‘LADY BUDS’ Documentary Tells Overlooked Story of Cannabis Legalization Through Eyes of Women in the Community

This is a press release from Lady Buds:

CALIFORNIA — Upcoming documentary feature film “Lady Buds” has captured exclusive footage of the lesser known social and political aspects of cannabis legalization in California, seen through a female lens. The grassroots film about legalization is premiering its trailer on September 5th, opening up a broader dialogue from the unique perspective of courageous women who are coming out of the shadows. Currently in production, “Lady Buds” has great momentum having been featured nationwide in the magazine “Women & Weed,” and has received support from film organizations such as The Rogovy Foundation, The Sundance Institute, Women In  Film, Film Independent and IFP’s Spotlight on Documentaries. The filmmakers are looking to raise awareness of the documentary as they move into a big fundraising push this fall, with the aim of a world premiere late 2019.

With the influx of big money invested into the newly public cannabis market, the compassionate mission that birthed the cannabis movement in California over 20 years ago is in jeopardy — a conflict most consumers know little about. As farmers, entrepreneurs and activists, the women featured in “Lady Buds” are modern-day superheroes battling corporate interests and risking financial ruin to fight for the industry they helped create, and their community that is in danger of being wiped out.

“In making the documentary, I wanted to represent women in cannabis in an authentic way, while mainstream media has traditionally focused on stereotypes and stoner films. These women are pioneers, putting everything on the line in a fight for survival because of their passion for the plant. They inspire me, and I know they will inspire others,” says Director Russo.

“Lady Buds” is being filmed on location in the Emerald Triangle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. The documentary combines interviews, cinema verite, stylized visual tableaus and archival footage to weave together a character-driven, intimate view of cannabis legalization and how it is affecting legacy farmers and activists who have operated in the underground market for decades. Through the eyes of our six multi-generational “Lady Buds” and their surrounding communities, we learn the implications of this newly regulated market and how it is changing a way of life for many.

Award-winning Director Chris J. Russo’s immersion into this cautious community allows her to tell this story from a trusted, insider perspective, which has rarely been explored in popular media by a female director with female characters.

Facebooktwitterpinterestmail

Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules

Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

55 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
DELLIB
Guest
DELLIB
5 years ago

Modern day Superheroes?

Cove broseph
Guest
Cove broseph
5 years ago
Reply to  DELLIB

Yeah …. i Lol’d at that one . Gimme a break

uncle handcutter
Guest
uncle handcutter
5 years ago
Reply to  DELLIB

courageous lol!

Emily
Guest
Emily
5 years ago

Anyone man or woman who believes getting legal is a brave and honorary thing to do doesn’t get my respect. They disrespect our culture here, imo. Only because I don’t believe in sucking up to govt agencies.

J
Guest
J
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

So you think countless people should be in jail over a plant because your counties greed obsessed rape the land culture is being disrespected?

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  J

She’s just mad she got shut down while the disrespecting permit holders continue their lifestyle.

Guest
Guest
Guest
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

As opposed to the honorable intentions of those who grow illegally to avoid taxes and regulation to squeeze the most profit out of it for themselves? Sounds like Al Capone culture. Or the right wing Militias?

Sparklemahn
Guest
Sparklemahn
5 years ago
Reply to  Guest

Agreed. Regulation is a good thing for the consumer as chemically laced cannabis is illegal, now. Not surprised some lazy growers aren’t happy.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
5 years ago
Reply to  Sparklemahn

Yeah sure! About as illegal as chemically laced food available to consumers.

Larry
Guest
Larry
5 years ago
Reply to  Emily

1000 up votes!

Farce
Guest
Farce
5 years ago

Sounds nice. Unfortunately most women I know who were big game-changers in this field all folded to the oncoming corporate model in pursuit of the “safety” that “legalization” would provide. I’d love to learn of a decent role model but she would most probably be bucking this whole thing, unpermitted and therefore not be able to be publicized as she would then be prosecuted. We are now approaching the witch-hunt phase where all un-permitted operators must be presented as evil and stamped out! I hope they have Brownie Mary in this movie. She was a wonderful strong woman and a true rebel- as in doing it right without regard to the legality and the forces that be. Can’t imagine another 5 who could hold a light to her…but I’d like to be wrong about that!

