Grammy® Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge and other “women of weed” show how legal cannabis is not only an industry, but also a movement of inclusive, visionary “Puffragettes®”
[Portland, OR], June 9, 2021 – Gender equity and cannabis take center stage in Mary Janes: The Women of Weed. Grammy® Award-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge and other “women of weed” show how legal cannabis is not only an industry, but also a movement of dedicated, visionary “Puffragettes®”. After garnering “Best Documentary” and “Visionary” awards on the film festival circuit, the film debuted on Apple TV, Google Play, Vimeo, and Vudu this spring.
“Mary Janes: The Women of Weed is a curated collection of the visionary womxn who birthed the cannabis movement and nurtured the legal cannabis industry we see today. It is a celebration, a time capsule, and a roadmap for where we still need to go,” says Director Windy Borman.
Women are changing the face of today’s fastest growing industry – cannabis. In the film, we discover how they’re also changing the world.
“Women and non-binary people have long understood the power of plant medicine,” writes Borman. “I fondly called them my ‘Cannabis Fairy Godmothers’ and they graciously guided me throughout my first cannabis experience,” which she captured on film. “The result was a safe, empowering, and enlightening experience that became a personal turning point for me.”
Originally a cannabis outsider, Borman became intrigued by the cannabis industry when she learned women represent 37% of senior leadership in cannabis. The national average is 21%, so there was something about cannabis which attracted more female entrepreneurs. She set out to answer this question by interviewing over 40 women across the United States. By looking at the intersection of gender equity, social justice, and environmental sustainability, Borman explores how cannabis is not only an industry, but also a movement of womxn she calls “Puffragettes®” (as in Pot + Suffragette).
“In the beginning we defined a Puffragette® as ‘a woman (or man) who is working for gender parity, social justice, and environmental sustainability in the cannabis industry’,” says Borman. “We always included the queer and trans community under that definition because we believe everybody should have access to cannabis.”
Mary Janes: The Women of Weed, Borman’s third documentary, explores the movement to end marijuana prohibition, her own relationship to the plant, and the stereotypes surrounding it. Through a series of empowering and educational interviews with a broad diversity of women leading the industry today, Windy’s own assumptions are transformed as she discovers cannabis liberation intersects with the most urgent social justice issues of our time. She learns how this green revolution has big effects on human rights, Mother Earth, and the War on Drugs.
“While the film’s subtitle is ‘Women of Weed’, we’ve always included people from the queer and trans community,” continues Borman. “If ‘womxn’ had better search engine optimization, that would have been our subtitle. Unfortunately, independent films are still slaves to SEO and streaming algorithms for audience attention. Nevertheless, we’ve always striven to be inclusive. At the end of the day, cannabis and LGBTQ+ rights are both human rights issues and neither should be under attack.”
The disclosure of someone’s biological sex, gender expression, or sexual orientation was never a topic in the film. However, of the 40 womxn in the documentary, 25% of the cast self-identifies as part of the queer and trans community, well above the average U.S. population.
A 2020 Gallup poll on lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender identification finds 5.6% of U.S. adults identifying as LGBT. The current estimate is up from 4.5% in Gallup’s previous update based on 2017 data. A majority of LGBT Americans say they are bisexual. One in six adults in Generation Z consider themselves LGBT.
Qualified press can reply to <press@maryjanesfilm.com> to request a film screener.
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Press Links:
Website: https://maryjanesfilm.com/
Facebook: http://facebook.com/MaryJanesFilm
Twitter and Instagram: @MaryJanesFilm
Official Trailer: YouTube
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About MARY JANES: THE WOMEN OF WEED
Women are changing the face of today’s fastest growing industry – cannabis. Join filmmaker Windy Borman as she explores the movement to end marijuana prohibition, her own relationship to the plant, and the stereotypes surrounding it. By interviewing women leading the industry, Windy discovers cannabis liberation intersects with the most urgent social justice issues of our time.
About Producer / Writer / Director Windy Borman
Windy Borman, MS, is a multi-award-winning film Director and Producer, as well as the founder of DVA Productions. Her recent projects include: directing and producing the 10-time award-winning film, “The Eyes of Thailand”, narrated by Ashley Judd; and producing “The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia”, which premiered at Sundance and on HBO. From 2003-2005, Ms. Borman dedicated two years to Teach For America, teaching middle school Drama and Dance in the South Bronx. She founded DVA Productions in 2006 to produce cinematic and immersive content that promotes peace, justice and equality.
