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The Project
- A crossmedia exploration of ayahuascaUPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.Ayahuasca is a visionary brew of indigenous origin. The Ayahuasca Project tells the story of this transformative medicine from different angles, across multiple platforms, including a documentary film, a book, and a number of online experiences.THE FILM
The Jungle Prescription is a documentary film created for a global television (including the CBC’s Nature of Things with David Suzuki) and cinema audience. It introduces ayahuasca and its encounter with the West - as played out through the story of two doctors, their patients, a team of scientists, and group of indigenous shamans.Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version.THE BOOK
The Chacra Diaries is an in-depth look at ancient Amerindian medical systems, as told through the personal journey of Jeronimo M.M.’s decade-long immersion into ayahuasca culture. Part essay, part travelogue, the book tells the story of how the author came to be both scientist and lab rabbit in his own study of what traditional cultures know - and we have forgotten - regarding the most potent plant medicines in the world.
THE ONLINE EXPERIENCE
Incorporating user-generated content, interactive personality profiling techniques, the latest HMTL5 video technologies, social networks, and more, The Online Experience will attempt to give a creative response to the question: What is ayahuasca like?
The Ayahuasca Project is a labour of love developed over the course of ten years of research, incorporating long periods of travel in the Amazon region. We have gathered an outstanding and unique collection of footage, stories, experiences and contacts in the complex and multifaceted ayahuasca world.UPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.Click below to be kept up to date about the project
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The Film
- The Jungle PrescriptionUPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.The Jungle Prescription tells of ayahuasca, a visionary Amazonian brew of indigenous origin and its encounter with the West, as played out through the story of two doctors. The first, Dr. J. Mabit, runs a legendary detox centre deep in the Peruvian jungle, in partnership with indigenous healers. The second, Dr. Gabor Maté, is risking his reputation trying to establish a similar program in Canada. Through the intimate stories of these doctors and their patients, we see how an ancient medicine causes cathartic, life-changing insight, and we witness the commitment of people who have devoted their whole lives to applying this medicinal knowledge.Shot on full-frame cameras with 35mm lenses, its dreamlike visual treatment creates a world of uncommon beauty.The trailerThe Jungle Prescription stars: a very special group of plants, the patients of Dr. Gabor Maté, Dr. Jacques Mabit, Humberto Piaguaje, the UMIYAC organization of traditional healers, Jordi Riba, Josep María Fábregas, Vancouver, Barcelona, the Amazon Jungle... and the deepest recesses of our sub-conscious minds.Produced By Nomad FilmsAfter one year shooting in Canada, Perú, Colombia, and Spain, the film is now in postproduction. A one hour TV show, which was broadcasted by the CBC´s The Nature of Things Nov 10th.UPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.Click below to be kept up to date about the project
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Fundraising
- The story continues!The Ayahuasca Project is a labour of love developed over the course of ten years of research, with long periods of travel in the Amazon region. We have gathered an outstanding and unique collection of footage, stories and experiences in the complex and multifaceted ayahuasca world.
We made a short version of the film for Canada´s CBC, The Jungle Prescription, and we ran out of money. Now we need YOUR support to help us finish the editing and final post-production of the feature-length documentary we set out to make.We prepared some very special rewards for those who support the project.
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The Book
- The Chacra DiariesUPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.A Ten Year Exploration into Amazonian Shamanism
What happens when a man goes into the jungle to find himself, but finds something unexpected: an ancient key to human health that we have forgotten about in the modern world? The Chacra Diaries tell the deeply personal story of Jeronimo M.M.’s decade of research into ancient Amerindian medical systems and how they changed his life.
Deep in the Amazon jungle, ancient shamanic traditions still survive. We already know a lot about how shamanism utilizes the most powerful plants from the world´s most biodiverse ecosystem. But Jeronimo encountered a concept of human health that defies Western notions of diagnosis, illness, and healing.
To the West, these Amazonian practices seem profoundly strange and even superstitious, yet one has only to put oneself in their hands, like Jeronimo did, to know that it works. This is how Jeronimo came to be both researcher and subject, scientist and lab rabbit in his own study of what Amazonian societies still know about the planet’s most potent plant medicines. We call them drugs, but they use them to cure.
Jeronimo's book is told in a first person, immediate and intimate form. His struggles, his worries, and his personal realizations about the shape of his own life help illuminate the world of Amerindian shamanism he has swum through. The intrepid Spaniard's journey is timely. More than ever, Western readers are hungry to find solutions to the ennui that seems to permeate our world.
Selected passages from the book will be shared online as the book is finished.
Click below to be kept up to date about the project
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The Online Experience
- What is ayahuasca like?UPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.The online presence for the project will be a constantly unfolding and community inspired journey for the user.Reflecting a decade of information gathering and fieldwork, the online project will attempt to give a creative response to the question: What is ayahuasca like? Using user generated content, personality profiling techniques, the latest HMTL5 video technologies, social networks, and much much more, in two parts:A message machine for the ayahuasca experience that blends powerful footage, user generated content, and data visualizations.A hypervideo experience that mimics the introspective insights of the ayahuasca experience by giving users an interactive reflection of their personalities.Below is an demo edit of the message machine, where users will be invited to talk about their ayahuasca experienceUPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.Click below to be kept up to date about the project
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The Team
- Meet the teamUPDATE: Online fundraising for the feature length version of the film has begun. Help us complete the full version and get some great gifts.FILMMAKERS
Mark Ellam:
A director and cinematographer, Mark Ellam helped create THE TAKE directed by Avi Lewis and written by Naomi Klein (AFI Best Feature Documentary), BIG SUGAR (Prix Gemeaux & Golden Sheaf Award for best documentary - going undercover to shoot Haitian plantation workers suffering under conditions of slavery), EMPZ 4 LIFE (Allan King's final film on Black youth in a high-risk community - nominated for both Best Cinematography and the Donald Brittain Award - Gemini Awards of 2007), A Promise To The Dead (Peter Raymont's film, winner of the Gemini/Donald Brittain award for Best Documentary and shortlisted for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary). Mark was associate director and cinematographer on RIP: A Remix Manifesto - winner of 2008's Volkskrant Audience Award at IDFA and was the first open source documentary produced for theatrical release by the National Film Board of Canada, the Doc Channel and EYESTEELFILM. Also with EYESTEELFILM, Mark has been shooting Yung Chang's next feature project as well as co-directing ATANASOFF: the Forgotten Father of the First Computer with Dan Cross - executive produced by Peter Wintonick.
Jeronimo M.M. A writer, researcher, and user experience consultant with extensive knowledge of the world of Ayahuasca. He has worked in the area were video meets the Internet for over a decade, as consultant on user experience, Internet video, and online communities and for clients including Canal+, Tele5, and Telefónica/EmociónTV. He co-directed, wrote, and produced the 30 minute documentary on the Brazilian Ayahuasca Churches that was commissioned and broadcast by Spain's largest TV network (Tele5) in 2004. He has traveled extensively through South America, researching Ayahuasca uses, and has lectured internationally on Ayahuasca tourism and the appropriation of indigenous knowledge. He keeps a blog, curates a page of ayahuasca related news, and is currently preparing a book about his experiences
Robin McKenna:
Robin McKenna began making films with La Course destination monde (1997-98), the Radio-Canada series that sent young people around the world with a video camera, making creative, point-of-view documentaries. Her 1-hour doc "The Great War Experience" won the Founders Award at Yorkton Film Festival in 2007. She worked as Second Camera on The Take with Avi Lewis and Naomi Klein (American Film Institute Best Feature Doc 2004), and was cinematographer on City of Borders, about a gay bar in Jerusalem where Israelis and Palestinians find common ground (Berlinale/Hot Docs 2009). Her television series directing work has aired on networks in Canada, the US and UK. She is currently finishing a 1-hour doc for Radio-Canada, “70 ans...et dans le placard?”