Local farmer
Guest
Local farmer
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

Permit patty was going to be one of the women highlighted in this documentary. Bunch of corporate sellouts who aren’t from the hills but from the city.

just me
Guest
just me
5 years ago
Reply to  Farce

brownie marry. dont here that name much exept at the Castro castle. yes your correct. she should be in the movie. i know some women up here that are sure they are it. dropping Dennis name after a short visit. now that hes gone they were his best freind. trying to make money off his name. fu—–ing as—holes. Grow hoes posting sexy pictures of other peoples weed living off there boyfriends hard work claiming they do the work. not sure if there selling sex of weed, or both. up to them. just stay away from me. [edit]

binbearda4
Guest
5 years ago

legalization and the onslaught of mass production in Laytonville is pretty fucked up. The legal people ,flo canna, artifact nursery, emerald cup farms employ all their little tattooed 20 something friends after running mom and pop out of business. If you are single mother in your 50’s raising kids?????? Fuck off they have no need for you even if you can out trim the little shit heads. You paying rent and buying school clothes mean fuck nothing to these folks. All those who work at these places in L-ville suck us dry. They don’t shop here, live here, buy gas here, eat lunch here or do fuck nothing to help the economy that is at about 20% thanks to these fuck ball rat bastards. The big guys here do not donate to any of the non profits or contribute to the betterment of this community in any way shape or form. Bottom line it as Calico would say,,,,bottom line it. Lets start with Willie Nelson who wouldn’t know good weed if you threw it at him,,,I know because I’ve thrown it at him in his own bus. “Willies Select” is what fuels Flo Canna and a few of these fuck balls. So, if these cowboys are screwing Laytonville and southern Humboldt? So is fucking Willie Nelson. Hire the handi-capped, Hire local to begin with, donate some fuckin money to the non-profit groups that make up the community your raping and getting fucking rich in ya cock-suckers

Cove broseph
Guest
Cove broseph
5 years ago
Reply to  binbearda4

That was the best poem I’ve read in years

Larry
Guest
Larry
5 years ago
Reply to  binbearda4

Well said brother!!!!!! To bad all these legal beagles couldn’t see this coming it was obvious back in the mid 70’s. Yea I’m f….g old.

sickofit
Guest
sickofit
5 years ago
Reply to  binbearda4

Owner operators of Artifact one of the worst. Greedy and disrespectful , hiring outta the area people, no connection to community or the land. They claim they have “The finest heirloom cannabis- sun grown under the strictest of standards by master cultivators.” NOT.

W
Guest
W
5 years ago
Reply to  sickofit

You forgot to say that they also sell infested cuttings to people. Ruined many people’s crop and said oh well. No one should support them!

sickofit
Guest
sickofit
5 years ago
Reply to  W

Also, on their website, yelp and facebook they stack phony 5 star reviews to keep rating up. They just recently closed then reopened facebook page because they needed to dump negative reviews. The owners wife and family write 5 star reviews regularly. How they sleep at night when their whole scene is a total sham is a mystery. They have the most permits in Mendo county. This is who Mendo county wants in the program……..disgraceful.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
5 years ago

San Francisco and Los Angeles? Already off to a bad start if you ask me. Humboldt and Oakland are where the movement has its roots. But oh that’s right this is about women and pot. I’ll be surprised if it’s not just another documentary about some already wealthy (female) “entrepreneurs” who jumped into the pot industry within the last five years and now they have something to say about how they endured the struggle. We all know that the real deal female pot pioneers reside in these hills and they don’t do documentary interviews.

Seriously
Guest
Seriously
5 years ago

You’ve got that right.

