
FLATOW: I have to interrupt you. We’ll get back to you, Dr. Madras. We have to take a break. Stay with us. Also Dr. Abrams, we’ll be right back after this break. I’m Ira Flatow, this is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
FLATOW: This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. I’m Ira Flatow. We’re talking this hour about legalization of cannabis and the use of cannabis, otherwise marijuana, in research studies. When I interrupted Dr. Bertha Madras, she was talking about the fact that there were lots of studies in California and plenty of samples of cannabis to get if you needed to study it. Dr. Abrams, how do you answer that?
ABRAMS: Yeah, so the Center for Medicinal Cannabis Research was set up in California for that reason, to fund studies to look at the potential effectiveness of cannabis. And I did two, one that demonstrated in patients with HIV and painful nerve damage cannabis was better than placebo in relieving their pain.
And I also did a study funded actually by NIDA because it was a safety study to show that it was safe for patients on chronic opiates to add cannabis to their regimen. It did not change the level of opiates in their bloodstream, and if anything, it may have improved their pain relief.
FLATOW: So you think there’s enough evidence, then, that the courts should approve it?
ABRAMS: Well, no, you know, again, evidence, that’s what I’m saying. It’s difficult to do clinical trials looking at cannabis as a therapy because of the catch-22 that NIDA, you know, is preferentially supplying their cannabis to studies that look at its danger.
So the evidence, you know, clinically the evidence is there, and I do disagree that the reason that it was removed from the pharmacopeia, the American Medical Association in 1937, after the introduction of the Cannabis Tax Act, was – stood alone in saying that there is no evidence that cannabis is dangerous and that this act would impede the ability to research it for its effectiveness.
And then it was removed from the pharmacopeia and subjected to Schedule 1, and, you know, the main target in this country’s failed war on drugs.
FLATOW: So you think there are not enough resources to conduct the clinical studies that would be needed?
ABRAMS: Well, not many people want to study cannabis. It’s sort of a difficult thing in your career because, you know, I think the more – science is not driving the train, that’s what I’ll say. I mean, the more evidence that people accumulate – we now have three studies demonstrating cannabis’ utility in peripheral neuropathy, which is a very challenging medical condition to treat.
Oftentimes people are put on opiates, and then their life is one string of opiates after another. Better – cannabis, this is a flower we’re talking about it. It’s a flower. It’s not a dangerous substance like the opiates that I prescribe and others prescribe for patients living with cancer and pain.
FLATOW: Dr. Madras, would you acknowledge that cannabis and cannabinoids have some therapeutic effects like Dr. Abrams mentioned?
MADRAS: I acknowledge that cannabinoids may have some therapeutic effects. I disagree with Dr. Abrams vehemently on the thought that one’s hands are tied in doing the science. Once again, the Centers for Medicinal Cannabis…
ABRAMS: Oh don’t repeat yourself on that, that’s silly.
MADRAS: Had all money available to do with – and they have…
ABRAMS: Three million dollars a year for three years.
MADRAS: But let me please finish. They had to cancel five studies because they could not recruit enough patients. One of the criteria for recruiting patients is that they had to be experienced marijuana users. How many elderly cancer patients in this day and age are experienced marijuana users? They also are not allowed to drive because there was fear of liability in case they got into a car accident because they were under the influence.
So there – so what Dr. Abrams should say is that there was money, there was cannabis available for the studies. Why did five of the major studies that they had proposed at the onset of this program, why were they canceled?
FLATOW: Dr. Abrams, any answer?
ABRAMS: Well, I mean, you know, again, all of my studies were done in the in-patient clinical research center so we could observe the patients and make sure they weren’t diverting this Schedule 1 substance. And cancer patients, I don’t think, are that enthusiastic about spending, you know, some of the remaining days of their lives in the hospital doing a research study.
Plus there was always a concern that the cannabis that NIDA provides is not particularly potent and that because we live in California, where we’ve had cannabis available as a medicine for patients since 1996, if patients really wanted to use it, they could.
And as a cancer doctor, ma’am, many patients in my age group, who grew up in the ’60s and ’70s, with cancer are cannabis-experienced people. So that is not a problem. The problem is the closing of the dispensaries now by the federal government in California, when we voted for it in 1996, is not allowing my elderly patients access to their medicine.
MADRAS: And NIDA provides marijuana cigarettes at 3.5 and seven percent THC. Do you think that you need more than that, especially considering one of the studies that came out of the CMCR that said that at seven percent the side effects were quite above the boundary of acceptable side effects, meaning psychoactive dizziness, confusion and so on?
So my feeling is that the doses that are available for this research are in fact available, but once you get into seven percent or six percent cannabis, you do have side effects that have to be reported in clinical trials, far beyond that boundary of what are…
ABRAMS: Yeah. Again, I hate to disagree with you, but the cannabis available in dispensaries averages from 10 to 15 percent, and legal cannabis in The Netherlands is 14 percent that you get from the pharmacy. So three and seven percent is not a huge amount, and I think patients need to self-titrate.