NOMAD FILMS
Mark Johnston: Executive Producer
After 23 years in the documentary film environment, Executive Producer Mark Johnston has had producer or director credits on more than 50 films. He has produced award-winning docs such as In the Shadow of a Saint (CBC/BBC/IKON Netherlands/SBS Australia) and The Man Who Could be King (CBC and National Geographic International) - both of these films were nominated for Donald Brittain awards in Canada, and directed films such as Beetalker (ARTE/CBC's Nature of Things).
Amanda Handy: Producer
Producer Amanda Handy is an industry veteran with years of both drama and documentary TV and film experience. Having worked in both production and as head of business affairs for several large production companies on everything from series, movies of the week and features, she brings a diverse set of skills to the table. Amanda most recently produced Empire of the Word, a four hour series about the impact of reading and writing on human history and shot in fifteen countries (TVO, TFO, SBS Australia, TG4 Ireland and many others). Another recent title was the theatrically released feature documentary, When We Were Boys (Official Selections for Hot Docs, Beijing and True- False). Nomad's feature drama, Act of Dishonour, directed by Nelofer Pazira, was released in theatres in summer 2010. The film was shot in 35mm (by Atom Egoyan's DOP, Paul Sarossy) on location in Tajikistan with an Afghan cast.Click below to be kept up to date about the project
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Posts
- Jan 08, 12Five days ago we reached our original goal of $40,000, and we set a new goal. With one day to go, over 600 wonderful people have pledged.
This has been more than we imagined. We are humbled by your generosity and commitment. With all this support, we feel inspired to not only to accomplish what we'd hoped, but to go even further - creating greater outreach for the film, and sharing it with an even-wider audience.
Today, on the last day of the campaign, we offer 2 exciting new rewards:GABOR MATÉ PACKAGE- $60
A signed copy of Gabor Maté’s most recent book, the award-winning In The Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction which played an important part in the development of the film´s underlying themes. “Gabor Maté’s connections- between the intensely personal and the global, the spiritual and the medical, the psychological and the political- are bold and wise.” -Naomi Klein (No Logo, the Shock Doctrine). “Maté probes deeply into the life histories and psyches of his many patients... What emerges is nothing short of a revelation.” —Edmonton Journal. Signed book includes a personal dedication from Dr. Maté to the person of your choice. PLUS A SIGNED LIMITED-EDITION DVD OF THE FILM.ART PACKAGE - $3003 beautiful high-quality prints from the film, signed by cinematographer Mark Ellam. Audiences have been consistently awestruck by the beauty of the film’s cinematography- Avi Lewis (director of The Take) says “Mark paints on your eyeballs.” Mark Achbar (The Corporation) called the Jungle Prescription “gorgeous, groundbreaking.” Own these meticulously shot and crafted images, signed by Mark Ellam (Sample images here: http://bit.ly/xHEvmQ.) PLUS the SUPER COMBO PACKAGE (book, DVD, t-shirt, Songs of Ayahuasca and Poder Verde! CDs)
We want to thank all of you again for pledging, sharing, posting and spreading the word. A super-special thanks goes to Matthew Watherson at the Temple Of The Way of Light in Iquitos, Peru, for his noble support and generosity.
We ask for your help once more on our final push- if you could please re-post this last request to your like-minded friends & listeners, we would be hugely thankful!
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ayadox/the-ayahuasca-project-the-jungle-prescription/Gratefully yours .-) -Jero, Mark and Robin - Jan 06, 12
When we started this campaign, we were advised to set a “reasonable amount” as our goal. But the mission of this film - a film that now belongs to you - goes beyond what is ‘reasonable’ - to what seemed once ‘impossible’. Our attempt with this project is to change a form of thinking that no longer serves: to imagine a world where the most logical medicines & substances are applied to our most dire of ailments - specifically those places where Western medicine has fallen short.
To you, the people who wish to create change at every level- we now dedicate this project. With your help, the capacity of this film can reach beyond what any of us could have imagined.
For this reason, we have set a new goal of $50 000 by Monday Jan 9 - and it seems attainable. We want to make this film as excellent and inspiring as it can be- and we need your help to do that. To re-visit our characters, commission beautiful music & get it out in the world, is going to take work & capital. So this campaign isn’t over yet- we’ve got 3 days.And practically speaking, much can be done to help.Reconsider the rewards. We have new discounts available for every reward category. Send someone a remix cd of jungle cumbia. Add a DVD, CD, or book to your package. Let us take you to the Amazon! We have halved the price of the Jungle Expedition.
We have dedicated much of our lives to this cause, and we’re proud to have this community along with us on the adventure.
-Jero, Mark and Robin
Support the project here
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for latest news
See the Official Film Site
- Jan 04, 12
We are awestruck by the (almost 500) wonderful backers who've brought us to our goal before our deadline of January 9th. We’re touched and amazed by your generosity. This film no longer belongs to us, it belongs to all of you.Today we want to THANK YOU. As members of our core support community, you made this film possible, and you hold a special place in its creation- we love you! You will be the first to hear any news about the film -- what festival invites us for our world premiere, special events, behind-the-scenes stories; and you will all be thanked on our website and in the film (our higher-level donors will continue to have the special recognition they've pledged for).
We have 5 days to go and we are continuing to invite backers up to the very end. Many of you said that our goal of $40,000 was a relatively small goal for a film, and you were absolutely right. Since Kickstarter is an all-or-nothing proposition, we wanted to be realistic and make the goals attainable. The target we set will go a long way towards helping us complete the film, but it won't cover everything.
So we’re continuing to ask for your support. How far can we take this? All of our awesome rewards will be available for 5 more days. Every dollar we raise above the original goal will give us more money to fund the months-long process of completing this film, and help offset Kickstarter/Amazon fees. So please continue to pledge, spread the word on facebook, twitter etc. and share with friends. Help us make the project even better.
Thank you so much for being our community of support. There’s no way this could have been done without you.Love and thanks,
-Jero, Mark and Robin.
Support the project here
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for latest news
See the Official Film Site
- Dec 26, 11
Let me take you back to the early 60s in Perú. A man called Henry Delgado frontman of a band called Los Destellos writes “La Ardillita”. It was a huge hit, and singlehandely defined a new musical style: La Cumbia Peruana.
Take a listen
Is that groovy or what?
The new sound blended the tropical and rock styles by substituting the accordion -centerpiece of the Colombian Cumbia- with the electric guitar. To our ears the result wouldn´t be out of place in a Tarantino film
Out of that new style sprang Cumbia Oriental, or Poder Verde, the Amazonian variation of the sound, which can still be heard booming out of radios, bars, motokarts, and taxis all over the jungle. It is an infectious groove full of local flavor, including references to indigenous tribes, mythological figures, and even ayahuasca.
