WEED
Dir. Alex de Renzy, 1972
United States. 117 min.
In English.

SATURDAY, MAY 2ND - 5PM
MONDAY, MAY 18TH - 7:30PM
TUESDAY, MAY 26TH - 10PM

Presented as an educational film, adult film pioneer Alex de Renzy takes us on a journey through the methods, risks, and logistics of the 1970s drug trade.

In 1970, Alex de Renzy found commercial success with CENSORSHIP IN DENMARK: A NEW APPROACH (1970), a film that documented Denmark’s legalization of pornography while incorporating explicit sexual content. The film was the subject of obscenity challenges in New York, where rulings in its favor helped expand the legal exhibition of explicit films.

However, this win was short lived for de Renzy as this ruling allowed cheaper, less tasteful pornography to flood the market. In regards to this de Renzy said “I made films with style and fought to get them shown, and then this trash comes along and floods the market. It only demeans my own reputation.” As a result of this de Renzy decided to turn his attention to another subject that, in the early 1970s, remained shaped by legal restriction and social stigma.

WEED (1972) traces a path through Mexican border towns, Californian enforcement offices, and international trafficking routes, combining interviews with customs officials, narcotics agents, and small-time dealers. As it details techniques such as maritime transport, air routes, and concealment strategies, it gradually reveals an underlying interest not just in documenting these systems, but in understanding how they function in practice.

A year later, it became evident that WEED was more than just a film for de Renzy. On September 22, 1973, he was arrested by Canadian drug enforcement officers after a tip-off that the decommissioned naval vessel he had taken on an around-the-world trip was being used to smuggle hash. An initial search of the ship turned up nothing, but three days later authorities discovered a cache valued at nearly one million dollars hidden ashore. The charges against de Renzy and his crew were ultimately dropped, and he denied any knowledge of the operation for the rest of his life, famously asking, “Why would I do that for a lousy million dollars?”