Ron Mann said a couple years ago: "Eric Dolphy once said that when you hear music through the air it's gone, and you can never capture it again. So, if all this culture in the air was ephemeral, I started to think if I didn't document it then it would be like it never happened, and it would just disappear."

This quote applies not only to his fantastic jazz movie Imagine the Sound (1981) which he was referring to, but to basically every other cultural movement or figure he's covered.

Counter-cultural poets, musicians, comic book writers, twist dancing in the 1960s, the war on drugs, environmentalists, car designers....the list goes on. Torontonians might remember his doc Dream Tower that tells the story of Rochdale College and the city's failed attempt at an alternative education school.

Counter-cultural failures can be as edifying as the successes, and relating to the above citation, movements that co-exist for a given time with the mainstreamneed recording, since the media doesn't instinctively jump on them. His companies, Sphinx Productions and Films We Like (distributor), have contributed to that essential piece of the cultural pie for years.

Here, I email with filmmaker Ron Mann who decides to answer all my questions in multiple choice format.

You consider yourself a file-maker rather than a filmmaker. What do you mean by that?

a) I mix new footage, old footage, expose and develop parts of history. I make a personal historical "file" of sorts about the subjects I choose to cover
b) I build filing-cabinets
c) All of the above

Answer:
d) None of the above - I used to work with celluloid film, now I work with digital files. I'm a file-maker!

You've been making films since the end of the 1970s. Has making films become easier for you over the years?

a) Yes
b) No
c) I'm not sure. Different things are at stake now.

Answer:
d) If you mean has digital made the "film process" easier - yes. On the distribution side however, it's still difficult to project digital. I'd personally like to see a faster conversion to digital cinema. We need more Royal Cinemas in Toronto.

What compelled you to start Films We Like? (Mann's film distribution company)

a) Distribute my own work
b) Distribute independent films in Canada that might otherwise not get deals
c) Make money
d) All of the above
e) Most of the above

Answer:
f) Films We Like was started because a film that I helped Weather Underground was unable to find theatrical distribution in Canada. Along with rock promoter Gary Topp and B-Girl Michael Boyuk, I formed a company to release worthy but ignored films.

Did you feel there was a turning point where your career "picked up"?

a) It had picked up before it even started
b) With the movie Grass
c) When I started distributing films on top of making them

Answer:
d) I never considered myself as having a career. I've always been an outsider to a career driven industry.

What's your favorite film in theatres right now?

a) Avatar
b) Alvin and the Chipmunks - the Squeakquel
c) Inferno: L'Enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot
d) White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights

Answer:
e) C and D. Full disclosure - both are Films We Like releases.

Your latest film is titled Know Your Mushrooms. Can you tell us about it?

a) No.
b) It investigates the multifaceted world of mushrooms through it's many admirers and consumers.
c) It's a cooking show.

Answer:
d) All of the above. And has multiple choice questions as well.

The project you're currently working on is titled In The Wake of The Flood. What's it about?

a) The US government's recent efforts to save banks
b) David Hasselhoff's recent attempts to save himself
c) Margaret Atwood's recent tour to help save birds.

Answer:
d) Margaret Atwood is a hero of mine.