The most famous ayahuasca song of the genre is without a doubt, the great classic “Vacilando con ayahuasca” by the veterans Juaneco y su Combo. Although the song was composed in 1972 the band is still going. Here is a recent video which includes Shipibo print shirts, go-go dancers, and indigenous shamans!
Crazyness!
Are you still wondering why we have always been unrepentant fans of the style at The Ayahuasca Project Headquarters?
So we wanted to do a postmodern homage to it. For that we brought experimental DJ and sound composer Akasha. We gave him a selection of our favorite Poder Verde tunes, together with a truly rare cultural artifact: A collection of real radio advertisements from the jungle. The ads are for itinerant shamans that travel form city to city, in a real life jungle medicine show.
The combination is… well, listen for yourself
Amazing!
Then Akasha´s partner, LoSuper, cooked up a very psychedelic cover for the mix
Like it?
Up to know the mix was only available as a bonus to the Combo Packages, but we´ve decided to make it available to everyone.
If you´d like your own just add $10 to your current pledge and let us know you want a copy!
PROJECT STATUS UPDATE
We are now 60% funded! 334 wonderful people have made it possible. We have 14 days to raise approx. $15,000. We are pushing on! Please continue to spread the word, in facebook, in twitter, blogs, via email, we need to world to know!
With our sincerest gratitude, and our best wishes for the new year.
-Jero, Mark, & Robin
More info about cumbia oriental
Support the project here
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for latest news
See the Official Film Site
- Dec 21, 11
We have been told that if you make it to 50% you will make it in kickstater. Today we broke the 50% line. Thank you so much to all of you who continue to pledge and support us.
We have very intense days ahead of us. 19 days to raise $19000. As you can see in the graph, at the current rate of growth we´ll be between 10 and 20% short of the goal by the end the campaign. As you know kickstarter is all or nothing. If we don´t make we loose it all. We are confident we can do it, but we are going to need your help for that extra push. Please spread the word! Email, share, tweet the link with anyone you know who might be interested. Continue to recommend and let us know of any blogs/sites that you think we should contact. We need to spread the word further.
NEW REWARD
We are celebrating the occasion by launching a super special reward: Become part of the team and accompany us on the last shoot of the documentary!
Only 3 slots are available. Get them while you can
MASTER CLASS - The Jungle Prescription has been praised as “a master class in documentary cinematography “.
Want to learn how we did it?
For fifteen years, Mark Ellam has shot feature documentaries for theatrical and international release. In this special invitation, you accompany our crew and gain access to a learning experience otherwise unavailable.
With this reward, you accompany us on our final shoot. Experience some extraordinary locations, meet some of the documentary´s characters, immerse yourself in the intimate process of filmmaking - and get to see it all from behind the lens.
Whether you just want to come along for the ride, or you wish to learn more about the craft of constructing scenes from reality, advance your knowledge of camera work and lighting, or consider a career shift from one métier to another, you will be part of the team, and be personally coached in whichever aspects of documentary filmmaking you are inclined. This truly unique experience is a limited offering & everything you will never learn in a film school of any kind.Reward also includes credit on the film (and IMDB) the ART PACKAGE (3 signed lithographs) and the SUPER COMBO PACKAGE (book, DVD, t-shirt, Songs of Ayahuasca and Poder Verde! CDs). (Travel expenses not included)
With our sincerest gratitude, and best wishes,
-Jero, Mark, & Robin
Suppor the project here
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for latest news
See the Official Film Site
- Dec 19, 11
The past 5 weeks since we launched the Kickstarter campaign have been a whirlwind of activity. Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects powered by a unique all-or-nothing funding method where projects must be fully-funded or no money changes hands.
We are looking for funding to finish the feature length version of the documentary which will not just be longer :-) but more free, more poetic, and expand on a number of characters and storylines that were left unexplored in the 43 min version. We have some big surprises waiting. Check out the video for sneak preview. We just need a little push to be able to do it, hence the kickstarter campaign.
We have prepared a very special collection of rewards (DVDs of the film, books, Jungle insight tshirts, and more) for those who pledge their support. Take a look (aquí en español)
The entire crowdfunding process is new to us, so we have made a few mistakes along the way. In spite of it all it seems to be working! It´s been amazing to see the pledges come from all over the world, and to hear the stories behind some of them. Inspiring! We are so encouraged by many of the messages we have received. So far 250 wonderful people have generously pledged their support to the project. Others have given us invaluable advice, time, and effort. Yet others have shared it with thousands in facebook, twitter, etc. THANK YOU ALL! You are making this film possible. We have 21 days left to go and we are 44% funded. We are almost at $18000!
We are preparing a grand finale for the last 3 weeks of the campaign, with new rewards, sneak previews, and surprises. Our first announcement, to coincide with the Holiday season, is a new reward that some of you have been asking for:
The Ayahuasca Project gift certificate.
Do you want to send a Jungle Prescription DVD, T-shirt, or any other reward as a gift to someone else? Now you can.
How does it work?
1 - Below is the list of gifts, pick any combination of them that you like
(higher value rewards are also available as gift certificate!)
2 - Click on Gift Certificate reward (or increase your current pledge by the proper amount.)
3 - Drop us a message with the list of gifts as well as the name, address, email address of the recipient.
3 - We will send that person a personalized email presenting the gifts, followed by an envelope with handmade gift certificate with a dedication from you (followed, of course, by the presents!)
4 - You will be making a double gift, a gift to the recipient, and a gift to this film.
With our sincerest gratitude, and best wishes,
-Jero, Mark, & Robin
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for latest news
See the Official Film Site
- Nov 30, 11
We have been invited to screen The Jungle Prescription during MAPS 25th anniversary conference: Cartographie Psychedelica. We are honored to be part of celebrating the work of an organization whose missions aligns so closely with our own intentions for making the film. If you are going to be in Oakland between drop by and say hi!
There will be 2 screenings:
Saturday, Dec. 10 6:30 - 7:30 Room 208Monday, Dec. 12 5:30 - 7:00 Jr. Ballroom 1 & 2For those who can´t make it, presale DVDs are available for a limited time through our kickstarter campaignKeep an eye on our Facebook group for latest news
See the Official Film Site
- Nov 19, 11
The Jungle Prescription will air tomorrow, sunday, Nov 20th at 6pm ET in the CBC News Network. People inside Canada can also see the film online at this link.
For those outside Canada, DVDs are available through our kickstarter campaign
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for latest news
See the Official Film Site
- Nov 10, 11
After 10 years of work The Jungle Prescription will broadcast today at 8PM EST in the CBC´s The nature of things. See what the major newspapers are talking about. After a news report about the documentary was posted online on Sunday, Dr. Gabor Maté received a letter form the Canadian Ministry of Health threatening persecution if he continued to work with ayahuasca... Don´t miss the rest of the story today!Keep an eye on our Facebook group for broadcast dates on other countries and territories outside of Canada.
See the Official Film Site for The Jungle Prescription.
- Nov 09, 11
Doctor Gabor Maté ordered by Health Canada to stop sessions treating drug addicts with ayahuasca, an ancient Amazonian medicine
The full story of Mate’s work told in:
The Jungle Prescription
a documentary on CBC’s Nature of ThingsThursday, November 10th, 2011, 8pm EST
Vancouver’s Dr. Gabor Maté, who has used a traditional Amazonian tea to help drug addicts has been ordered by Health Canada on November 7th, to end the treatments or face criminal prosecution. Dr. Maté had been using ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant-based tea, to help uncover painful memories in the addicts. Re-considering these memories may help the patients control or stop their addictive behaviour.
