Ron Mann

A history of Toronto punk and new wave. A history of the first wave of Toronto punk rock and new wave music, from when the Ramones played in 1976 through to when the cops gave Teenage Head the boot at "The Last Pogo" concert in 1978.

Nash The Slash was deliciously surreal, verging on demented. A mummy wrapped in surgical bandages, an invisible man in full formal white tuxedo and top hat buzz-sawing his violin through endless reams of electronics, melodies and distortion. His music and image were demanding. His life was rock fantasy. ‘NASH THE SLASH RISES AGAIN!’ uncovers the sinister Canadian electronic music innovator. A classically trained violinist and multi-instrumentalist, he created music that was an unlikely combination of prog-rock, punk-rock, classic-rock, psychedelic fused with techno and industrial before they had names. The end result is an unearthly life drenched in film history, enveloped in a wall of sound that would do Phil Spector justice. A career embodied in artistic integrity, courage and the price-tag that comes with it. ‘NASH THE SLASH RISES AGAIN!’ unwinds the bandages of a ground-breaking, mad musical scientist whose career decomposed before the world caught up.

Marijuana is the most controversial drug of the 20th Century. Smoked by generations to little discernible ill effect, it continues to be reviled by many governments on Earth. In this Genie Award-winning documentary veteran Canadian director Ron Mann and narrator Woody Harrelson mix humour and historical footage together to recount how the United States has demonized a relatively harmless drug.

"Go Further" explores the idea that the single individual is the key to large-scale transformational change. The film follows actor Woody Harrelson as he takes a small group of friends on a bio-fueled bus-ride down the Pacific Coast Highway. Their goal? To show the people they encounter that there are viable alternatives.

A survey of the artistic history of the comic book medium and some of the major talents associated with it.

This is an interesting look at the Life and Times of car customizer/cartoonist Ed "Big Daddy" Roth. Through the use of many graphically enhanced photographs and "talking" cars, it is a loving look at the car culture in Southern California from the Early 50's to Ed's Passing in 2001.

More than 20 contemporary North American poets recite, sing, and perform their work. Early in the film, Charles Bukowski talks about the energy of poets and of a poem. These poets are the children of Walt Whitman and of Charles Olson, incantatory and oratorical, radical, sometimes incorporating contemporary political imagery. Black Mountain poets, the Beats, minimalists like John Cage, the wordless Four Horsemen, Tom Waits, and others capture aspects of poets as troubadours.

Combining rare and often hilarious archival footage with engaging interviews, this groovy documentary chronicles the evolution of the titular postwar rock ’n' roll dance craze that took America by storm. Featuring singers and musicians who helped define the phenomenon like Hank Ballard, Chubby Checker, and Joey Dee, as well as clips from TV shows like “American Bandstand,” TWIST tells the overlooked story of how shaking your hips went from being a sign of social degeneracy to the dance form that rocked the world.

Mighty Uke travels the world to discover why so many people of different nations, cultures, ages and musical tastes are turning to the ukulele to express themselves, connect with the past, and with each other.

A feature film that follows Jason Logan, who creates unique inks for some of the world’s most celebrated artists by using highly unconventional materials, many of which he finds while foraging in locations ranging from the landfill beaches of Toronto’s Leslie Street Spit to the Mojave Desert. Among the more unusual materials he employs are weeds, rocks, and even rust. Logan’s fans range from the legendary Robert Crumb to New Yorker cartoonist Liana Finck and Japanese artist Koji Kakinuma.

A study of New York-based photographer Marcia Resnick's all-male gallery.

Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann attempts to capture the apolitical spirit of the 1970s by following several people as they wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change.

Canadian filmmaker Ron Mann attempts to capture the apolitical spirit of the 1970s by following several people as they wander the city, work, play street hockey, and sit around debating political change.

The Sadies Stop and Start captures a moment in time. That time was uncertain and dark. Still reeling from losing Dallas, we found out that Mike needed to have emergency wrist surgery. We needed to play these songs, not knowing if we would ever have the opportunity again. With one day's notice, documentary filmmaker Ron Mann and a stellar crew pulled together to help us capture these songs. Friends and family gathered to help out and show their support. James McKenty engineered in his mobile recording trailer, In Record Time Studio. The resulting film looked and sounded better than we could have hoped. We are thankful to share that Mike's surgery was successful and we are back out on the road and coming to a city near you.

The Sadies Stop and Start captures a moment in time. That time was uncertain and dark. Still reeling from losing Dallas, we found out that Mike needed to have emergency wrist surgery. We needed to play these songs, not knowing if we would ever have the opportunity again. With one day's notice, documentary filmmaker Ron Mann and a stellar crew pulled together to help us capture these songs. Friends and family gathered to help out and show their support. James McKenty engineered in his mobile recording trailer, In Record Time Studio. The resulting film looked and sounded better than we could have hoped. We are thankful to share that Mike's surgery was successful and we are back out on the road and coming to a city near you.

The Sadies Stop and Start captures a moment in time. That time was uncertain and dark. Still reeling from losing Dallas, we found out that Mike needed to have emergency wrist surgery. We needed to play these songs, not knowing if we would ever have the opportunity again. With one day's notice, documentary filmmaker Ron Mann and a stellar crew pulled together to help us capture these songs. Friends and family gathered to help out and show their support. James McKenty engineered in his mobile recording trailer, In Record Time Studio. The resulting film looked and sounded better than we could have hoped. We are thankful to share that Mike's surgery was successful and we are back out on the road and coming to a city near you.