Thomas
Guest
Thomas
5 years ago
Reply to  Seriously

I can think of 4-5 bad ass hard working grower women who I’m wondering if I will see in the flick.

just me
Guest
just me
5 years ago

yep.

Canyon oak
Guest
Canyon oak
5 years ago

I can’t think of anything nice to say.. so..

pt
Guest
pt
5 years ago

courageous lol

No thanks for your services
Guest
No thanks for your services
5 years ago

The real pot growers are the traditional ones in the hills that are being propagandad against in hiding from the witch hunt.the traditional ones who wouldnt dare sell out to this rip off scheme.the ones that went to bed as children in the hills of Emerald tringle with buds hanging above them.the ones who see our rip off politicians for what they are. This buds for you traditional people of the hills

For Sure
Guest
5 years ago

How did we not understand what our kids must’ve smelled like when they would go to Redway School after sleeping under the hanging weed all nite in a little trailer? No wonder we were called dirty, smelly hippies! Growing up in privileged suburbia musta warped our sense of smell, or just warped us, period.

Sparklemahn
Guest
Sparklemahn
5 years ago

Not Bud. How about Lost Coast Pilsner.

future land auction bidder
Guest
future land auction bidder
5 years ago

Battling corporate interests and risking financial ruin typically leads to financial ruin. Battling the law and govt agencies will lead to financial ruin quickly. By the time the world premier is released in late 2019 the game will be mostly over for the old ways.

Seriously
Guest
Seriously
5 years ago

I beg to differ. Its back to indoor and the bushes and hiding out like the old days. The greenrush was an anomaly, maybe the Sheriffs Dept can explain themselves some day on why they let it happen. The shitshow greenrush and its aftermath lands squarely at their feet.

future land auction bidder
Guest
future land auction bidder
5 years ago
Reply to  Seriously

Manufacturing can turn back to the old days but the marketplace has changed and will continue to change. The blackmarket will continue to shrink, prices will continue to fall until all that is left is minors and Iowa.

In the interim the HCSO is going to make a fortune for the county. Maybe make up for tax cheats and get that pension fund back in order.

Sleepy Alligator
Guest
Sleepy Alligator
5 years ago

That “fortune” will be used to pay off the law suits that will inevitably be brought against the county. The excess wil fall on taxpayers.

future land auction bidder
Guest
future land auction bidder
5 years ago

The county can use the money they make auctioning off the confiscated land to to defend the lawsuits that they will ultimately win.

local observer
Guest
local observer
5 years ago

they didn’t win the previous round in 2010, what makes you think they will win this time. do you think there could be a valid reason why the other 2 agencies involved are not going this route of extortion?

Potmation
Guest
Potmation
5 years ago

Agreed the black market will never be the same.

There are a number of parallels between alcohol and cannabis prohibition. From the mid-1930s on, outlaw moonshine culture slowly withered away. Increasingly, as there were fewer dry counties and the price difference between taxed alcohol and moonshine narrowed, the only thing left of moonshine culture was the story of what it used to be.

The mythic stories of the bootlegger in the hotrod and the family moonshine recipe are now used to market commercial liquor. Let us have no doubt that the image of the Humboldt grower and CAMP will be used to brand cannabis in the near future.

I think the question is not if the black market will come back (it will not). The question is does the Emerald Triangle want to be the Napa Valley of pot or the Appalachia?

future land auction bidder
Guest
future land auction bidder
5 years ago
Reply to  Potmation

Me guesses the Napa v Humboldt game is tilted by h2o and market proximity in the long bet. Emerald Triangle brands have a HUGE head start. A place in history. Someone with the right chops will get a SoHum brand rolling to some degree. Every other pissant rapper poser bitch is twittering out a brand and biz deal. Where is the Emerald Triangle brand awareness? Too caught up in the new enforcement reality to get it together. The economics will guide the future. Someone strike a deal with Oprah already.

