Josh Gilbert's serio-comic documentary "a/k/a Tommy Chong," screened at the San Francisco Independent Film Festival (IndieFest), is a pointed chronicle of the 2003 arrest and prosecution of counterculture comedian Tommy Chong, whose iconic stoner movies and stand-up routines made him an enemy of the Bush Administration's War on Drugs and landed him in prison -- for the manufacture of glass pipes.

Spending time with Tommy Chong and his family after his surprise indictment for manufacturing drug paraphernalia -- via Chong Glass, a novelty glass pipe business run by his son, Paris -- filmmaker Gilbert deftly combines intimate ride-alongs and interviews with media footage as Chong is sentenced to, and serves, nine months in a minimum-security California prison. From early footage of his counterculture days as half of Cheech and Chong, to scenes of Chong's post-prison stand-up act, Tommy Chong emerges as an unwavering icon of the American spirit whose fan base was only made stronger by his martyrdom at the hands of the federal prison system.

To be sure, this is no objective documentary; director Gilbert is clearly a firm supporter of Chong, his plight, and his endorsement of marijuana, and effectively portrays the government prosecution as a witch hunt, with Chong their example to drug users and enthusiasts across the country. U.S. Attorney Mary Beth Buchanan, who spearheaded Operation Pipe Dreams in an attempt to shut down the drug paraphernalia industry, is painted as a sheer opportunist who quickly ascended in the ranks following the high-profile bust; her boss, then-Attorney General John Ashcroft, simply appears ridiculous when he declares America "safe" from terrorism after Tommy Chong is behind bars.

And so, despite the obvious stoner sympathies of the filmmakers, it is not difficult to agree with the absurdity of the government and this particular operation. Interviews with Chong Glass employees reveal the eight month-long sting that finally implicated the company in wrongdoing: after months and months of desperate phone calls, an undercover customer persuaded a rookie employee to send a shipment of pipes to Pennsylvania -- one of only two states that forbid the sale of paraphernalia.

Once the law was broken, the U.S. Attorney's office sent hundreds of armed law enforcement officers to raid Chong's factory and his empty house in an effort that cost American taxpayers $12 million.

Most notably, Chong was the only one among fifty-five indictees to receive prison time; according to him, prosecutors gave him the choice between serving his sentence and allowing his wife and son to face criminal charges as well. Tommy Chong chose to spare his family and accept his sentence, and emerged from incarceration not only a figure of America's countercultural past but a symbol of civil liberty as well.

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If you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, swing by IndieFest, which runs through Tuesday, February 14 (that's Valentine's Day, in case you fellas forget). They've already screened movies like "Initial D," "The Proposition," and "a/k/a Tommy Chong," and this week's films include the Jackie Chan-produced "House of Fury" and Takashi Miike's children's fantasy, "The Great Yokai War." Check out their full line-up of independent films, here.