Director of Photography Mark Schulze videotapes CNNC conference in San Diego

NECTARBALL: The Story of Cannabis

Cast & Crew

Logline:
A seven-year global investigation that follows the plant, the policy, and the people behind cannabis’s past, present, and fast-arriving future.

Overview:
NECTARBALL: The Story of Cannabis is a feature documentary by filmmakers Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze of New & Unique Videos. The film traces cannabis from ancient medicine to modern industry and examines how science, culture, and law have shaped one of the world’s most contested plants. Guided by dozens of candid interviews, it moves beyond clichés to reveal a textured portrait of patients, physicians, cultivators, activists, entrepreneurs, regulators, historians, and skeptics who each hold a piece of the truth.

Scope and journey:
Filmed across the United States and internationally, the documentary visits countries that have led policy and public-health experimentation. Viewers travel from California’s medical and adult-use landscape to Uruguay’s national legalization model, South Africa’s traditions and court rulings, the Netherlands’ pragmatic approach, and Argentina’s patient-driven movement. The film pairs these on-the-ground stories with laboratory perspectives, archival footage, and the lived experience of families navigating illness, access, and stigma.

What the film explores:

  • Medicine and science: The endocannabinoid system, therapeutic use cases reported by clinicians and patients, dosing debates, and the limits of current research.
  • Law and policy: How prohibition took root, why reform has advanced unevenly, and what different regulatory frameworks mean for safety, equity, and the illicit market.
  • Economy and industry: Small craft growers, corporate entrants, testing labs, supply chains, and the tension between community origins and rapid commercialization.
  • Culture and stigma: Media narratives, racialized enforcement, and the personal costs carried by users and non-users alike.
  • Ethics and equity: Expungement, social equity licensing, and the responsibility to include communities most harmed by the drug war.

Style and approach:
Mooney and Schulze blend investigative reporting with human-centered storytelling. The film is paced as a journey, with each region providing a comparative case study. Interviews are shot in natural light and paired with location soundscapes that place the viewer inside homes, clinics, court steps, grow rooms, and community gatherings. Archival sequences connect the past to the present, while graphics clarify complex science and policy without jargon.

Notable voices:
The cast includes physicians, researchers, caregivers, activists, legacy cultivators, legal scholars, and policy designers whose work influenced real-world outcomes. Their perspectives often disagree, and the film allows that tension to stand so audiences can evaluate competing claims.

Audience takeaways:

  • A clear map of how we arrived at today’s patchwork of laws.
  • A practical understanding of medical claims, limits of evidence, and why research has lagged.
  • A nuanced view of economic opportunity versus consolidation risk.
  • A framework to judge future headlines with more context and less hype.

Production notes:
The documentary was produced over seven years, with fieldwork across multiple continents. Access was earned through long-term relationships and on-site trust building. The filmmakers draw on their background in vérité documentary and their experience chronicling subcultures and outdoor sport communities to capture candid moments that typical news coverage misses.

Where to watch:
The film is available on multiple streaming platforms, including Prime. It also streams on NextEnt TV, LifeVista TV, Future Today and Red Coral Universe. Viewers can support the filmmakers by renting it via the official Nectarball site on Vimeo, priced at $4.20.

interview of mila jansen in amsterdam by patty mooney and mark schulze of new and unique videos san diego

About the filmmakers:
Patty Mooney and Mark Schulze are San Diego–based documentarians and co-founders of New & Unique Videos. Their catalog spans social issues, sports, nature, and culture, with a focus on stories that connect personal stakes to public policy.