Press Release: HIGH THERE DVD available for pre-order at Amazon.com

For immediate release:

HIGH THERE DVD available for pre-order at Amazon.com

BRINKvision set to release Limited Edition of award-winning film on June 23rd

HOLLYWOOD (MAY 5) -- HIGH THERE, the nonfiction comedy film that won the Viewers’ Choice Award at Humboldt County's first annual Cannabis Film Festival, can be pre-ordered as a DVD on Amazon.com.

The film will be released on DVD and On Demand across North America by BRINKvision on June 23rd.

"This initial offering is a limited edition, and is sure to sell out," says producer Burt Kearns. "It will definitely be a collector's item."

High There is a dark nonfiction comedy following Darwen in the guise of journalist-producer "Dave High," who heads to Hawaii to film a marijuana travel series, only to become lost in a fog of drugs, sex and paranoia as he uncovers a government plot to control the marijuana trade.

High There is a production of Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited, Good Story Productions and Rat Lung Pictures. It was written by Darwen and directed by Darwen and cinematographer Henry Goren (who costars as “Roland Jointz”) and produced by Kearns.

Darwen is a veteran tabloid journalist and television producer who was the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.'s character in "Natural Born Killers," has been compared to Hunter S. Thompson and is credited as a godfather of both tabloid television and "gonzo producing."

BRINKvision is known as "the last real independent film distribution company."

FOR INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, PRESS MATERIALS, REVIEWS

CONTACT: Sam Peters

goodstoryproductions@mac.com

SAM PETERS PUBLIC RELATIONS NY LA LV LN HK

Buy HIGH THERE now! Pre-Order Limited Edition DVD on AMAZON.COM!

Hot on the heels of the big announcement and the big win of the Viewers' Choice Award at the Cannabis Film Festival in Humboldt County, High There is now available for pre-order on Amazon.com.

"Order it now, pals!" urges executive producer Sam Peters.  "That way, on the day it's released, High There could chart at Number One!"

The DVD will be released on June 23rd.

Click here to pre-order High There on Amazon.

VIDEO: "I've got Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down and this is a great antidote!" Wayne Darwen accepts the Cannabis Film Festival's Viewers Choice Award

HIGH THERE won the prestigious Viewers' Choice award at the first annual Cannabis Film Festival in Garberville, California -- the green buckle of the Humboldt County marijuana belt.  The award was one of only two given to films that filled the screen of the Garberville Theatre over the weekend.

Wayne Darwen, AKA Dave High, was there with producer Burt Kearms to accept the award.

Wayne did the speechifying while Burt held the cameraphone!

The team also announced that High There will be released on DVD and on Demand by BRINKvision distribution on June 23rd.

Press Release: HIGH THERE wins Viewers' Choice Award at Cannabis Film Festival

For immediate release:

HIGH THERE wins Viewers’ Choice Award at Cannabis Film Festival

Humboldt County, the epicenter of pot culture, embraces reality comedy

HOLLYWOOD (MAY 4) -- HIGH THERE, the nonfiction comedy film directed by and starring "gonzo" television pioneer Wayne Darwen, has won the prestigious Viewers’ Choice Award at the first annual Cannabis Film Festival in Humboldt County, California.

The festival took place in the town of Garberville, at the epicenter of what is known as the marijuana farming capital of the world.  The award Sunday morning bestowed High There with a seal of approval from the heart of the pot subculture.

“High There really defined the festival,” said executive director Stephen Quiggle.  “All everyone talked about was High There, High There. People loved it.”

The film’s producer Burt Kearns announced at the festival that High There will be released on DVD and On Demand across North America by BRINKvision on June 23rd.

High There is a dark nonfiction comedy following Darwen in the guise of journalist-producer "Dave High," who heads to Hawaii to film a marijuana travel series, only to become lost in a fog of drugs, sex and paranoia as he uncovers a government plot to control the marijuana trade.

High There was written by Darwen and directed by Darwen and cinematographer Henry Goren (who costars as “Roland Jointz”).

Darwen is a veteran tabloid journalist and television producer who was the inspiration for Robert Downey Jr.'s character in "Natural Born Killers," has been compared to Hunter S. Thompson and is credited as a godfather of both tabloid television and "gonzo producing." 

High There is produced by Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited, Good Story Productions and Rat Lung Pictures.

BRINKvision is known as "the last real independent film distribution company."

FOR INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, PRESS MATERIALS

CONTACT: Sam Peters

goodstoryproductions@mac.com

SAM PETERS PUBLIC RELATIONS NY LA LV LN HK

Award-winning HIGH THERE coming to DVD! Updated press kit!

"We were somewhere over the Pacific,

on the edge of forty thousand feet,

when reality began to take hold..."