Your comparison of the 30s prohibition scene is the most recent national level model we have. The economics of sin substances and taxes. Etoh prohibition ended due to the need to raise tax money, little to do with gangsters and public sentiment. Same with 64. The legislators need tax money, so they go with it and grandmas vote yes for 64 so they can get reduced bus fare.

This crap started on USA day one. George opened up a can of whoopass on the resistance. (wikipedia)
The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called “whiskey tax” was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. It became law in 1791, and was intended to generate revenue for the war debt incurred during the Revolutionary War.

Potmation
Guest
Potmation
5 years ago

Emerald Triangle cannabis branding is currently heavy on the distributors and light on the producers. Very few producers are actively engaged in their own branding. If wine used the cannabis branding formula, a bottle of wine would be branded “American Wines Merlot” with a paper tag stating “Winery: Darioush, Region: Napa.”

Sparklemahn
Guest
Sparklemahn
5 years ago
Reply to  Potmation

Bingo!

No thanks for your services
Guest
No thanks for your services
5 years ago

Yeah maybe but being a ratt sellout leads to self shame and a feeling in your gut and soul that you’re a pile.rather go do something else for a living than be that guy,money isn’t worth groveling to law enforcement, planning dep.water board, supervisors.selling out your neighborhood, people you grew up with, you’re community.scabs the new shame of the biz

future land auction bidder
Guest
future land auction bidder
5 years ago

gooooooood luck with that.

rollin21
Guest
rollin21
5 years ago

yawn

No thanks for your services.
Guest
No thanks for your services.
5 years ago

Future land stealer wont be bidding on my land.lol

Tailgate
Guest
Tailgate
5 years ago

Not a single positive comment in the whole thread. Lots of butthurt.

Lady Buddy
Guest
Lady Buddy
5 years ago

Hopefully they don’t include any new to the game wannabe Youtube stars posing as experts in a field they’ve only just stepped into in the past few years. Cheesy wannabe celebrities using our industry as a way to get Instagram famous are not game changers or superheroes.

Homesteader
Guest
Homesteader
5 years ago

What a bunch of whiny, pathetic and sexist comments! Why don’t you guys wait to see the move instead of making all these uniformed, sweeping statement? Really sad to see such stupidity and negativity on here.

gunther
Guest
gunther
5 years ago

What’s next? Thirty years from now it will be Lady Heroin. The courageous women of the Devil’s Playground?

Sparklemahn
Guest
Sparklemahn
5 years ago
Reply to  gunther

Women of Meth!

warrens buffet
Guest
warrens buffet
5 years ago

follow the money . its all about the money. the only thing that has changed about the weed production is the money.

Anyone remember the premier of ‘Lady Blacksmiths’….story of how the train and car crushed the blacksmith industry?

Yogini
Guest
Yogini
5 years ago

I’d like to invite all of you to switch your terms to the ‘Green Market’ rather than “black”… Cannabis is a sacred herb with many healing properties and those of us who have been here for decades wouldn’t even consider trashing our land and I agree let’s wait for the film > passing judgement is never a good idea

S. M. Archer
Guest
S. M. Archer
5 years ago
Reply to  Yogini

Its about time for some Newspeak and ‘Black market’ is totally racist. Plenty of white people sell weed illegally. Why is black always used to denote something bad.

Black and blue, Black and white, Black eye, Black market, Black out, Black sheep, Blackball, Blacklist, Blackmail.

Cove broseph
Guest
Cove broseph
5 years ago
Reply to  S. M. Archer

its A conspiracy !!! Have you ever looked at the back of a one dollar bill , man !?!?

Perspective
Guest
Perspective
5 years ago
Reply to  Yogini

Private market

Cove broseph
Guest
Cove broseph
5 years ago
Reply to  Yogini

Uh huh ….

Were gettin it with no lube
Guest
Were gettin it with no lube
5 years ago

Go green market!!!!! Count me in

TRUMPTASTROPHE for the GOP in November
Guest
TRUMPTASTROPHE for the GOP in November
5 years ago

Go pay your taxes, [edit]

No one feels sorry for you [edit]