Dream Tower chronicles Toronto's most notorious social experiment of the sixties. Inspired by cultural critic Paul Goodman, philosophies of alternative education, and the decade's political upheaval, a group of young idealists established Rochdale as a free university and student residence in 1968. Rochdale's founders envisioned an enlightened community of self-educators, and the first 100 or so students, earnestly studying subjects such as Heidegger and anarchism in eight-hour seminars, made the dream seem possible. But they didn't anticipate that some people wouldn't know what to do with freedom, that hippies kicked out of Yorkville would overrun the building, or that drug-dealing motorcycle gangs would camp out in the lobby.

BRAKHAGE explores the depth and breadth of the filmmaker’s genius, the exquisite splendor of his films, his magic personal charm, his aesthetic fellow travelers, and the influence his work has had on generations of other creators. While touching on significant moments in Brakhage’s biography, the film celebrates Brakhage’s visionary genius, and explores the extraordinary artistic possibilities of cinema, a medium mostly known only for its commercial applications in the form of narratives, cartoons, documentaries, and advertising. BRAKHAGE combines excerpts from Brakhage’s films and films of other avant-garde filmmakers (eg, George Kuchar, Jonas Mekas, Willie Varela, Bruce Elder, and others); interviews with Brakhage, his friends, family, colleagues, and critics; archival footage of Brakhage spanning the past thirty-five years; and location shooting in Boulder, Colorado and New York.

Hupar wakes up from a 20-year coma. Disoriented, he soon meets Arete, a young poet and Sophis, a TV newswoman. Together, the three team up to expose corporate crime in a crumbling city scape of the very near future.

An examination, shown through both interviews and performances, of the avant-garde free jazz movement which reigned during the 1960s.

Robert Altman's life and career contained multitudes. This father of American independent cinema left an indelible mark, not merely on the evolution of his art form, but also on the western zeitgeist. With its use of rare interviews, representative film clips, archival images, and musings from his family and most recognizable collaborators, Altman is a dynamic and heartfelt mediation on an artist whose expression, passion and appetite knew few bounds.

Part jazz history, part true-crime tale, Kasper Collin’s new documentary employs extensive archival footage and new interviews to tell the tragic story of the magnificently talented trumpeter Lee Morgan and his common-law wife Helen, who murdered him in a New York bar in 1972.

On the eve of her 70th birthday, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood set out on an international tour criss-crossing the British Isles and North America to celebrate the publication of her new dystopian novel, The Year of the Flood. Rather than mount a traditional tour to promote a book's publication, Atwood conceived and executed something far more ambitious and revelatory--a theatrical version of her novel. Along the way she reinvented what a book tour could (and maybe should) be. But Atwood wasn't selling books as much as advocating an idea: how humanity must respond to the consequences of an environmentally compromised planet before her work of speculative fiction transforms into prophesy.

An examination, shown through both interviews and performances, of the avant-garde free jazz movement which reigned during the 1960s.

Five days in the life of fabled Greenwich Village guitar store Carmine Street Guitars.

On the eve of her 70th birthday, Canadian writer Margaret Atwood set out on an international tour criss-crossing the British Isles and North America to celebrate the publication of her new dystopian novel, The Year of the Flood. Rather than mount a traditional tour to promote a book's publication, Atwood conceived and executed something far more ambitious and revelatory--a theatrical version of her novel. Along the way she reinvented what a book tour could (and maybe should) be. But Atwood wasn't selling books as much as advocating an idea: how humanity must respond to the consequences of an environmentally compromised planet before her work of speculative fiction transforms into prophesy.

Igor Kenk was known as the world's most prolific bicycle thief. His shop in Toronto notoriously sold stolen bikes back to their original owners. In 2008 he was arrested and jailed, after which he sold his shop and disappeared. Ten years later in Switzerland, Igor reflects on his past and his new life.

KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS follows 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.

KNOW YOUR MUSHROOMS follows 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.

A survey of the artistic history of the comic book medium and some of the major talents associated with it.

A survey of the artistic history of the comic book medium and some of the major talents associated with it.

A survey of the artistic history of the comic book medium and some of the major talents associated with it.

Combining rare and often hilarious archival footage with engaging interviews, this groovy documentary chronicles the evolution of the titular postwar rock ’n' roll dance craze that took America by storm. Featuring singers and musicians who helped define the phenomenon like Hank Ballard, Chubby Checker, and Joey Dee, as well as clips from TV shows like “American Bandstand,” TWIST tells the overlooked story of how shaking your hips went from being a sign of social degeneracy to the dance form that rocked the world.

A documentary short on Toronto's cultural institution, Coach House Books.

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of country rockers Blue Rodeo, this collection includes a documentary about the band, a reunion concert with the five original members, new songs "Rena" and "Up on That Cloud," and historic performance clips. Songs include "Dark Angel," "Bad Timing," "Bulletproof," "Crying Over You," "House of Dreams," "Lost Together," "Heart Like Mine," "Walk Like You Don't Mind," "Moon and Tree" and more.

Canadian electronics company Clairtone finds a successful niche producing high-end modernist stereo systems before succumbing to hard economic realities.