"Naturally I will have to comply with the regulations as I received them, and I intend to," Maté said. "It's not a big personal loss for me because it's a small part of what I do. But it's a loss for the people who can benefit from this work and we have people whose life could be saved by it."
Dr. Gabor Maté believe in what some may see as a revolutionary idea: to treat addicts with compassion. His work as the resident doctor in Vancouver’s Portland Hotel - a last-chance destination for lifelong drug abusers - has been courageous, but incredibly frustrating. Maté hears of an ancient medicine beyond his imaginings: one that could provide his patients with a solution. Its name is ayahuasca: the vine of the souls. Deep in the Amazon jungle, French doctor Jacques Mabit is using this medicine to treat hardcore addicts. Mabit runs a detox centre in the Amazon (Takiwasi or "The House That Sings"), using the plants and methods of traditional medicine. Ayahuasca is a visionary formula that unlocks emotional memory; causing life-changing catharsis in those who drink it. Success rates for curing addicts at Dr. Mabit's detox centre are quadruple the average. Inspired by Mabit’s centre, Mate will risk his career trying to establish a similar program in Canada.
Since the publication of his award-winning book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Dr. Gabor Mate has been one of Canada’s leading thinkers on addiction and its deeper causes. The experience of making the film has had a profound impact on him: “As a physician all too aware of the limitations and narrowness of Western medicine, I have learned much from working with this plant. The Jungle Prescription took me far physically, but even further in the spiritual realm where our deepest humanity resides. The plant, and the experience with the plant, is no panacea. There are no panaceas. But as an opening to human possibility, even in the face of lifelong trauma and desperation, it offers much. Seeing people open to themselves, even temporarily, has been a teaching and an inspiration.”
Directed and photographed by Mark Ellam, the film is the result of a ten-year journey by the filmmakers deep into the Amazonian rainforest, to understand what lies at the heart of traditional medicine. Ellam’s unique cinematic vision has helped to create a number of award-winning films for cinema and television, including The Take (directed by Avi Lewis and written by Naomi Klein), Big Sugar (Prix Gemeaux and Golden Sheaf Award for best documentary), Empz 4 Life (Allan King’s final film), A Promise To The Dead (shortlisted for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary). Mark was associate director and cinematographer on RIP: A Remix Manifesto – winner of the Volkskrant Audience Award at IDFA and the first open-source documentary for theatrical release by the National Film Board of Canada, the Doc Channel and EYESTEELFILM.
Since1997, Nomad Films has produced factual programming for film and television that focuses on a wide range of compelling stories about social and political change, adventure, the environment, the arts, indigenous culture and science. Recent titles include: Disfarmer, (TVO, AVRO Netherlands, SVT Sweden and SBS Australia), Empire of the Word, (the epic television series about the history of reading, TVO, TFO SBS Australia, TG4 Ireland) and the feature documentary, When We Were Boys (official selection at Hot Docs 2009 and distributed in theatres by KinoSmith).
Details here. Keep an eye on our Facebook group for broadcast dates on other countries and territories outside of Canada.
See the Official Film Site for The Jungle Prescription
- Nov 09, 11
After a news report about the documentary was posted online on Sunday, Dr. Gabor Maté received a letter form the Canadian Ministry of Health threatening persecution if he continued to work with ayahuasca... Don´t miss the rest of the story tomorrow, Nov 10, 8pm, in the CBC´s The Nature of Things.
Details here. Keep an eye on our Facebook group for broadcast dates on other countries and territories outside of Canada.
See the Official Film Site for The Jungle Prescription
- Nov 08, 11
Dr. Maté wants to change the way we consider and treat addiction in the developed world. In his view, we all suffer from addiction: from cocaine to worry, from tobacco to martyrdom, each of us has something to be healed. Ground Zero for this new treatment regime is his program in British Columbia. His plan is to create the first integrated program in North America: one that combines an elite team of traditional healers and psychotherapists, using ayahuasca as a catalyst for change. That is, assuming the authorities don’t arrest him first.Don´t miss the rest of the story Nov 10, 8pm, in the CBC´s The Nature of Things. Details here
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for broadcast dates on other countries and territories outside of Canada.
See the Official Film Site for The Jungle Prescription
- Nov 07, 11
Dr. Gabor Mate has been one of Canada’s leading thinkers on addiction and its deeper causes. The experience of making the film has had a profound impact on him: “As a physician all too aware of the limitations and narrowness of Western medicine, I have learned much from working with this plant. The Jungle Prescription took me far physically, but even further in the spiritual realm where our deepest humanity resides. The plant, and the experience with the plant, is no panacea. There are no panaceas. But as an opening to human possibility, even in the face of lifelong trauma and desperation, it offers much. Seeing people open to themselves, even temporarily, has been a teaching and an inspiration.”
The Jungle Prescription will air in Canada Nov 10, 8pm, in the CBC´s The Nature of Things. Don´t miss the date
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for broadcast dates on other territories.
See the Official Film Site
- Nov 06, 11
The Jungle Prescription shuns easy answers, challenging preconceptions about addiction and the so-called War on Drugs. This sensitive, nuanced portrait of two doctors trying to find a new way to treat their patients takes us on a powerful emotional journey.
The Jungle Prescription will air in Canada Nov 10, 8pm, in the CBC´s The Nature of Things. Don´t miss the date
Keep an eye on our Facebook group for broadcast dates on other territories.
See the Official Film Site
- Nov 05, 11
Don´t miss it!
Lean more Nov 10.
Will you be there?
Join the Facebook group
See the Official Film Site
- Nov 04, 11
Dr. Gabor Maté has a revolutionary idea: to treat addicts with compassion. His work as the resident doctor in Vancouver’s Portland Hotel - a last-chance destination for lifelong drug abusers - has been courageous, but incredibly frustrating. Maté hears of an ancient medicine could provide his patients with a solution. Its name is ayahuasca…
Lean more Nov 10.
Will you be there?
Join the Facebook group
See the Official Film Site
- Nov 03, 11
Dr Jacques Mabit, founder Takiwasi. is a French doctor living in the Amazon. Arriving thirty years ago in Peru with Doctors Without Borders, Dr Mabit found that the jungle already had its own doctors. Working in poor rural communities, Mabit noticed something peculiar. Patients came to him with serious conditions; he would write a prescription. Weeks later, he would meet the patient in the street and observe how their conditions had improved. When asked, they confessed they couldn’t afford the medicines he prescribed. Instead, they had gone to see the local curandero – traditional healer- and received plant treatments.
Dr. Mabit was intrigued. What was it these local curanderos knew?...
Lean more Nov 10.
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- Nov 02, 11
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In the past years an underground of brave western doctors have begun to use ayahausca as a therapeutic tool. We realized we could make a film that not only pays homage to the richness of indigenous knowledge, but actually shows an example of how it can be put into practice - and the mutual benefits this can bring. There are not many examples of such interchanges in our world. This is why we felt it was so important that this story gets told.
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- Nov 01, 11
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The Jungle Prescription is a labour of love developed over the course of ten years of research, incorporating long periods of travel in the Amazon region. We have gathered an outstanding and unique collection of footage, stories, experiences and contacts in the complex and multifaceted ayahuasca world.
