description

A FEATURE DOCUMENTARY
CANADA, 2011, 84 MINUTES

Raw Opium is a feature length documentary (and two-part series) about a commodity that has tremendous power - both to ease pain and to destroy lives. The opium poppy is the raw material for heroin, fueling a vast criminal trade larger than the economies of many countries.

Raw Opium is a journey around the world and through time, where conflicting forces do battle over the narcotic sap of the opium poppy. From an opium master in southeast Asia to a UN drug enforcement officer on the border of Afghanistan hunting down the smugglers of central Asia; from a former Indian government Drug Czar and opium farmer to a crusading Vancouver doctor and Portuguese street worker who daily confront the realities of drug addiction.

We see how this flower has played, and continues to play, a pivotal role - not just in the lives of people who grow, manufacture and use it - but also in the increasingly tense sphere of international relations. In the process, our assumptions about addiction and the War on Drugs are challenged.

credits

Director
PETER FINDLAY

Producer
ROBERT LANG

Written by
PETER D. FINDLAY
ROBERT LANG

Associate Producer / Researcher
SCOTT CALBECK

Cinematographers
DEREK ROGERS
JONATHAN BLAND

Editor
MICHAEL FULLER

Sound Recordists
MIKE FILLIPOV
AO LOO
KEVIN PINTO

Production Manager
DAVID METH

Original Music
JOHN FINDLAY

Narration
PETER D. FINDLAY
JOHN KRAMER

Narrator
JOHN RALSTON

Editorial Consultant
JOHN KRAMER

Head of Development
DAVID OPPENHEIM

Produced by KENSINGTON COMMUNICATIONS in association with TVO, CANAL D (owned by Astral Media), SCN, CTV Two, ZDF-ARTE, and SBS-TV AUSTRALIA.
Produced with the participation of the ONTARIO MEDIA DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION, and ROGERS DOCUMENTARY FUND.
Produced with the financial participation of CANADIAN TELEVISION FUND, and with the assistance of the CANWEST-HOT DOCS COMPLETION FUND.