Original-Cin Q&A: Jennifer Baichwal’s Latest Eco-Expose Launches Hot Docs '22 Festival
By Bonnie Laufer
Veteran documentarian Jennifer Baichwal wasted no time when it came to tackling her latest documentary. Into the Weeds tells the powerful story of Dewayne “Lee” Johnson, a former Bay Area groundskeeper who takes on a multinational agrochemical corporation after a cancer diagnosis.
Adding to her award-winning body of work centered on our strained relationship with the natural world, Baichwal follows Johnson through his battle, setting his personal journey against a global environmental crisis.
Into The Weeds’ subject Lee Johnson.
The film kicks off the 2022 Hot Docs Festival April 28 at 6:30 pm, making Baichwal the first director to open the festival more than once. (Her Act of God opened Hot Docs 2009.) The film is produced by Baichwal and long-time partner Nicholas de Pencier. Our Bonnie Laufer caught up with Baichwal to talk about the film.
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ORIGINAL-CIN: Congratulations on having Into The Weeds chosen as the opening night film for Hot Docs. How are you feeling?
JENNIFER BAICHWAL: It feels pretty great. I'm excited about it because I literally grew up with Hot Docs. We basically started at the same time and so when Act of God opened the festival in 2009, which I thought was a strange film for the opening night of the festival but I'm really glad they chose it. I feel like we’ve just come full circle. Into The Weeds is my 10th feature and that's a bit of a milestone. We're really honoured and we hope that it resonates with people and that it's thought-provoking and creates conversations and everything that a documentary is supposed to do.
O-C: I always wonder when I talk to documentarians, especially somebody who's as seasoned as you are, how do you choose a topic? How did something like this come your way?
BAICHWAL: As you know, I've been an ardent environmentalist for many years as has my husband, Nick, and we've done a lot of work on this topic. I've always been interested in the way that transnational corporations get away with what they do. Mass tortes or money damages, that's what happens. If it's not a lot of money, the corporation doesn't care and even if it is a lot of money, they often find a way to move on. Heads of corporations don't go to jail when people are injured. I don't know why they seem to get away with it. Ordinary people go to jail if they hurt somebody, so I was fascinated by that.
[This new film] mainly started through friends that we met at Sundance with my last film, Anthropocene. When we were there in 2019, we were talking about this case and I was fascinated by it. I immediately thought, ‘Somebody must be following it and compiling this information together,’ but as I soon discovered, nobody was. So we talked to the original group of lawyers and said, ‘This is who we are’ and being from Canada was good because we're under the radar. We've been doing this for years now, essentially completely without anybody knowing. right? But also, it felt important to me to create a historical record of what I think is a watershed moment in citizens’ rights against corporations and also the sort of David versus Goliath story where David actually won.
O-C: You look at this poor guy, Lee Johnson, the main subject of the documentary and of course, as we learn there are so many more people impacted by Monsanto, and I thought, ‘Did he really win?’
BAICHWAL: It was hard. We didn't know that Lee was going to survive until the film was over and I was always dreading waiting and wondering. We've been in touch through this whole time and he's such a wonderful charismatic, everyman, you know, he's just an ordinary guy, and this is what can happen to an ordinary person. That is the injustice of all of this. We are thrilled that he will be coming to the premiere here in Toronto. He is a very special man.
Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal.
O-C: You generally have a lot of footage to use when you make a documentary, but I cannot imagine what you had to sift through for this one.
BAICHWAL: The trial against Monsanto alone went on forever so it was taxing, going through all that material and then trying to make the science credible. Then the bigger picture stuff and the other people who we interviewed, all of which happened during COVID. We filmed in 2019 until we got shut down in early 2020 and then it was like, ‘Well, what are we going to do?’ So we just started editing and we did some remote shoots and it took longer because of that, but I am happy with how it turned out. We've made a record of something that happened and that it's an important record to have. People need to know what is going on.
O-C: Let's hope that this weed killer, RoundUp is completely taken off the market. As you point out in the film, this affects not just our health, but practically every aspect of our lives. As you started to dig deep into its effects, what really surprised you?
BAICHWAL: I will say that this film is a lot more didactic than some of our other films, especially a film like Anthropocene that was more experimental. It was important to convey the information. I did not know that forest plantations are sprayed to get rid of broad species so that the pine trees can grow. And then you just imagine what are the systemic effects of something like that. The thing that was the most terrifying was when we started to look into insect decline from the effects of this chemical. We contacted Krefeld entomological society and found that over three decades there's been a 75 percent decline. This is an organization that has been doing continuous ecosystem research for something like 100 years, so their research is really valued for that.
There's this thing called the shikimate pathway which is this pathway of enzymes that is what the glyphosate does in plants, it cuts it off so that those nutrients don't get to the plant and they die. it happens in everything that comes into contact with it, so learning about the ubiquity of use, that was something that I knew nothing about. How the use of the product affects rail lines sites of highways, hydro lines, parks, golf courses, cemeteries… the list goes on. It goes way beyond farmer’s fields and gardens. It’s a widespread problem that is affecting our lives and now we're seeing the systemic effects. Not just the people who are being really injured but to entire ecosystems and other species and that to me was, was mind-blowing.
O-C: The Monsanto Papers were such a huge breakthrough for the public and now there is your documentary. What’s the one thing you most hope people take away from watching this film?
BAICHWAL: I learned so much about mass torte agencies and the limitations of mass tortes towards the rights of transnational companies and corporations. The impunity in some ways in which they operate and are allowed to operate. So, I think what impressed me most was the bravery of Lee and these other people who came forward. They weren't doing it for all the money in the world but to shine a light for others. It's an example that yes, you can take on these multinationals but also is there a way that we should be changing our system of justice? Money damages only don't really hit where it hurts for these corporations.
These mass tort lawyers are looked at as ambulance chasers yet if they didn’t take this on nobody would be able to afford to take on these massive companies, so they are a necessary part for this quest for justice. I feel like they do whatever they want until they get caught or until somebody notices that they’re doing something wrong and then they have to be sued to prove that they’re doing something wrong. That’s ludicrous.
I want people to both be aware of the extent to which it's an anthropogenic thing. We are altering our environments, our ecosystems everywhere we live. We all have glyphosate in us right now. We have all been exposed to it. What does that mean and why is that OK? Also, that there are people who are brave enough to fight and hopefully their fights will make a difference. There have already been repercussions of glyphosate Roundup is going to be taken off the residential market eventually there. There are a lot of countries that have banned its use in large public areas. That's good, and all of that has happened because of these trials. There are positive things that have come out of it. It's monumental!
Into The Weeds screens Thu, Apr 28, 6:30 pm at Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema; Fri, Apr 29, 5:30 pm at TIFF Bell Lightbox; Sat, MAy 7, 1:30 pm TIFF Bell Lightbox; online streaming starts April 29 at 9 am. Need more Hot Docs inspiration? We’ve got you covered.