A real-life attempt to film a reality television pilot turned into the most unreal experiences of a lifetime for veteran journalist and producer Wayne Darwen and videographer Henry Goren, when they found themselves transformed into the characters Dave High and Roland Jointz in an accidental immersive investigation of the marijuana wars on the island of Hawai'i.  Not quite sure what they had when they brought their high definition images back to the mainland, the pair edited a brief trailer that was posted on YouTube and quickly racked up more than 1.5 million views -- that's one point five MILLION -- while Darwen's appearance as Dave High on LipTV's Buzzsaw podcast shattered previous download records.   Collaborating with veteran producer and longtime Darwen colleague Burt Kearns, the pair turned High There into a nonfiction film, premiering at the Action on Film Festival outside Los Angeles and ultimately winning the prestigious Viewers’ Choice Award at the Cannabis Film Festival in the heart of Humboldt County, California in May 2015.  With underground America hailing Dave High as a new hero, the team announced at the festival that High There will be released June 23^rd as a BRINKvision DVD and on Demand.

WAYNE DARWEN

DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER/STAR

Immortalized in the book Tabloid Baby as one of the innovators of the tabloid television genre, Wayne Darwen rewrote the rules of television news, developed the template for the modern entertainment news package, changed the way stories are told on television and opened the gates for the reality television revolution.  All the while, he was developing and cultivating the role of the brilliant Aussie pirate in an increasingly corporatized industry. Starting out as a 17-year-old reporter for a newspaper in Sydney, Australia, he traveled the world as a reporter for the likes of the Sydney Daily Mirror, Star magazine and the New York Post, before scorching the earth of popular culture when he made the move to television on influential shows like A Current Affair, Hard Copy, Geraldo Rivera’s Now It Can be Told and Inside Edition.  He saw his reputation reach legendary status when he inspired the character of newsman Wayne Gale in Oliver Stone’s film, Natural Born Killers, mellowed considerably during an extended stay in Nashville, and washed up in Los Angeles at the dawn of the 21^st century to write and produce for network, cable, and the syndicated television series, Extra, while a new generation of television producer and executive looked upon him with awe  -- and a bit of fear.  In his most recent venture, Darwen confronted his own legacy as well as the devolution of modern journalism in the service of television entertainment when he wrote, directed, and took on the guise of Dave High in the documentary film High There.  It is the first leg of a filmic journey that picks up where his colleague and inspiration Hunter S. Thompson left off.

HENRY GOREN

DIRECTOR/PRODUCER/DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY/CO-STAR

Henry Goren was born in Hollywood, California, with his future career as a photographer first taking shape when he was given the family Kodak 8mm movie camera at age eight to document a family vacation through some 35 states over 42 days. His father, an electrical engineer and writer, was amazed how well his son did the job, and an inspired young Henry continued to make small one-reel animation films. He broke into the film industry in the post production department of Schick Sunn Classic Pictures and was promoted to assistant film editor before breaking into the television news business as cameraman and director of photography for shows including Dateline, Extra, Celebrity Justice, TV's Practical Jokes & Bloopers and the NBC’s Olympic coverage. Goren was a stunt driver on Stingray, appeared onscreen as a footballer on HBO's 1st and Ten and as a police officer with a whole five lines on General Hospital. He first worked with Darwen while freelancing for Telepictures in 2002, beginning a long collaboration that culminated in High There.

BURT KEARNS

PRODUCER

Burt Kearns is a veteran television and film producer who first met Wayne Darwen 25 years ago in an A Current Affair edit bay. Managing editor and producer of  that show and Hard Copy during the tabloid television heyday, Kearns turned the experience into the book Tabloid Baby, which he is still paying the price for writing. His film credits include directing and producing the nonfiction films The Chris Montez Story, Basketball Man, and the award-winning film festival favorite, The Seventh Python and, along with two-time Academy Award® winner Albert S. Ruddy, writing and producing the 20th Century Fox feature film, Cloud 9 starring Burt Reynolds. He also produced the documentaries Death of A Beatle and bin Laden's Escape, and co-produced the HBO film, Panic. His many television credits include helming Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, Guinness World Records Unleashed, The Secret History of Rock 'n' Roll with Gene Simmons, Adults Only: The Secret History of The Other Hollywood, My First Time for Showtime, and Bravo's All The Presidents' Movies.

An instant review of HIGH THERE from the Cannabis Film Festival

After the screening of High There as the Opening Selection of the Cannabis Film Festival, theatergoer Neo grabbed pen and paper and whipped off this instant review:

"Dave High takes a character, himself, despicable and self-indulgent on the surface, and reveals within himself Everyman, terrible tyrant on the surface, yet self-analytical and introspective.  

"Enlightened thought and behavior come in waves for perceived individual and crash on the shores of our collective consciousness in perpetual unfolding and expression of spirit, and witnessed herein this documentary as being victimized and harassed by an opposing consciousness, the Evil Empire oligarchy, which rules modern day sociey and has vilified and criminalized the marijuana industry -- a burgeoning industry born of true hippie origins, a philosophy which sticks it to the man."

--Neo The One

High There director & star Wayne Darwen meets the press & fans at the Cannabis Film Festival

Wayne Darwen and his now popular cardboard doppelgänger were swarmed by local and national media at the Cannabis Film Festival Saturday.  The director and star of the nonfiction comedy High There was interviewed by Sacramento's Skunk TV, and by Kerry Reynolds of KMUD radio's Cannabis Consciousness.

Darren discussed the announcement that High There will be distributed on DVD and On Demand by BRINKvision, beginning June 23rd.

Wayne also posed with fans.