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The “Sunny Side” of Spring for truth®  

Throughout the month of April and May, new elements from the truth® youth smoking prevention campaign will roll out online, on television, and in movie theaters. The latest truth® campaign, called the “Sunny Side of truth® ”, launched in January 2008; the campaign aims to shine a light on some of the activities of Big Tobacco and the health consequences of tobacco use by satirically pointing out some of the “hidden positives” associated with tobacco.

“We know that today’s media-savvy teens look to TV, the Internet and popular entertainment to keep up with friends and get their daily information,” remarked Cheryl G. Healton

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The Cinematic Smoking Debate Heats Up Once Again  

The Hollywood Reporter posts that the anti-tobacco American Legacy campaign is descending on the U.S. Capitol for an event this Thursday. There's no word on what this event will entail, other than some guests who include Jonathan Klein and Stephenie Foster, but the goal is to get Congress thinking about smoking on film.

American Legacy says that 1/3 of all teens start smoking because of the movies, and that "the nearly 14 billion smoking images" they say young people see has contributed to "the nation's 40,000-person tobacco-related death toll." . . .

I agree that smoking is a problem, but it seems like the movie industry is getting way too much of the blame -- and I say this as someone who hates smoking, is allergic, and wishes it didn't exist.

I can't help but wonder: With this push to eradicate smoking on film, will old films fall victim at some point? Will their scenes full of the smoky haze of cigs only be allowed to screen on public stations late at night like those soft-core sex flicks?

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Hollywood's Smoking History - Photos - WTVJ  

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Get Govt officials to quit drinking, Big B tells Ramadoss 

After Saif Ali Khan and Sharmila Tagore, it was Amitabh Bachchan’s turn to take on Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss. Bachchan has asked the minister to first ask Government officers to quit drinking and smoking before he expects the same from actors.

Bachchan spoke his mind through his newfound love for blogging. Big B said that Ramadoss' campaign against smoking and drinking is over zealous. . . .

“Could we dare to inquire whether you, being in governance, have considered first to ban this dreaded habit from all Government servants in the country," Bachchan said in his latest blog.

However, he also said that the film industry will follow diligently if he brings about a law to ban smoking and drinking in films.

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• Debate heats up over smoking in film 

The push to end smoking in the movies lights up Congress this week as the anti-tobacco American Legacy campaign plans to highlight their campaign in an event scheduled in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday.

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Smoking, drinking scenes can't be kept out of films: Pyarelal 

Legendary music director Pyarelal of the Laxmikant-Pyarelal duo has joined the debate doing the rounds triggered by Union Health Minister remarks about keeping smoking and drinking scenes out of films.

The music director says such a situation is impossible as the scripts demands such characters and imposing such restrictions would be tantamount to limiting artistic creativity.

"If an actor is playing the role of a crook, how can you expect that a devotional song will be picturised on him without a cigarette or alcohol in his hand? I think that will limit the creativity of the writer or director,"says Prarelal.

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O meri Sharmili... 

MyNews readers say censor board chief’s criticism of Ramadoss’s stand against smoking and drinking scenes on screen is unfair

Censor board chief Sharmila Tagore should be sacked from her post for her unfair criticism of Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss, who raised the issue of drinking and smoking scenes on the big screen.

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Last Chance / Levitation and Smoking: Signature Images in Video Works 

Few things say serious art like a darkened gallery and multiple video screens, which makes Marian Goodman one of the most serious galleries in town. In side-by-side solo shows through Wednesday, it is screening new work by two prominent artists in the cinematic medium, Chantal Akerman and Eija-Liisa Ahtila. . . .

Ms. Akerman bites off less and chews it more thoroughly. If anything, she is underreaching with “Women From Antwerp in November, 2007,” which appears on a band of five relatively small screens. Each shows one woman — occasionally, two or three — smoking. At times they are in a bar, but more often they are outside, at night.

They walk along sidewalks, hang out on street corners, sit reading in parks, struggle with matches in the rain, weave home drunkenly, pass out or doze off. Smoke swirls. There are moments of tears and laughter. Best scene: in a bar one woman takes a cigarette from the mouth of another, uses it to light her own and puts it back.

That everyone is trim, great-looking and exceptionally stylish makes “Women of Antwerp” seem like a compilation of smoking moments from other movies; practice shots by a fashion photographer who wants to direct; or overproduced, Europeanized film versions of Cindy Sherman’s early work. . . .

Video art by Chantal Akerman and Eija Liisa Ahtila is on view through Wednesday at Marian Goodman Gallery, 24 West 57th Street, Manhattan; (212) 977-7160.

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Smoking made Gemma Arterton get through steamy sex-scenes 

New Bond babe Gemma Arterton has revealed that filming sex scenes with actor Mackenzie Crook in their latest flick Three and Out was so petrifying that they had to turn to smoking to get through it.

