Indie Film in the 'WEEDS'

February 18, 1998

So what's the deal with WEED? WEED's a film I made at the 8th Annual Cannabis Cup that plays at the Enzian Theatre for a week beginning February 20th. Organized by High Times Magazine, The Cannabis Cup takes place in Amsterdam every year around Thanksgiving. So again, What's the deal?

Shot in Dutch coffee shops and halls, the Cup itself simply provides a backdrop for my film. WEED is about choice. The different and wide variety of choices we make results in life's diversity. We are each different from the other. That's a good thing, and it makes the world go around. Kinda trite? True.

WEED celebrates choice. Whether the people in this documentary choose this pot or that, one coffee shop over another, whether they choose to use hemp products or choose pot as a spiritual end, it's about the choices that they make, (the choices that we make) that define their/our individuality. That's our freedom.

I know ya can't lable WEED as brain surgery. And some of you who watch it may wonder where I ever show this "choice=individuality=freedom" concept. Subtly and with intention, I leave for you, the viewer, the choice to like or dislike the people in the film; agree or disagree with what they have to say; and arrive at your own conclusions. That's your freedom.

Ok. So you say: "Big deal! I can like or dislike a film regardless." Well, in most films you either like or dislike what the filmmaker did, you agree with that point of view, or not. WEED, however is not about me, nor do I have a heavy hand pushing a specific agenda. Sure I'm pro pot - whatd'ya expect! But I do offer differing points of view: some mundane, some poignant. Regardless, you are forced to think for yourself. Another good thing.

After every show I attend, I take questions from the audience. Without exception someone asks where they can "sign up for such a cool event. Wow, the Cannabis Cup!" At the same time, someone else from the audience remarks that the Cup was "obviously too commercial. They'd much prefer to go to Amsterdam at a different time of the year." See, right on point! We all associate with different people and different ideas. Some we like, some we don't. Hopefully, we tolerate our differences.

At first glance, WEED may seem simply thrown together, without rhyme or reason. But it does take you along a path of perspective. You vicariously partake in the event through the stoned conversations of real people. They're just like you and me. And like the event itself, some of them loved it, some didn't. You too get that opportunity to figure it out for yourself.

These simple choices separate us as individuals and define who we are. I smoke pot. It's part of who I am. That's my individuality. That's my freedom.

Doug Wolens
i'm an independent filmmaker, self distributing my last feature documentary WEED around the country. currently i'm working on a new documentary of a girl/woman in northern california who's been sitting in an old groth redwood (1800 years old) for 127 days now, preventing it from being clear cut. i'm also married and have the best dog in the world.