HerbalEGram: Volume 5, Number 10, October 2008

Production is nearing completion on the new documentary Numen: The Healing Power of Plants, a film about traditional herbal medicine in the United States. Set to début in early 2009, this film is a creation of Brook Hollow Productions, a Vermont-based independent producer of documentaries, educational films, and other forms of media. Created in 1986, the company is owned and managed by Terrence Youk, who has created programs for networks such as PBS. His most recent documentary was Pioneers of Hospice, about the founders of the Hospice movement. Youk directed Numen and co-produced the film with Ann Armbrecht, PhD, a writer, herbalist, and anthropologist. Production of the film began in August 2005.

“Numen, defined as the animating force in nature, brings together innovative thinkers to discuss how our disconnection from nature affects our emotional, physical and spiritual well being,” wrote Youk and Armbrecht in a project description.¹ The film will consist of interviews with people knowledgeable about certain aspects of herbal medicine interlaced with images of different medicinal plants.

“Our intention as filmmakers is to let the visual form express and take further the ideas explored, inter-cutting images of plants in gardens and the wild with the interviewees in order to evoke the power of being with the plants about which the interviewees speak,” said Armbrecht (e-mail, May 8, 2008). Armbrecht added that after completing a series of interviews with herbalists for a report for United Plant Savers (UpS), she realized a film would be a more effective medium for capturing the subject matter than writing, because it would allow the plants and the herbalists to speak for themselves.

The film will explore herbal medicine topics such as toxins in the environment, ecological medicine, whole plant medicine, spirit and intention in healing, holistic medicine and the practice of herbalism, and social and ecological responsibility in the herb industry.

The production team is planning a theatrical release, television broadcast, and distribution of a DVD for home viewing. The DVD will include 3 tutorials in its special features. According to the project description, the tutorials will include: Healing Gardens: techniques for growing sustainable harvesting common medicinal herbs and creating botanical sanctuaries; Kitchen Medicine: preparing herbal preparations for common maladies and prevention including teas, tinctures, and salves; and Botanical Sanctuaries: creating botanical sanctuaries in gardens and the woods.

“By keeping these tutorials separate, we will be able to provide concrete steps without compromising the aesthetic integrity of the film,” wrote the co-producers.¹

Numen will be shown at film festivals, conferences, and distributed for educational purposes. Anyone with information about such forums can contact the filmmakers through their Web site. The co-producers are currently seeking donations to complete the film, which will have a running time of 80 minutes, and to produce the DVD and tutorials. UpS is the fiscal agent for this film, and donors include Sage Mountain Herbal Retreat Center, Mountain Rose, Traditional Medicinals, New Chapter Inc, HerbPharm, and numerous individuals. Donations are tax deductible. It will cost $25,000 to finish the film’s editing and $36,000 to produce the DVD. More information about donations is available on the Web site: www.brookhollowproductions.com/numenpreview/.

A rough cut of the documentary was scheduled for a showing at the HerbDay 2008 event in Washington, DC on October 11^th, and the final cut will be completed by December 2008. Airing of the documentary will begin in January 2009. The Web site currently includes a 15-minute preview. An updated version of the Web site will follow the release of the film and will feature additional footage from interviews, plants and herb company information, and information about educational materials.

—Kelly E. Saxton

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