It’s very different from other medicines, you know, where you tell the patient try it and see what works for you. You know, if it…
MADRAS: But that’s not how the FDA works.
ABRAMS: Well, of course not. This is not…
MADRAS: The FDA requires and insists that one does a window of therapeutic efficacy compared with a window of a side effect profile that may render a drug unacceptable in the market. And if you do a full-dose response curve, you will find that past a certain percentage of THC, a person is quite incompetent.
ABRAMS: Well, that’s absolutely correct, same with alcohol. You know, I mean, I personally believe that this is a flower, and it should be regulated like tobacco or alcohol. And, you know, trying to get FDA approval for a medicine that’s been a medicine for thousands of years and was on the U.S. pharmacopeia until 1942, when it was removed by an act of Congress submitted by a racist, you know, what are we doing in this country.
This is a flower. We’re spending $4 billion a year on the war on drugs and incarcerating 180,000 Americans.
MADRAS: Well, you know, ephedrine from the ma huang plant…
ABRAMS: Oh, you could give me all the examples you want. I’m not in favor of cocaine, either.
MADRAS: Pardon? Most of our medications, at least 30 percent, are originally derived from plants.
ABRAMS: Right.
MADRAS: The active ingredients were isolated, such as cocaine, such as digitalis, such as aspirin, such as morphine. They were isolated. They were studied in isolation in order to determine how fast they get into the brain, how fast they get into the blood…
ABRAMS: That’s the Western pharmaceutically dominated paradigm, you know…
MADRAS: And also what the…
FLATOW: I’m going to jump in here. I’m going to jump in, and I’m going to ask…
ABRAMS: There are thousands of years of research where people use the whole plant as medicine.
FLATOW: Dr. Abrams, do you think it’s possible to create studies that would satisfy the FDA requirements?
ABRAMS: I’m sorry, I do not. I continue to do this work, but I don’t think that this is going to happen in my lifetime unless other people start looking at the ridiculousness of our current policies in this country. I’m sorry.
FLATOW: Ridiculous meaning what?
ABRAMS: Well, this is a flower. You know, I grew up in the ’60s and ’70s. I went to Brown University and Stanford University School of Medicine. Cannabis was my substance of choice, not alcohol. And I’m very happy with the person that I’ve become today, and I would be very different if alcohol was what I used for relaxation.
FLATOW: Dr. Madras, have you done studies on cannabis?
MADRAS: I have done a few limited studies on isolated cannabinoids, not in patients, in preclinical research. I have studied the literature extensively because I am very interested in the scientific issues, not as much the political issues.
FLATOW: Well, do you believe that the studies…
ABRAMS: Science does not drive the politics…
MADRAS: I believe…
FLATOW: Dr. Madras, do you believe that studies can be done that would satisfy the FDA?
MADRAS: I certainly do.
ABRAMS: Oh, my goodness.
MADRAS: I think that…
FLATOW: And who would do them?
MADRAS: Well, (unintelligible)…
ABRAMS: Good question.
MADRAS: …and I have no, you know, full disclosure, I have absolutely no outside funding from any sources.
FLATOW: So who should do this? Who should get the funding to do this?
MADRAS: So drug companies – RGW Pharmaceuticals in England, they’ve approved an inhaled form of…
ABRAMS: It’s not inhaled, dear. It’s sprayed under the tongue.
MADRAS: …THC combined with cannabidiol, which does not have psychoactive effects but therapeutic effects and different types of formularies that can deliver a reasonable bolus of active…
FLATOW: Well, Great Britain…
MADRAS: …ingredients to the brain would satisfy the FDA. At this point, the real issue is the relationship between psychoactive effects and therapeutic effects. The faster a drug gets into the brain, the more addictive it – more…
ABRAMS: No. Don’t start with addictive.
MADRAS: …addictive potential and the more its psychoactive effects. And this is the problem with a substance such as marijuana smoke. The other issue is: Do we want smoked marijuana as a delivery system for medications? It has between 60 and 80 cannabinoids in it of uneven quantities because every one produces different ratios…
FLATOW: OK.
MADRAS: …of all of them.
FLATOW: I have to stop you from filibustering. Let me get another question in here. Dr. Abrams, for people who already have problems, health problems, what about the smoking issue? Isn’t smoking a bad solution?
ABRAMS: Yeah. My friend and colleague Donald Tashkin at the University of California, Los Angeles has spent 40 years of his career doing studies for NIDA looking for the danger of inhaling cannabis and basically finds that chronic users may have a little bronchitis. Actually, it appears from his (unintelligible) study of 1,365 patients with aerodigestive malignancies in Los Angeles that regular cannabis use decreased the risk of lung cancer. A recent study in young people followed for 20 years show that those who regularly use cannabis had better pulmonary function tests than those who didn’t.
So there are other ways to deliver cannabis than smoking, and we’ve investigated a vaporizer, and vaporization is now widely used by patients here in California as a smokeless delivery system. But in my opinion, smoking is not that dangerous, either, and I’m sure that will get some disagreement from my colleague.
