When Kelowna’s Adam Scorgie set out to produce and co-create The Union: The Business Behind Getting High, he didn’t imagine that Canadian MPs would be inviting him to Parliament Hill for screenings of the film.
But five years after the documentary’s release, that’s exactly what has happened.
Last week, Scorgie and director Brett Harvey were in Ottawa after Vancouver Quadra MP Joyce Murray’s office invited the duo for a screening of the film.
Four MPs—two of them from the Conservative Party—attended the screening along with Liberal Justice and Human Rights critic, Irwin Cotler.
“It doesn’t even seem real that MPs are taking (the documentary) so seriously—it’s weird, I don’t know how else to explain it,” said Scorgie
“We knew once we finished the film that it could actually change things and open people’s minds, but we never thought we’d be invited to this kind of political platform.
According to Scorgie, it was Cotler’s son who urged his father to watch the film. He added that Cotler’s son used to be strongly against the legalization of marijuana; however, his view changed after watching The Union.
“The Liberal Party is looking at what they’re calling the most sensible legalization bill to ever be passed in Canada. They want it to be a bipartisan issue.”
Since the trip to Parliament Hill, Scorgie has received e-mails requesting boxes of his DVDs to be handed out to various MPs throughout the country.
“There is a chance that if this bill goes through next year that The Union will have played a part in the education process for how they draft the bill. It could literally affect history in some small way. . .we were ahead of our time.”
Now Scorgie and Harvey are refocusing their efforts on The Culture High, a sequel to The Union.
“The Union really covered the business side and focused a lot on Canada and North America. The Culture High is going to look at a much more global perspective—how there seems to be a culture shift in the way people are looking at cannabis prohibition.”
The crew behind The Culture High will be launching a Kickstarter campaign June 20 with the hope of raising $190,000 for a theatrical release of the new documentary.
“If 10 per cent of our Facebook followers were to pre-buy a copy of the film, we would get it into 50 to 100 theatres across North America.
“If we hit this goal, right off the bat we will be the largest funded Canadian documentary on Kickstarter in the company’s history.”
If all goes according to plan, Scorgie thinks a 2013 release is possible. He said that he’s excited about the potential of the planned documentary.
“We’re much better as film makers, we’ve got access to way more footage and bigger clientele and we have a new spin on the way we’re going to tell this story.”
Scorgie said that the recent Parliament Hill visit is going to be used in the Kickstarter promotional video and will likely be a part of The Culture High final product.
wpaterson@kelownacapnews.com