The actress, who is currently filming the new Bond film Quantum of Solace, said that she was so petrified during the filming that the duo had to go for a fag in between shots.

"It was petrifying. I think it's one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was my first love scene so it was terrifying. We both got through it by smoking away in between each take," The Sun quoted Gemma, as saying.

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Activists to Move High Court Against Amitabh Bachchan for Smoking On-Screen 

"We will seek justice in the honourable High Court of Bombay" said Dr Shekhar Salkar, General Secretary of National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE). "Mr.Amitabh Bachchan was clearly shown smoking a cigar [in 'Family' film] in all the display-hoardings prominently. This amounts to clear and unambiguous breach of the law prevalent within the state and the country. However the session court did not appreciate the view of NOTE India, thereby absolving the respondents of the charges" added Dr Salkar.

In March 2008, the Sessions Judge, North Goa, Mr U V Bakre had quashed the legal proceeding against Amitabh Bachchan, chairman of Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Limited (ABCL), for smoking cigar on-screen in 'Family' film. The sessions' Court had also quashed the process issued against Mr Keshu Ramsay and M/s DMS Film Pvt Ltd.

These hoardings, showing Amitabh smoking a cigar, were in gross violation of The Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulations of the Trade and Commerce, Production Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 and under Section 7 of the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997.

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Wife Indicted For Killing Husband With Secondhand Tobacco Smoke  

A wife has been indicted for killing her husband by causing him to contract fatal lung cancer after subjecting him to tobacco smoke for thirty years, and the District Attorney is pursuing the case at the urging of the couple's adult son.

That is the plot of a controversial new film titled 'The Pack' which is raising intriguing, emotional, and complicated questions about choice, individual responsibility, and the scope of criminal law. biz.yahoo.com/iw/080416/0387416.html

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Wife Indicted For Killing Husband With Secondhand Tobacco Smoke 

A wife has been indicted for killing her husband by causing him to contract fatal lung cancer after subjecting him to tobacco smoke for thirty years, and the District Attorney is pursuing the case at the urging of the couple's adult son.

That is the plot of a controversial new film titled 'The Pack' which is raising intriguing, emotional, and complicated questions about choice, individual responsibility, and the scope of criminal law. . . .

As the evidence that secondhand tobacco smoke kills tens of thousands of Americans each year multiplies, the potential for civil - and possibly even criminal - liability for subjecting other people to it grows, says public interest law professor John Banzhaf, Executive Director of Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), America's first antismoking organization.

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THE PACK (.doc) 

The Pack, a new film directed by Alyssa Rallo Bennett and written by Alyssa & Gary O. Bennett of Stonestreet Studios and Electric Movies, is the story of an ambitious district attorney who prosecutes a wife and a mother (Lucie Arnaz) on three counts of murder after her husband (Scott Bryce) dies of lung cancer from breathing her second-hand smoke for thirty years. The twist is that the case is brought to the DA by the couples’ 20-yr. old son (Ryan Homchick). At first, the jury struggles with what appears to be a ridiculous case, but as one juror delves into the facts, the jury finds itself drawn into an intriguing, emotional, and complicated choice regarding addiction, awareness and individual responsibility. . . .

The Pack, unlike The Insider, is not about the tobacco industry per se. Although accurately grounded in legal reality, it deals with heart-wrenching issues surrounding love, loyalty, and personal accountability.

On top on the difficult issues dealt with by the jury, are the searing cultural questions that draw the viewer in. The film asks the following: “What if your behavior was legally accepted for dozens of years and all of a sudden it came into question?" The Pack cleverly depicts how times change and we can get caught without warning in the cultural shift of our nation.

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• The Pack 

The Pack, a new independent feature film directed by Alyssa Rallo Bennett and written by Alyssa & Gary O. Bennett of Jamaad Productions & Electric Movies, is a powerful story about a young man who is prosecuting his mother for killing his father via her second-hand smoke. . . .

The Pack brings to the forefront the complexities and anguish of how any of us can get caught in the cultural and legal shift of our nation. The question The Pack catches us all with is:

"What if your behavior was legally accepted for dozens of years and all of a sudden it came into question?"

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The 'Blueberry' Blahs  

"My Blueberry Nights" is for people who want to see how cute singer Norah Jones looks in different hats. Or when she parts her lips. Or lies asleep on a countertop. And wait! That's not all. The movie, directed and co-written by Wong Kar Wai, is also about how cute Jude Law looks in a woolen cap. Or standing outside the diner where his character works. And smoking roll-up cigarettes.

Somewhere among these endless shots, technically, there is a story. . . .

And while he awaits the inevitable, Jeremy mopes and smokes at the diner.

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