FLATOW: A lot of people think that it’s the high that you get from smoking marijuana that is the therapeutic effect. Is that correct?
ABRAMS: I think that the cannabinoids – we have two receptors in our bodies, the CB1, which is in the brain, and the CB2, which is in the immune system. And the activation of these receptors causes chemical reactions in cells which have many different effects besides the psychoactivity. As my colleague said, another cannabinoid, cannabidiol is very potently analgesic and anti-inflammatory without being psychoactive. So the concern that there’s 60 or 70 other cannabinoids in the plant is exactly something, I think, is a good thing.
As a student of traditional Chinese medicine, a medicine that’s been practiced for 5,000 years, they frequently use the whole plant instead of following the Western pharmaceutically industry dominated paradigm of isolating the active component, make it into a pill that people swallow and charging large amounts of money. So I think that the cannabinoids, as well as the other components of the plant – terpenoids and flavonoids – all have the potential for medical benefits.
FLATOW: All right. Let me remind everybody that this is SCIENCE FRIDAY from NPR. Let me ask you, Dr. Madras, one more time, do you think there are studies that can be done in the United States that would convince the FDA, and who would do them?
MADRAS: I think there are studies. I think we have to, A, alter the delivery system to remove smoke. Marijuana smoke has ammonia up to 20 times greater than tobacco smoke. It has hydrogen cyanide and nitric oxide and some aromatic amines that are three to five times higher in marijuana than tobacco smoke. And there are many other problems associated with marijuana smoke. So what are the criteria? One should change the method of delivery…
FLATOW: Who will do…
MADRAS: …and (unintelligible)…
FLATOW: Who will do the study? Ma’am. Ma’am, who will do the study?
MADRAS: …(unintelligible) change the method of delivery as well as study and…
FLATOW: Dr. Madras, who will…
MADRAS: …focus on single cannabinoids.
FLATOW: Dr. Madras, who will do these studies?
MADRAS: Well, there are pharmaceutical companies that are quite interested in…
FLATOW: Have they – will they…
ABRAMS: It’s a flower. Nobody can patent a flower.
FLATOW: Will they…
ABRAMS: Nobody can patent a flower. They’re not going to make any money.
FLATOW: Who’s going to…
MADRAS: They can patent methods of delivery. They can patent single isolated cannabinoids. They can (unintelligible)…
ABRAMS: And they’ve done that. We have that on the market.
MADRAS: They can (unintelligible).
ABRAMS: That’s called dronabinol and nabilone. Those are available for patients. I’ll tell you, as a cancer doctor, I’m…
MADRAS: Yes. Generic drugs are very, very lucrative for companies such as Teva Pharmaceuticals. They can be made as generics as well.
FLATOW: Who will? Can is a large population. Who is doing it and will do it and pay for it?
ABRAMS: Can I – there’s no answer to that, so I can just say as a cancer doctor now for 30 years in a state where we have tolerance to the use of cannabis as medicine, that a day doesn’t go by when I don’t see a cancer patient who has nausea, loss of appetite, pain, depression and insomnia. And I could recommend one medicine to that patient and instead of writing prescriptions for five or six different pharmaceuticals that may interact with each other or with the patient’s chemotherapy. And this is a medicine that my cancer patients can grow if they want to.
I ask all of my patients: What brings you joy? And the percentage of people living and, in fact, dying with cancer who tell me gardening brings them joy is not insubstantial because bringing life out of the ground is a pleasure. And if this life that people bring out of the ground is also their medicine, why don’t we let them have it? The number of patients who come to me saying they were given narcotics and at their – the end of life and they can’t communicate with their family, and then they wean themselves off of their opiates with cannabis so that they could have a more pleasurable interaction in their final days of life. Why do we deny people this medicine?
MADRAS: Well, why is it that the recommendations currently are that serotonin 5-HT3 antagonists are much better at preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea than marijuana?
ABRAMS: Yeah, I’m not going to – it’s not a question about ranking, but I think…
MADRAS: Why is that there are so many alternatives now to smoking marijuana, sending the wrong message to kids…
ABRAMS: I hope you never have to repeat chemotherapy.
MADRAS: …than what you’re claiming? I’m afraid…
ABRAMS: Right. But what about Melissa Etheridge? She’s the one that went public, saying she could not have tolerated her chemotherapy for her breast cancer if she didn’t use cannabis. We have many medicines, but if they don’t work and cannabis does, why deprive people of their medicine?
FLATOW: All right. I have to stop it right there. Dr. Bertha Madras, professor of psychobiology at the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard. Dr. Donald Abrams, chief of oncology, San Francisco General Hospital. Thank you both for taking time to be with us.
ABRAMS: Sure.
Dr Madras, there are MANY other delivery systems for medical cannabis, check us out!http://www.cannakitchenandresearch.com/menu-of-products.html


THANK YOU http://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com !!!

More info: http://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/2012/10/12/oncologist-donald-abrams-defends-medical-cannabis-on-nprs-science-friday/
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