Burch films history, players

Claire Burch has made a reputation for herself as an earthy chronicler of life on the streets and the social counterculture. Her dedication has generated a catalog of films, hundreds of hours of film to be edited down, and won acclaim as feature presentations at local venues and film festivals.

Burch’s take on the medical marijuana movement, California Chronicles of Medical Marijuana, was already taped and well into the editing stage when her computer went down, leaving her and husband Mark Weiman hanging.    

With her eyesight failing and the project unfinished, Burch is hoping for help.    

Chronicles covers a 20-year slice of the cannabis movement. It opens with a rousing speech by Brownie Mary at Berkeley’s People’s Park, and includes rare archival footage of earlier smoke-ins held there, as well as footage made at major events like Seattle Hempfest and national NORML conferences. She tracks the reform movement, and includes speeches by and interviews with groundbreaking activists like Dr. Tod Mikuriya, Chris Conrad, Mikki Norris and other forward thinking advocates of human rights and political justice.    

While keeping an objective perspective, Burch empathizes with and respects the people she interviews.

Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates called her a “wonderful Berkeley institution. For over 20 years, she has used her camera and pen to document the plight of homeless people in our community. She is respected for her skill as a filmmaker and for her deep commitment to improving our society.”    

For online info about Burch and her many projects, how to buy copies of her films and how you might help her, visit claireburch.com, email regentpress@mind spring.com or call 510-546-7602.