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Press Kit
- The Jungle Prescription - Press Kit
Doctor Gabor Maté ordered by Health Canada to stop sessions treating drug addicts with ayahuasca, an ancient Amazonian medicine
The full story of Mate’s work told in:
The Jungle Prescription
a documentary on CBC’s Nature of ThingsThursday, November 10th, 2011, 8pm EST
Vancouver’s Dr. Gabor Maté, who has used a traditional Amazonian tea to help drug addicts has been ordered by Health Canada on November 7th, to end the treatments or face criminal prosecution. Dr. Maté had been using ayahuasca, a powerful psychotropic plant-based tea, to help uncover painful memories in the addicts. Re-considering these memories may help the patients control or stop their addictive behaviour.
"Naturally I will have to comply with the regulations as I received them, and I intend to," Maté said. "It's not a big personal loss for me because it's a small part of what I do. But it's a loss for the people who can benefit from this work and we have people whose life could be saved by it."
Dr. Gabor Maté believe in what some may see as a revolutionary idea: to treat addicts with compassion. His work as the resident doctor in Vancouver’s Portland Hotel - a last-chance destination for lifelong drug abusers - has been courageous, but incredibly frustrating. Maté hears of an ancient medicine beyond his imaginings: one that could provide his patients with a solution. Its name is ayahuasca: the vine of the souls. Deep in the Amazon jungle, French doctor Jacques Mabit is using this medicine to treat hardcore addicts. Mabit runs a detox centre in the Amazon (Takiwasi or "The House That Sings"), using the plants and methods of traditional medicine. Ayahuasca is a visionary formula that unlocks emotional memory; causing life-changing catharsis in those who drink it. Success rates for curing addicts at Dr. Mabit's detox centre are quadruple the average. Inspired by Mabit’s centre, Mate will risk his career trying to establish a similar program in Canada.
Since the publication of his award-winning book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Dr. Gabor Mate has been one of Canada’s leading thinkers on addiction and its deeper causes. The experience of making the film has had a profound impact on him: “As a physician all too aware of the limitations and narrowness of Western medicine, I have learned much from working with this plant. The Jungle Prescription took me far physically, but even further in the spiritual realm where our deepest humanity resides. The plant, and the experience with the plant, is no panacea. There are no panaceas. But as an opening to human possibility, even in the face of lifelong trauma and desperation, it offers much. Seeing people open to themselves, even temporarily, has been a teaching and an inspiration.”
THE DOCUMENTARY
The Jungle Prescription is the tale of two doctors treating their addicted patients with a mysterious Amazonian medicine rumored to reveal one’s deepest self. Dr. Gabor Maté has a revolutionary idea: to treat addicts with compassion. His work as the resident doctor in Vancouver’s Portland Hotel - a last-chance destination for lifelong drug abusers - has been courageous, but incredibly frustrating. Maté hears of an ancient medicine beyond his imaginings: one that could provide his patients with a solution. Its name is ayahuasca: the vine of the souls. Deep in the Amazon jungle, French doctor Jacques Mabit is using this medicine to treat hardcore addicts. Mabit runs a detox centre in the Amazon (Takiwasi or "The House That Sings"), using the plants and methods of traditional medicine. Ayahuasca is a visionary formula that unlocks emotional memory; causing life-changing catharsis in those who drink it. Success rates for curing addicts at Dr. Mabit's detox centre are quadruple the average. Inspired by Mabit’s centre, Mate will risk his career trying to establish a similar program in Canada.
Since the publication of his award-winning book, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Dr. Gabor Mate has been one of Canada’s leading thinkers on addiction and its deeper causes. The experience of making the film has had a profound impact on him: “As a physician all too aware of the limitations and narrowness of Western medicine, I have learned much from working with this plant. The Jungle Prescription took me far physically, but even further in the spiritual realm where our deepest humanity resides. The plant, and the experience with the plant, is no panacea. There are no panaceas. But as an opening to human possibility, even in the face of lifelong trauma and desperation, it offers much. Seeing people open to themselves, even temporarily, has been a teaching and an inspiration.”
Directed and photographed by Mark Ellam, the film is the result of a ten-year journey by the filmmakers deep into the Amazonian rainforest, to understand what lies at the heart of traditional medicine. Ellam’s unique cinematic vision has helped to create a number of award-winning films for cinema and television, including The Take (directed by Avi Lewis and written by Naomi Klein), Big Sugar (Prix Gemeaux and Golden Sheaf Award for best documentary), Empz 4 Life (Allan King’s final film), A Promise To The Dead (shortlisted for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary). Mark was associate director and cinematographer on RIP: A Remix Manifesto – winner of the Volkskrant Audience Award at IDFA and the first open-source documentary for theatrical release by the National Film Board of Canada, the Doc Channel and EYESTEELFILM.
The Jungle Prescription shuns easy answers, challenging preconceptions about addiction and the so-called War on Drugs. This sensitive, nuanced portrait of two doctors trying to find a new way to treat their patients takes us on a powerful emotional journey.
Since1997, Nomad Films has produced factual programming for film and television that focuses on a wide range of compelling stories about social and political change, adventure, the environment, the arts, indigenous culture and science. Recent titles include: Disfarmer, (TVO, AVRO Netherlands, SVT Sweden and SBS Australia), Empire of the Word, (the epic television series about the history of reading, TVO, TFO SBS Australia, TG4 Ireland) and the feature documentary, When We Were Boys (official selection at Hot Docs 2009 and distributed in theatres by KinoSmith).
Photos for The Jungle Prescription are available upon request. Also, interviews with Dr. Gabor Maté and Mark Ellam can be arranged. For more information, please contact:
Amanda Handy | Nomad Films Inc., 1378 Queen Street East, Toronto, Ontario, M4L 1C9
p: 416.533.9658 I c: 416.473.8873 I amanda@nomadfilms.ca
SYNOPSIS
LOG LINE: The Jungle Prescription is the tale of two maverick doctors, one in the Peruvian Amazon and the other in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, treating addicted patients with a mysterious Amazonian medicine rumored to reveal one’s deepest self.
SHORT SYNOPSIS: The Jungle Prescription is the tale of two doctors treating their addicted patients with a mysterious Amazonian medicine rumored to reveal one’s deepest self. Dr. Gabor Maté has a revolutionary idea: to treat addicts with compassion. His work as the resident doctor in Vancouver’s Portland Hotel - a last-chance destination for lifelong drug abusers - has been courageous, but incredibly frustrating. Maté hears of an ancient medicine beyond his imaginings: one that could provide his patients with a solution. Its name is ayahuasca: the vine of the souls. Deep in the Amazon jungle, French doctor Jacques Mabit is using this medicine to treat hardcore addicts. Mabit runs a detox centre in the Amazon (Takiwasi or "The House That Sings"), using the plants and methods of traditional medicine to heal drug addicts. Ayahuasca is an ancient visionary formula that unlocks emotional memory; causing life-changing catharsis in those who drink it. Success rates for curing addicts at Dr. Mabit's detox centre are quadruple the average. Inspired by Mabit’s centre, Mate will risk his career trying to establish a similar program in Canada.
