Press Release: Gonzo film HIGH THERE named one of 2015's Top Ten Documentaries

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Controversy as independent comedy is ranked higher than 2016 Academy Award® nominee, Amy

HOLLYWOOD (JANUARY 23) -- A major twist has been thrown into the 2016 Hollywood awards season as the independent nonfiction gonzo comedy film High There has been named one of the Top Ten Documentaries of 2015. 

The accolade comes from the respected independent movie review site, A Bucket of Corn, and has led to great controversy because High There, overlooked by the mainstream documentary community, has been ranked higher than other big-budget, ultra-hyped films, including Amy, the Amy Winehouse documentary that has been nominated for a 2016 Academy Award®. 

A Bucket of Corn’s founder and chief critic, Abraham Phillips, reviewed High There in July and called it “a perfect film.”

In naming High There to the Top Ten list, he writes on the site: "This year was really not that hard for A Bucket of Corn to choose their top 10 films of the year. There was some wonderful Oscar-worthy spectacular films to grace the cinema, but there were those few movies that never get the credit they deserve. That never get the push they deserve because they don't have high budgets or famous people, or the push of Hollywood or the glitz and glamour of the red carpet type persona... 

"To be a true movie reviewer, you have to adventure outside of just Hollywood cinema or the big budget set-up, for there are countless movies that never get the Hollywood push.” 

"We're delighted," the film's executive producer Sam Peters said today in Los Angeles. "High There has touched many people, and an honor like this will only lead others to seek it out." 

Added director and star Wayne Darwen: "We made the Bucket List! Nice!" 

High There is a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited and Good Story Productions presentation of a Rat Lung picture. 

High There was directed by Wayne Darwen and Henry Goren, and was released on VOD and limited edition DVD by BRINKvision in June 2015. Winner of the 2015 People's Choice Award at the first annual Cannabis Film Festival in Humboldt County, California, the film is available for sale on limited edition DVD on every sales site from Amazon.com to Walmart.com, and On Demand on platforms including Amazon.com, Vimeo.com, Fandor.com, and most recently, Google Play. 

Here are A Bucket of Corn’s Top Ten Documentaries of 2015: 

10. X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time 
9. Batkid Begins 
8. Rammstein in Amerika 
7. Unbranded 
6. Human 
5. Amy 
4. High There 
3. My Brother’s Bomber 
2. Racing Extinction 
1. Matthew Shepard is a Friend of Mine 

Find additional photos and information at hightherethemovie.blogspot.com.

FOR INTERVIEWS, REVIEWS, PRESS MATERIALS, REVIEWS 

CONTACT: Sam Peters 310.663.4061

goodstoryproductions@mac.com

SAM PETERS PUBLIC RELATIONS NY LA LV LN HK

PRESS RELEASE

PRESS RELEASE

HIGH THERE named one of the Top Ten Documentaries of 2015

Several weeks into 2016, amid the Hollywood awards season, comes exciting news:  High There has been named one of the Top Ten Documentaries of 2015.

The accolade comes from the respected independent movie review site, A Bucket of Corn, whose chief reviewer rocked the documentary and comedy worlds last July, when he praised High There as “a perfect film.”

Now, High There is listed in the #4 position -- ahead of Academy Award nominee Amy and other, big-budget, ultra-hyped movies.

Writes A Bucket of Corn’s critic, Abraham Phillips: "This year was really not that hard for A Bucket of Corn to choose their top 10 films of the year. There was some wonderful Oscar-worthy spectacular films to grace the cinema, but there were those few movies that never get the credit they deserve. That never get the push they deserve because they don't have high budgets or famous people, or the push of Hollywood or the glitz and glamour of the red carpet type persona...

"All movies don't have to be put out by Hollywood or the elite makers of cinema, for movies are movies.

"To be a true movie reviewer you have to adventure outside of just Hollywood cinema or the big budget set up, for there are countless movies that never make it to the big screen, that never get the Hollywood push.”

A Bucket of Corn’s Top Ten Documentaries of 2015

10. X-Rated: The Greatest Adult Movies of All Time
9. Batkid Begins
8. Rammstein in Amerika 
7. Unbranded
6. Human 
5. Amy
4. High There
3. My Brother’s Bomber 
2. Racing Extinction 
1. Matthew Shepard is a Friend of Mine

High There is a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited and Good Story Productions presentation of a Rat Lung picture.

The HIGH THERE street team at the Las Vegas Hempfest

High There Producer Burt Kearns, director and director of photography Henry Goren and director and writer Wayne Darwen, taking a break from publicity duties at the Las Vegas Hempfest on Saturday, October 3, 2015.  Not pictured: executive producer and public relations director Sam Peters, who is across Convention Center Drive at Piero’s.

Las Vegas rolls out the green carpet for the HIGH THERE team

Wayne Darwen and Henry Goren, AKA Dave High and Roland Jointz of the hit indie nonfiction gonzo film High There, will be joining fellow 420 stars like Tommy Chong and Afroman at the second annual Las Vegas Hempfest,  an all-day event tomorrow, Saturday, October 3rd,  at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

Dave and Roland are on the road now. Get ready, Las Vegas!

