Tobacco.org

• Hot Docs: How the Mohawk tobacco industry caught fire  

Where there’s smoke there’s ire, at least when it comes to critics of the tobacco industry on native reserves, evidenced in Ojibway filmmaker Jeff Dorn’s Smoke Traders.

The TVO-commissioned documentary, which had its world premiere at Hot Docs Thursday, screens again Friday. It will air on TVO this fall.

Dorn, who works at CTV Ottawa, spent three years filming in the Mohawk communities of Akwesasne and Kahnawake, documenting a thriving economy both among cigarette runners and the growing number of native-run cigarette factories and tobacco companies.

The doc starts out with runners making trips across the St. Lawrence River, ferrying duty-free cigarettes from aboriginal land to areas where taxes push up the price of cigarettes. . . .

What was once shadowy enterprise, with smugglers bringing duty-free products from the U.S. to Canadian consumers of black market, tax-free smokes has evolved into a multi-million-dollar industry run by native factory owners who produce cigarettes for tax-free sales on Canadian and U.S. reserves.

“We (Mohawks) control 50 per cent of the industry in Quebec and Ontario,” said Dickson proudly. And if they sell cigarettes to non-natives who come to the reserve to buy them without paying taxes, that’s hardly Rainbow Tobacco’s problem.

As one man says in the doc: “Canada calls it illegal. We call it good business.” . . .

Filmmaker Dorn said he wanted to show another side of native life with Smoke Traders.

“I’m not promoting smoking or tobacco,” said Dorn, who kicked the habit himself just over two months ago.

“The thing that amazed me as an aboriginal man is there’s not much left in the community for people to grab onto and this is something the Mohawks have found. It’s a powerful took and it’s an economic engine. You have an industry that is creating jobs and employment.”

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• Cigarette warning goes up in smoke over anti-tobacco warnings 

What the health ministry proposes, the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry disposes.

This is the case with regard to restricting scenes showing use of tobacco in movies and television serials.

The new rules to restrict smoking scenes, unveiled by the health ministry with much fanfare in November 2011, have been quietly kept in abeyance by the I&B ministry, documents obtained under the RTI Act have revealed. Under pressure from Bollywood, the ministry has asked the censor board to just ignore the new rules.

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• ''Jannat 2' ad showing Emraan smoking unlawful' 

Newspaper advertisements of the film "Jannat 2" showing actor Emraan Hashmi smoking a cigarette violated anti-tobacco laws, an NGO said Thursday pointing to the violation.

In a letter to the health ministry and the information and broadcasting ministry, HRIDAY (Health Related Information Dissemination Amongst Youth) pointed to "blatant violations of the rules" in the print advertisements.

"These ads, showing Hashmi smoking, have been published in supplements of leading national dailies. This amounts to a violation of the Rule 9(2) of the said (government) notification," said the letter.

It cited the notification saying that "any promotional material and posters of the films and television programmes shall not depict any tobacco products or their usage in films".

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I am not a bad influence: Srinagara Kitty 

New report and film reveal shocking impact of tobacco packaging on children 

Looking a bit burnt-out Al! Wrinkly Pacino puffs on a cigarette on movie set  

Emraan Hashmi's tobacco woes! : Titbits 

Emraan Hashmi bid adieu to smoking a long time back but little did the actor knew he would have to chew tobacco soon. To play a foul-mouthed reporter in Dibakar Banerjee's "Shanghai", he had to re-start the habit.

On the first day of the shoot, Emraan was asked to chew tobacco for a scene and it was not a pleasant experience. Tobacco left him with such a distaste that Emraan almost threw up and felt giddy.

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Filmart 2012: HKIFF Opener ‘Buff’ Generates Pre-Fest Sales Buzz  

Media Asia's romantic comedy Love in the Buff, opener of the 36th Hong Kong International Film Festival from director Pang Ho-cheung, has proved to be a hit before the fest has even kicked off. The film has inked presale deals with China Lion for the U.S. and Canada, Dream Movies for Australia and New Zealand, Encore Films for Malaysia and Singapore and Applause Pictures for Taiwan. . . .

The sequel to the 2010 cult hit about the joys of smoking, Love in a Puff, Buff finds the couple from the first film -- Miriam Yeung and Shawn Yue -- struggling to reconcile after relocating them to Beijing. The film marks the first major release for director Pang after his own relocation to the Chinese capital. "Smoking is no longer the main focus of the film; we've strengthened the romantic storyline and incorporated the sights and sounds of Beijing," said John Chong, Media Asia executive director.

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Anti-smoker Vivek’s protest goes up in smoke!  

Unsung Masterpiece Theater: ‘The Insider' Sheds Light On Big Tobacco Whistleblower 

• Wales on verge of relaxing smoking ban for actors to puff on set  

Deborah Hutton Campaign: The Warren School starts filming anti-smoking production  

Tobacco companies getting creative 

• DOH decries smoking scenes in Metro filmfest winner 

Failure. This was the grade that the multi-awarded movie in the 2011 Metro Manila Film Festival got from anti-tobacco advocates, according to a study by the Department of Health (DOH).

“Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga” got the most awards in the filmfest, but the DOH was unimpressed.

44 out of 91 scenes in the 112-minute black-and-white movie, which starred Laguna Governor E.R. Ejercito, showed actors who were smoking.

“Ironically, this adjudged quality and best film is filled with tobacco and smoking scenes from the first 4 minutes of the movie up to the last few minutes towards the end. Smoking is also very obvious in the movie’s trailer, music video, print advertisement and poster,” said Anthony Roda, acting division chief of the DOH’s National Center for Health Promotion.

He warned that smoking scenes in movies is an “indirect tobacco advertising and promotion vehicle,” which violates existing laws.

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Department of Health exec laments smoking scenes in "Manila Kingpin: The Untold Story of Asiong Salonga"