LONG SYNOPSIS: In North America’s worst drug ghetto, Dr. Gabor Maté has a revolutionary idea: to treat addicts with compassion. His work as the resident doctor in Vancouver’s Portland Hotel - a last-chance destination for lifelong drug abusers - has been courageous but incredibly frustrating. Maté is well-known for his unorthodox views, including his support for (and ongoing involvement with) Vancouver’s controversial safe injection sites. One of Canada’s leading specialists on addiction, Dr. Maté insists the ‘War on Drugs’ has been futile, and criminalization a failure whose consequences he has witnessed first-hand. His message seems to be falling on deaf ears. That’s when Maté hears of an ancient medicine beyond his imaginings: one that might provide his patients with a solution. Its name is ayahuasca: the vine of the souls. Dr.Maté does not entirely trust modern medicine - a system he believes has all but abandoned the most important concepts of healing.
Enter Dr Jacques Mabit, a French doctor living in the Amazon. Arriving thirty years ago in Peru with Doctors Without Borders, Dr Mabit found that the jungle already had its own doctors. Working in poor rural communities, Mabit noticed something peculiar. Patients came to him with serious conditions; he would write a prescription. Weeks later, he would meet the patient in the street and observe how their conditions had improved. When asked, they confessed they couldn’t afford the medicines he prescribed. Instead, they had gone to see the local curandero – traditional healer- and received plant treatments.
Dr. Mabit was intrigued. What was it these local curanderos knew? Mabit decided to investigate, entering a world in which people talked about spirits as if they were as real as their neighbours. Struggling to keep an open mind, the doctor began to uncover an ancient medical system with its own categories, diagnoses and remedies. His encounter with this new world view and its key medicine: ayahuasca, would change his life forever. A thick and acrid tea made of the mashed vine of a plant known as ‘the vine of the souls.’ , the concoction was said to cause life-changing catharsis- in those courageous enough to drink it. Indigenous people called the brew ‘la purga’ for good reason. According to shamans, its effects involve a violent purging of the digestive system - and the very vaults of our memories.
Mabit began working hand in hand with curanderos (traditional healers) of the Huallaga valley, training in their methods, and learning the complex pharmacy of powerful jungle plants while absorbing the empathic and observational techniques of the forest healers. Twenty years later, Mabit runs a now legendary detox centre that treats Western drug addicts. His success rates are triple the average.
When Mate learns of this tea, he heads to the Amazon to meet Mabit - and see if there might be a way to bring some of this knowledge back to his patients in Canada. The two men get along like old friends, while exchanging friendly blows over treatment styles. Both are in the prime of their careers; listening to their elegant conversations leads one to believe they might be at a turning point in the history of medicine.
At Takiwasi, patients’ daily life is stripped to its essentials, and scheduled around work, community, therapy, and plant medicines. When darkness falls, they struggle with agonizing ayahuasca visions - and face uncomfortable truths about themselves.
Like a patient, Mate submits to Mabit’s program, swallowing pungent wild roots and the juice of black tobacco which triggers a fever and purging to the brink of death. His engagement with these challenging medicines begins in earnest. Invited to participate in an ayahuasca ceremony, Gabor has an unforgettable experience - and is convinced of the possibility these medicines promise.
Dr Mate returns to Canada with a plan to set up an underground experimental program. He will work with a group of healers to treat patients struggling with various types of addiction – from overwork to heroin, from co-dependence to cocaine. At these sessions they will serve ayahuasca: the acrid tea that occupies a grey area of Canadian law, not legal, but not illegal either. But without a detox centre or support structure for his patients, will it work?
We meet Gabor’s patients: Cynthia, Breanne and Colin, and Megan. Cynthia is an aboriginal Canadian desperate to get back the children she lost to heroin, cocaine and crack. We wince as she wanders down drug-filled Hastings Street, looking for a bed for the night. Megan the sled dog trainer has a problem with wine and prescription drugs- understandable when we hear the story of her recent stillborn twins, then watch as the father brushes her aside in a bar. Breanne and Colin are a cocaine couple in love: helping each other up and then pulling each other down to ruin. Their caretaker Tracy – a beautiful East Indian nurse at Gabor’s clinic – will also become a patient, battling her own feelings of isolation.
With limited success, Gabor tries to treat these anti-heroes, while juggling a superhuman schedule. Flying around on speaking tours and visiting neurochemists, he furthers his quest to understand this ancient medicine – one he is convinced works, yet seems to have a hard time yielding to himself.
Maté wants nothing less than to change the way we consider and treat addiction in the developed world. In the doctor’s view, we all suffer from addiction: from cocaine to worry, from tobacco to martyrdom, each of us has something to be healed. Ground Zero for this new treatment regime is his program in British Columbia. His plan is to create the first integrated program in North America: one that combines an elite team of traditional healers and psychotherapists, using ayahuasca as a catalyst for change. That is, assuming the authorities don’t arrest him first.
PRODUCTION COMPANY, KEY CREATIVES AND CREW
Nomad Films develops and produces factual programming for film and television that focuses on a wide range of compelling stories about social and political change, adventure, the environment, the arts, indigenous culture and science. Known for its international treaty co-production work, Nomad has successfully produced films such as the award-winning Ken Wiwa’s In the Shadow of a Saint, an official Canada-UK Co-Production.
Nomad is built on the experience of its Associates who have worked in television environments as diverse as the BBC, Discovery, National Geographic, PBS and the CBC, as well as a plethora of other media outlets. The company has a mandate to produce a broad spectrum of films: social, political, scientific, literary, natural history and performing arts.
Most recently, Nomad Films completed Disfarmer, a documentary about the “found” American portrait photographer Mike Disfarmer, and which was broadcast on TVO, AVRO Netherlands, SVT Sweden and SBS Australia. Another recent production was Empire of the Word, an ambitious four hour documentary series about the impact of reading and writing on human history for TVO, SBS Australia, TG4 Ireland and several other broadcasters, which was filmed in fifteen countries. When We Were Boys was directed by Sarah Goodman whose first documentary was the award-winning Army of One. It was officially selected for Hot Docs 2009 and was released theatrically in Canada in October, 2009 through KinoSmith.
In 2008, Nomad completed The Al Qaeda Code, and in 2007, The Climb. Nomad has also produced the twice Gemini-nominated The Man Who Became King for Documentary, National Geographic International and Sundance Channel.
Nomad produced its first theatrical drama with Daniel Irons and Foundry Films (Sarah Polley’s Away From Her and Manufactured Landscapes) Released in 2010 (co-produced with the NFB), the film is set in Afghanistan and written and directed by Nelofer Pazira (Kandahar and Return to Kandahar) and shot by Paul Sarossy (The Sweet Hereafter, Ararat, Chloe).
Nomad’s dramatic film, Half a Million Heroes, the story of Nigerian writer and martyr, Ken Saro-Wiwa, is slated for production in 2012 with Oscar-nominated actor Djimon Hounsou playing Saro-Wiwa. Triptych Media (Emotional Arithmetic, The Hanging Garden) will co-produce.
Mark Ellam: Director, Cinematographer, Co-Writer, Executive Producer
Over a dozen years of feature documentary filmmaking, Mark Ellam has brought his unique cinematic vision to reality. His efforts in cinematography and direction in independent productions have helped to create a number of award-winning films for cinema and television. Highlights include The Take directed by Avi Lewis and written by Naomi Klein (AFI Best Feature Documentary), Big Sugar (Prix Gemeaux and Golden Sheaf Award for best documentary – going undercover to shoot Haitian plantation workers suffering under conditions of slavery), Empz 4 Life (Allan King’s final film on Black youth in a high-risk community - nominated for both Best Cinematography the Donald Brittain Award - Gemini Awards 2007), A Promise To The Dead (Peter Raymont’s film, winner of the Gemini/Donald Brittain award for Best Documentary and shortlisted for the 2008 Academy Award for Best Documentary). Large-scale recreations have included Galafilm’s Gemini-nominated The Great War, an epic period docu-drama for CBC, and Barna Alper’s Medak Pocket, reenacting Canada’s peacekeeping battles in Croatia.