Watch this space for details as they unfold!

Watch the new HIGH THERE movie trailer!

The week started out with a surprise from the High There production team -- a new movie trailer.

“As we end our first season of High There promotion and shift into a new gear for the fall of 2015, this trailer highlights the tremendous response and rave reviews that keep coming in for our little gonzo comedy,” says executive producer Sam Peters.  “High There truly is the most acclaimed and best-reviewed documentary film of 2015.  And we have a sense of humour about that fact!”

Documentary Dude: An interview with Burt Kearns, producer of HIGH THERE

Documentary Dude 8.21.15

High There Producer, Burt Kearns (left) with Writer and Director, Wayne Darwen

“... the content was shocking. It was beyond raw. 

It was Wayne Darwen acting out his own Apocalypse Now!”

– Burt Kearns

As part of my follow up series to the review of the “Gonzo” style documentary ‘High There’ I was able to ask renowned Television Producer, Burt Kearns a few questions about his experiences while producing the film.

Burt has had a long and varied career in the film and television world, working on programs such as ‘Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura’, ‘Guinness World Records Unleashed’ and ‘Joe Rogan Questions Everything’. He has also worked on many documentary films including Basketball Man and The Seventh Python which won him the Golden Ace Award  at the Las Vegas Film Festival for “superior and standout filmmaking.”

In 1999 Burt published a memoir titled ‘Tabloid Baby‘ chronicling his years working in tabloid television. The book was described by CBS’ Mike Wallace as “sad, funny, undeniably authentic. …….tells the tale of what befell too much of mainstream television news over the past couple of decades as the bad drove out the good”

Documentary Dude Can you give us some background on your connection with Wayne Darwen? I understand he was mentioned in your book Tabloid Baby.

Burt Kearns I met Wayne Darwen more than twenty-five years ago in an edit bay for the television series, ‘A Current Affair.’ He was drinking vodka from a milk carton and putting together a story package in a way I’d never seen. I had more formal training in television news. Wayne came from print with the mandate to take his stories and present them visually. Without prejudices or bad habits, he was reinventing the form on the fly. We quickly became friends, collaborated on many segments, including one on our trip to the ‘World’s Second Largest Ball of Twine,’ and for a while ran the show together. In the time since, amid moves among various cities and continents, relationships and families, we’ve remained friends. We’ve hired each other on various shows, and collaborated on outside projects, most of which were reality television ideas that were ahead of their time, and watched the people we mentored get rich.

DD What was your first impression when you saw the footage Wayne and Henry (cameraman Henry Goren) brought back from Hawaii?

BK I first saw ‘High There‘ as a seven-minute trailer that Wayne and Henry produced in hopes of turning all their footage into a television series. They’d done it themselves and once again it wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen. First of all, the content was shocking. It was beyond raw. It was Wayne Darwen acting out his own Apocalypse Now. It was Fear and Loathing in Reality Television. And visually, it was like some stoned combination of Dennis Hopper’s The Last Movie and Jonas Mekas, totally out there. It was gonzo. There was no way a television network beyond IFC or Sundance would even consider it. I told them it was a movie. An independent film. Then they posted the trailer on YouTube and it racked up something like a million hits. I asked them to let me be the producer. I wanted to be part of this. So when the TV options played out, Wayne and I were back in business. We took all the hours of footage and I helped Wayne and Henry turn it into a movie. Wayne wrote the script. Henry started to edit what he’d shot.

DD Some of the footage looks quite raw? What challenges did you face putting it together into a finished product?

BK Oh, it was raw all right. Henry Goren is a brilliant news cameraman, underwater photographer and cinematographer, but for this project, he deliberately left all his fancy equipment at home and dreamed up these little non-threatening personal cams because he knew that they couldn’t get the reactions or relationships on camera with a big intimidating rig. So most of this was shot on consumer grade equipment, natural light, low light, on the fly – but not hidden camera. Henry is proud that everyone knew they were filming – but didn’t care. The real challenge came in post production. After Henry edited the first cut of the film, we hired an editor we’d hope would take it to the end. He turned out to be a disaster. He attempted some Final Cut conversion and wound up corrupting files and causing all kinds of problems. We had to reach out to one of the gurus to save everything on the drives. Then I took over the editing and drove home on a very bumpy road.

DD Why release the film as an Indie and not seek the backing of a big studio?

BK Our entire careers, we’ve worked in and around the system. Some projects are for studios, some projects are definitely not. The studios wouldn’t know what to make of this – just as the television people found it incomprehensible. When it came time to get the film out there, we hit our first film festival (the Action on Film International Film Festival in Monrovia, California) and were lucky to find BRINKvision. We needed someone who “got” High There, and BRINKvision got it from the start. They are probably the coolest distribution company around. The last of the indies. True partners who do what they promise. They got ‘High There’ out there.

