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Documentary maker responds to Illinois Valley heroin problem
An award-winning documentary filmmaker is trying to help the Illinois Valley fight heroin addiction.
St. Louis resident Curtis Elliott is attempting to contact local theater owners and anti-drug coalition leaders so he can show his documentary titled “HairKutt.” The film won best social documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in May.
“I want to be able to get the kids a chance to see this, especially for kids who haven’t started,” he said. “It’s a very good opportunity to show them that this does not have to happen to you.”
Elliott said he became aware of the Illinois Valley’s heroin problem after reading NewsTribune stories from “Requiem for Heroin’s Victims” on the Media Awareness Project Web site.
The Media Awareness Project is an Internet activist nonprofit forum created in 1996 by DrugSense to provide information relevant to drug policy in order to heighten awareness and prove America is losing its war on drugs.
“HairKutt” is about four friends from St. Louis — Elliott is among them — who travel to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to a remote mountain cabin hoping to break their friend Bryant “HairKutt” Johnson’s 15-year addiction to heroin.
The story shows the pain and suffering anyone addicted to opiates must suffer in the detoxification process.
HairKutt, suffering from his ailments, tries to run away from the cabin in an attempt to get back the streets of St. Louis, more than a 10-hour drive away. The drug has poisoned his body so badly that he has to be rushed to the hospital to save his life.
If local theater owners decide not to show Elliott’s documentary, he is offering to speak to local schools about the dangers of heroin addiction he has witnessed after growing up in inner-city St. Louis.
“I’ve had cousins and friends on that drug,” he said. “I figure if they had known what it’s all about before, then they might not have tried it.
“There’s a statistic that says 9 out of 10 people who try heroin become addicted to it,” he said. “I want to show people that 10 out of 10 people who never try it, never become addicted to it, whether it’s through my movie or speaking to people.”
HairKutt
Seems like a unique POV to shoot a drug movie
An award-winning documentary filmmaker is trying to help the Illinois Valley fight heroin addiction.
St. Louis resident Curtis Elliott is attempting to contact local theater owners and anti-drug coalition leaders so he can show his documentary titled “HairKutt.” The film won best social documentary at the New York International Independent Film and Video Festival in May.
“I want to be able to get the kids a chance to see this, especially for kids who haven’t started,” he said. “It’s a very good opportunity to show them that this does not have to happen to you.”
Elliott said he became aware of the Illinois Valley’s heroin problem after reading NewsTribune stories from “Requiem for Heroin’s Victims” on the Media Awareness Project Web site.
The Media Awareness Project is an Internet activist nonprofit forum created in 1996 by DrugSense to provide information relevant to drug policy in order to heighten awareness and prove America is losing its war on drugs.
“HairKutt” is about four friends from St. Louis — Elliott is among them — who travel to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee to a remote mountain cabin hoping to break their friend Bryant “HairKutt” Johnson’s 15-year addiction to heroin.
The story shows the pain and suffering anyone addicted to opiates must suffer in the detoxification process.
HairKutt, suffering from his ailments, tries to run away from the cabin in an attempt to get back the streets of St. Louis, more than a 10-hour drive away. The drug has poisoned his body so badly that he has to be rushed to the hospital to save his life.
If local theater owners decide not to show Elliott’s documentary, he is offering to speak to local schools about the dangers of heroin addiction he has witnessed after growing up in inner-city St. Louis.
“I’ve had cousins and friends on that drug,” he said. “I figure if they had known what it’s all about before, then they might not have tried it.
“There’s a statistic that says 9 out of 10 people who try heroin become addicted to it,” he said. “I want to show people that 10 out of 10 people who never try it, never become addicted to it, whether it’s through my movie or speaking to people.”
HairKutt
Seems like a unique POV to shoot a drug movie