Mark was associate director and cinematographer on RIP: A Remix Manifesto – winner of the Volkskrant Audience Award at IDFA and the first open-source documentary for theatrical release by the National Film Board of Canada, the Doc Channel and EYESTEELFILM. He is now shooting The Fruit Hunters, directed by Yung Chang (Up the Yangtze), with a theatrical version for the NFB and a two-part for CBC’s The Nature of Things. He has begun shooting a new film, The Message, with Naomi Klein and Avi Lewis.
Mark Johnston: Co-Writer, Executive Producer
Johnston began his television career as a researcher with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's nightly newscast, The National. He honed his writing and researching skills with the CBC's The Nature of Things, the longest running documentary series in North America. He was then brought in to work on Millennium: Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, a massive ten-hour PBS/BBC/Global Television documentary series. Ten years in the making, Millennium was executive produced by Adrian Malone (The Ascent of Man, Cosmos). Johnston was in charge of co-coordinating the vast amount of research, as well as field producing this series that was filmed globally in fifteen countries. In 1993 and 1994, Johnston was series anthropological consultant for the BBC series The Human Animal, hosted by the renowned behaviourist Desmond Morris. He also directed and field produced a number of stories for the series, including those with the Maasai and Lamu inhabitants in Kenya and with the Ashanti in Ghana.
Johnston is one of the most sought-after writer/producer/directors on the Canadian television scene, and is a veteran of series work. Acclaimed and award-nominated many times for producing documentary films such as In the Shadow of a Saint (CBC/BBC/IKON Netherlands/SBS Australia) and The Man Who Could be King (CBC and National Geographic International), he has more recently directed and written films such as The Life and Times of Sarah McLachlan (CBC); Jean’s Marines (W Network); Beetalker (CBC’s Nature of Things/ARTE); and the epic documentary, Riddle of the Polar Sky, an HD film about the Aurora Borealis (Discovery; ARTE; National Geographic Canada); The Climb (CBC; Discovery HD Theatre; National Geographic Canada); The Al Qaeda Code; Empire of the Word (TVO; SBS Australia; TFO; and TG4 Ireland); and To Bee or Not to Bee (CBC’s Nature of Things; ARTE France).
Robin McKenna: Producer, Associate Director
Robin McKenna began making films with La Course destination monde (1997-98), the Radio-Canada series which sent young people around the world with a video camera, making creative, point-of-view documentaries. She has worked as a videojournalist for CBC News Sunday. In 2003 she spent 6 months in Argentina filming The Take, directed by Avi Lewis and written by Naomi Klein (American Film Institute Award for Best Feature Documentary, 2004). She was one of the film’s cinematographers, and made a short documentary Fire the Director: the Making of the Take.
Her 1-hour doc, The Great War Experience, followed 150 descendants of First World War soldiers and nurses through boot camp as they tried to relive the experience of their ancestors. The film won the Founders Award at Yorkton Film Festival in 2007. She was cinematographer on City of Borders, about a gay bar in Jerusalem where Israelis and Palestinians find common ground. It premiered at Berlinale 2009, screened at Hot Docs and was screened on PBS and theatrically in the United States. She recently completed a doc for Radio-Canada (70 Ans...et dans le placard?) is directing a series called GrandBenders, and developing a film about Japanese Zen master Joshu Sasaki Roshi, whose students include Leonard Cohen.
Amanda Handy: Producer
Amanda joined Nomad Films in 2007 as a Partner and Producer. Successfully leveraging her diverse film and television experience, Amanda has created and implemented a number of initiatives to position Nomad as a leading company in the film and television industry. Since joining Nomad Amanda has worked as a producer on the critically acclaimed The Al Qaeda Code, the ambitious 4 part documentary series Empire of the Word and as Associate Producer on the Afghan feature film Act of Dishonour, directed by Nelofer Pazira and Coproduced with Dan Iron of Foundry Films (Away from Her). Upcoming projects include In The Shadow of a Saint.
Mahi Razoghar: Editor
Mahi Rahgozar has edited a number of Danish feature films, including Kick N’ Rush, (Winner of the Jury Award at Festival du Film de Châtenay-Malabry, selected for Berlin Film Festival 2004) and award-winning documentaries such as Afghan Muscles, (Grand Jury Prize for the Best Documentary at AFI Fest, Jury Prize at Dokument Art European Film Festival and nominated Best Danish Documentary at Copenhagen DOX 2007), among others.
In 2001, she graduated from the renowned National Film School of Denmark, where she edited the fictional short Feeding Desire, which received the Honorary Foreign Film Prize at The Student Academy Awards in Hollywood in 2002. Shortly after, she edited This Charming Man, which won an Oscar at the 75th Academy Awards in the “Best Short Live Action” category, and several other awards worldwide. In 2004, she received the Erik Hoffmeyer Grant, a prize normally given to an up-and-coming musician each year in Denmark. Mahi was the first non-musician to ever receive this prize, citing her unique sense of musicality in film editing. Mahi has also had her hand in directing and writing. Her last authored piece was the documentary It’s all Good, part of the highly successful documentary series entitled Five Heartbeats, produced with The Danish National Film Board and DR2, the Danish National Broadcasting Station. She moved to Toronto in 2008.
John Welsman: Composer
Thirteen-time Gemini Award nominee and five-time Gemini Award winner John Welsman has over seven theatrical features, fourteen movies for television, fourteen television series and fifty documentaries to his name. Career highlights to date include the hit dramatic series Road to Avonlea, documentary series The Nature of Things with David Suzuki, and James Cameron and Simcha Jacobovici’s The Exodus Decoded and The Lost Tomb of Jesus. He’s also well known for his work with director Ingrid Veninger, most recently for the feature film, Modra, as well as director Charles Officer’s Nurse.Fighter.Boy, along with his music for children’s animated series Franklin and Friends, The Mighty Jungle and My Friend Rabbit.
PRODUCTION NOTES
ABOUT THE FILM AND ITS HISTORY
Twelve years ago, director Mark Ellam almost died. He had been living in Central America for a year, in the Nayarit desert in Mexico, hundreds of miles from a hospital. His life was saved by an indigenous doctor, who managed to open his lungs when he could no longer breathe. The doctor sang while giving him medicines from strange bottles, and small leather bags. The experience turned Mark inside out- and led ultimately to a journey culminating in The Jungle Prescription.
The film is the result of a 10-year investigation into what traditional cultures know, and we have forgotten, about the most powerful plants on Earth. The filmmaking team - Mark, his best friend Jeronimo Mazarrasa, and life partner Robin McKenna - traveled to a dozen countries and three continents, filming otherworldly rituals, extraordinary behaviors that at the same time seemed to manifest something that was universal to all mankind. Eventually our investigation led us to ayahuasca.