DD How do you feel about the response the movie has garnered since it’s release?

BK To be honest, I’m surprised at how many people get it! We’ve gotten rave reviews from places as far-flung as Sydney, Australia, Anchorage, Alaska and Slupsk, Poland. Yes, the film is raw. its rough, it’s deliberately outsider art, it’s’ not slick or polished. But it is real and people appreciate that and Wayne’s performance. And the reviews we’ve gotten from online critics have been crucial! It seems there’s been another shift when it comes to critical influence in cinema. Back in the day, it was Pauline Kael and Andrew Sarris and the serious cinephiles and great writers, then the TV critics like Siskel and Ebert and bite-size consumer reviews in People Magazine. Now, after years of hype and cheerleading from the Entertainment Tonights, the critics who make a difference, from indies to superhero blockbusters are the independent reviewers online. The last movie lovers. And without obvious conflicts like having your newspaper or TV show owned by Time-Warner.

DD I’ve asked this question of Wayne too. Based on your experience what advice would you give someone wanting to start a career in TV journalism today?

BK The TV part is easy. It’s the journalism part you should learn before you get in. You can take a scruffy newspaper reporter and turn him into a TV news star, but you can’t take a squeaky TV talking head and turn him or her into a journo. Then again, it depends why you’d want to go into TV news. The money can be good, but don’t expect to be covering much news. Or reporting anything the competition isn’t. It’s not even showbiz.

DD I understand that you and Wayne have another film in pre-production titled ‘Area 420’. Can you tell us a little more about it and when we can expect it on our screens?

BK ‘Area 420’ is a sequel of sorts to ‘High There’. It will be starring Dave High and Roland Jointz. But it won’t be set in Hawaii and won’t necessarily remain on this planet. We’re in pre-production now, and plan to begin filming in late fall. We hope to premiere at the Cannabis Film Festival in Humboldt County. The best little film festival in America. Great people and a great time.

DD Now that you have released ‘High There‘ will the response and feedback you have received change anything about how you produce ‘Area 420’?

BK This film may actually have a budget, and sadly, elevated production value. And Wayne may have to start drinking again.

DD What are your favourite documentaries?

BK Well, I have to go back to the ones that stuck with me since I was a kid. There used to be documentaries on PBS, Frederick Wiseman’s Hospital. I remember Seven Up! about the British kids. Gimme Shelter. Best Boy. But the one that stuck with me was An American Family, the PBS series that followed the Louds, including Lance Loud, who wasn’t only gay but went across country to find Andy Warhol. That series started it all. Twenty years later, I got to set up a reunion of sorts for an ‘A Current Affair segment’. There have been some great ones recently, and they’re all more like dramatic films only better. The Seven Five, The Wolfpack, The Act of Killing — and Marwencol, directed by Jeff Malmberg, whom I worked with on Conspiracy Theory. He was editing Jesse Ventura’s adventures while creating that masterpiece. That one deserved an Oscar.

DD What next for you?

BK I directed a documentary film on the singer Chris Montez that I’d love to complete. A story of a Mexican American kid from Hawthorne California who went to high school with The Beach Boys, met his hero Richie Valens, toured England with The Beatles as his opening act and wound up singing standards. And he’s still out there. A wonderful guy. We interviewed everyone from Herb Albert to Brian Wilson, but ran out of money a few years ago. That, the story of a woman who was murdered a block from the Vegas Strip, and a documentary series on the history of stand-up comedy. And producing television. To pay for all the rest.

DD How can people follow/find you online?

BK You can reach me or Wayne at hightherethemovie.com or goodstoryproductions.net.

HIGH THERE is here! And Dave High is the Zig-Zag man!

Dave High is the Zig-Zag man!

One of the big surprises of today's release of High There, the award-winning, internationally-acclaimed gonzo nonfiction comedy, on DVD today was the screen menu-- in which director Wayne Darwen, as High High, is depicted as the character on Zig-Zag rolling paper products-- "Captain Zig-Zag," better known as the "Zig-Zag man"!

The DVD menu offers a choice between the film and an extra featurette-- an interview with the directors, "High Times & Low Expectations,"  produced and directed by Burt Kearns for Good Story Productions.

High There is already selling on Amazon.com and other sites in DVD and VOD form.  

Google Play, Vimeo and other sites are already rolling out the video on demand.  More sites and sources will feature High There in the coming days.

High There is distributed by BRINKvision, a Sam Peters International Productions Unlimited and Good Story Productions presentation of a Rat Lung picture.

FROM THE PRESS KIT: THE STORY BEHIND HIGH THERE

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.  Now, distributors are lining up as High There heads to film festivals, already hailed as the comedic successor to the work of Hunter S.Thompson and films featuring Barry McKenzie.

HIGH THERE PRESS KIT MATERIAL! DIRECTORS' BIOS

WAYNE DARWEN

Director/Writer/Producer

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/Director of Photography/Producer

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.