We decided to focus on Amazonian curanderos, heirs of an ancient indigenous tradition, and their medicine of choice: a powerful decoction of two psychoactive plants, whose importance for the West will only grow in the future. In the past two decades, the Amazonian brew has been entering the West through underground networks, syncretic ayahuasca churches, plane-hopping curanderos, and inquisitive psychotherapists. While other traditions we documented were slowly dying, interest in this peculiar soul-baring tea was expanding, exponentially. When we began this research, there were eight sites on the Internet with a reference to ayahuasca. There are now eight hundred thousand.
In our travels through South America, we found a little-known informal society of doctors operating in one corner of the ethnospere: Western M.D.s who have been learning from indigenous doctors for years. We realized there was an important story to tell here, and, having created deep relationships over years of research, we were uniquely positioned to tell it. We believed we could make a film that not only pays homage to the richness of indigenous knowledge, but also shows how it can be put into practice, providing mutual benefits for all if the exchange is reciprocal.
And then we met Dr. Gabor Mate. After the publication of his award-winning book on addiction, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Mate had heard about ayahuasca, and the possibilities it provided. He was immediately interested in the project, and embarked with us on the long and challenging journey of making this film - sharing with us his personal and professional life, his struggles and doubts, becoming a friend and collaborator along the way.
ABOUT PRODUCTION
The team that shot the series around the planet was small, but veteran. Director and Director of Photography Mark Ellam had shot some of Canada’s most ambitious feature documentaries (including The Take and RIP!: A Remix Manifesto). With sound recordist Jason Milligan, he shot Empz 4 Life, the last film by the great Canadian verité filmmaker Allan King.
Building relationships and trust, from Takiwasi to the Colombian Amazon to the Downtown Eastside, was a process which took many years. It began with months spent in Brazilian ayahuasca churches building friendships in 2003, continued with more months living at Takiwasi (Executive Producer Jeronimo Mazarrasa) in 2008-9, and included a long process developing relationships with the indigenous organization in Colombia. After long negotiations, we were allowed access to their rare and beautiful ceremonies.
Following our addict characters over a period of almost a year was a huge logistical challenge. Mark Ellam and Robin McKenna followed patients in Vancouver (with the generosity of Gabor Maté and his wife Rae, who shared their house with the team for long periods.) Establishing trust and relationships in the Downtown Eastside, particularly at Insite, the safe injection site and treatment centre, was a sensitive process - especially considering the ongoing threat of shutdown by the federal government. Thanks in part to Gabor’s close and continuing relationship with them, the staff was increasingly supportive of the project, and open to our presence. As a subject, Maté was generous (despite his superhuman schedule), funny, sometimes impatient, and always-insightful.
In Peru, the second unit team (cinematographer Gris Jordana and Executive Producer/sound recordist Jeronimo Mazarrasa) spent five months at Takiwasi, following patients through the treatment process. To get close to patients there, they had to become patients themselves: each assigned a strenous plant program and a psychologist, and participating in ceremonies. When Gabor visited Peru, he, too, submitted immediately to the challenging Takiwasi regime – swallowing pungent wild roots and the juice of black tobacco, triggering a fever and purging to the brink of death.
To get inside the world of our addicts, a practiced verité method allowed our small crew to create unparalleled intimacy – sharing our characters’ struggles and powerful catharses, their doubts, fears, loss and redemption. Shot on full frame 35mm cameras, the film is imbued with a heightened sense of reality. Cine-style lenses and filtration capture breathtaking scenes along tributaries of the Amazon: witnessing spectacular ceremonies where the remedy is prepared and looking out over the canopy jungle from which it originates. These scenes collide with the electric cityscapes of Vancouver and Barcelona.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
PRODUCTION YEAR: 2011
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: CANADA
FILMED ON LOCATION IN: CANADA; USA; PERU; SPAIN; COLOMBIA.
RUNNING LENGTH: 43 MINS
PRODUCTION COMPANY: NOMAD FILMS INC.
SHOOTING FORMAT: CANON 5D AND 7D
AVAILABLE FORMATS: HD/Digibeta
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
COLOUR OR BLACK AND WHITE: COLOUR
LANGUAGES: AVAILABLE IN ENGLISH (WITH MATERIALS TO ALLOW FOR VERSIONING)
FILMS TO PREMIERE ON NOVEMBER 10TH, 2011 ON CBC’S NATURE OF THINGS.
CONTACT INFORMATION
DISTRIBUTOR:
Jan Rofekamp, Films Transit (email: jan@filmstransit.com)
PRODUCTION COMPANY:
Nomad Films:
Mark Johnston and Amanda Handy
Nomad Films Inc.
1378 Queen Street East
Toronto, ON
M4L 1C9
Ph: 416-533-9658
E-mail: mark@nomadfilms.ca or amanda@nomadfilms.ca
KEY CREDITSJUNGLE PRESCRIPTION CREDITS
Directed and Photographed by
Mark Ellam
Producers
Amanda Handy
Robin McKenna
Executive Producers
Mark Johnston
Mark Ellam
Jeronimo Mazarrasa
Associate Director
Robin McKenna
Written By
Mark Ellam
Mark Johnston
Robin McKenna
2nd Unit Camera
Jordana Griselda
Editor
Mahi Rahgozar
Additonal Editing By
David Murray
Sound Recordists
Jason Milligan
Daniel Hewett
2nd Unit Sound
Jeronimo Mazarrasa
Additional Sound
Robin McKenna
Max Uesugi
Jon Ritchie
Paul Edwards
Music By
John Welsman
CHARACTERS IN THE FILM:
[00:01:57] Dr. Gabor Maté
[00:03:40] Megan (patient of Gabor’s)
[00:04:28] Cynthia (patient of Gabor’s)
[00:05:11] Breanne (patient of Gabor’s)
[00:05:45] Colin (patient of Gabor’s)
[00:06:24] Tracy D'Souza, Nurse
[00:07:34] Cary Wright, Traditional Medicine Expert
[00:09:23] Dr. Jacques Mabit
[00:22:55] Dr. Jordi Riba, Pharmacologist
[00:26:26] Dr. Josep Maria Fabregas, Psychiatrist and
Addiction ExpertPHOTOS: 12 photos zipped and emailed.
1. Cynthia with her children, Vancouver. Credit: Mark Ellam
2. Dr. Gabor Mate, Vancouver. Credit: Mark Ellam
3. Dr. Gabor Mate in Amazon, Tarapoto, Peru: Credit: Mark Ellam
4. Dr. Gabor Mate, Vancouver. Credit: Mark Ellam
5. Dr. Gabor Mate, Vancouver. Credit: Mark Ellam
6. Dr. Gabor Mate takes ayahuasca, Tarapoto, Peru. Credit: Mark Ellam
7. Dr. Gabor Mate talks to Dr. Jacques Mabit, Tarapoto, Peru. Credit: Mark Ellam
8. Dr. Jacques Mabit over a pot of ayahuasca, Tarapoto, Peru. Credit: Mark Ellam
9. Patient Cynthia post ayahuasca ceremony, Vancouver. Credit: Mark Ellam
10. Patient Megan in Northwest Territories, Canada. Credit: Mark Ellam
11. Patients Breanne and Colin, Vancouver. Credit: Mark Ellam
12. Takewasi Treatment Centre patient prepares for ayahuasca ceremony, Tarapoto, Peru. Credit: Mark Ellam
WEB SITE MATERIALS:
List of relevant links and digital images. Please include a company contact email address to be posted for more information.
Facebook: The Ayahuasca Project
Website: http://flavors.me/ayahuasca.
