Rockweed started with some gossiping with the town lawyer (as all good stories start). After some inconsequential small talk, The Lawyer made a joke referencing a case he had defended. Allegedly, sleepy midcoast Maine was a hub for cocaine trafficking in the 1980s because it was easy to get shipments in on small boats in secluded, rocky areas. Most of the runners were 26 year old rednecks with addiction problems, and the whole operation was busted after an extended undercover operation by a DEA agent. When some of the runners were going to testify, the cartel got concerned about these young men saying names in court, so they hired a local hunter to murder them (who had been tied to a previous mercenary killing five blocks away from my childhood house, but that is a different story).

Welcome to Maine!

The tragedy rocked our small community and the murderer almost walked free because most people were too terrified to testify against him. The lawyer represented the girlfriends of one of the men who had been murdered, but she refused to testify in court because The Hunter had intimidated her into silence. The girlfriend of the other man who was murdered was the only person brave enough to say anything in court. I picked my jaw up off of Main Street and walked home, hypnotized by this story.

Left: a deftly written and detailed article about the case by Brian Kevin, current features editor at Natural Geographic.

Right: The Belfast, Maine, boat launch; circa 1984.

I went home and immediately went to debrief with my mom but she was nonplussed.

"Clare, I went to school with most of the people in this story. You know some of them, too."

Small towns have a lot of magic, and being two degrees of separation minimum from anything exciting that has ever happened there, even before you were born, is one of them.

My brother and I, ages 8 and 6, telling an elaborate story to our parents somewhere afloat in Penobscot Bay.

I've always been just a girl who loves a good story and the ocean.

This case stayed wiggling in my brain long after those conversations. What stuck with me the most was how, even though the events had transpired years before I was around, I could picture it all perfectly, and the more I read about it the more it seemed like such a universal tale of Maine, and perhaps most rural areas in the United States. I had grown-up during the opioid epidemic, after all. While the drugs have changed and the trucks have gotten bigger, we still have friends overdosing in the bathroom and guns piled in the beds of pick-ups. But what really drew me to this story was, despite outward appearances, it felt like a story of hope. Even though both of the girlfriends of the men who were murdered went through the unimaginable, they were able to heal and live beautiful, rich lives because of the support they received from this community, and the depth and steadiness of the natural world that encompasses everything in Maine. In my own life, I've witnessed this resilience myself--friends overcoming addiction, jail, and cycles of abuse to blossom fully because they are given the space and support to grow.

Nature isn't just a backdrop in Maine--it's a part of the family. Community and nature go hand in hand here.

This is the story I wanted to tell--not a true crime retelling of a tragedy in my community's past, but a love letter to the light and beauty I see that come out of the darkness. And thus, Rockweed was born.

Rockweed follows Marina "Mar" Durkee after she returns home to clear out her childhood home in the wake of her beloved father's death. While Mar is physically back in Maine, emotionally she is still avoiding her past, especially because being home brings back memories of her turbulent childhood with a volatile, addict mother. While home she meets Tom--local heartthrob and drug dealer--through her childhood friend, Wyatt. Despite concern from her protective cousin Debbie, Mar starts a passionate and dangerous fling with Tom. As their love grows into something real, Mar and Tom are forced to confront their worst impulses, pushing them to take accountability in their own lives.

Tom (Zsolt Kormendy) and Mar (Clare Olson)

But just when peace begins to settle into their bones, tragedy strikes. Mar must face her demons one last time, both within herself and her community, to come out the other side.

Our heroines, Mar and Selkie

While Mar is going through it in the real world, Selkie is also on a journey home that mirrors Mar's. Selkie is a half-seal-half-woman from Celtic mythology, dreamed of and drawn by Mar as a child to help her escape the terrors she experienced at home. Our two heroine's linked journeys twist and twine together, showing that even in the darkest places there must be light.

Clockwise, starting top left: 1) Shooting a large ensemble scene at local bar Threshers, 2) Actors Michael, Zsolt, and Clare driving to location in "Rosa" the truck, 3) Artistic Director Hannah Wells catching up on some sleep with Strider the cat, 4) Actor Angela playing a game with our young ballerinas, 5) Key Wardrobe Genesis cleaning up Zsolt as Clare mugs for the camera, 6) Actor Olivia mugging in the monitor, 7) Director Kaye Tuckerman with Assistant Camera Luca and All-Star Extra Corey.

Shooting Rockweed was a magical, albeit exhausting experience. We shot the entire feature in just 10 days, and the majority of the cast and crew stayed packed like sardines in my mom's house. It was truly a community experience! When buses were missed, my network of loved ones up and down the coast jumped in to action to drive stranded actors to location. We commandeered trucks from local men fishing the estuary. We not only used our associate producer's house for shooting but also her ex-boyfriend's house. Strider the cat got endless pets from cast and crew. The days were long, but we lucked out with beautiful weather and only needed to change one location during a surprise torrential downpour.

Our shoot was so blessed by the Selkies, we even got a chance to get some footage of some real seals!

I did sob for 3 hours straight after filming wrapped from sleep deprivation, but I would do it all again to create the magic we did during our shoot. As I was crying on the Belfast footbridge the day after shooting, absolutely spent, a seal swam up to me. I truly believe Rockweed was blessed by the spirit of Selkie in that moment.

Post-production has been quite the trip! For everyone involved on the post-team, Rockweed is their second or third job, so at times progress has been slow. We even had to take a couple of months off in the fall of 2024 to regroup, renegotiate contracts, and recommit, better and fresher than ever. While the team shifted a bit as artists got promoted at their day jobs or family needed to take front and center, our core creative team has stayed steady through it all. They are the reason Rockweed has stayed alive for the past two years, and they will be the reason it ultimately gets to swim its way into your heart. But to take our first unsteady strokes into the deep end, we are looking for support and investment from you. We need about $28,000 to finish everything off. Our budget breakdown is below:

Animation and Background Design: $12000

Scoring and Music Licensing: $6000

Color Correction/Grading: $5000

Distribution: $5000

While we have a very generous donor who is willing to invest in this project and cover a big portion of this, we can't rely on any one person alone to take us all the way. Which is where YOU come in! Your contribution will go directly to these departments to wrap up post-production so we can get our art to you as soon as possible.

Don't you want to dive into this magical world with us?

Anything that comes in over that total will go towards distribution costs, and then paying our editor a bonus. Tom has put his heart and soul into Rockweed, despite working on a flat rate that was paid off ages ago. On top of his full time day job, he is currently in a professional development sound mixing class and using Rockweed to hone his new skills, and in an ideal world we want to be able to provide him some financial support while he does that.

Rockweed is an important story, especially right now. In the US, gun violence is becoming more and more commonplace, addiction and cycles of poverty are being accelerated by social welfare slashes, and our preserved natural areas are at risk of exploitation and destruction. I won't pretend that Rockweed alone is an antidote to any of those things--no one piece of art can be--but using our voices to tell stories about the things that matter does have an impact.

Boop! Tagging you to join the community!

By contributing to Rockweed, you can be a part of telling a story that celebrates a strong connection to community support networks, a story that cherishes the healing power of nature, and a story that is critical--while empathetic--to the state of our country when it comes to addiction and gun use. In return, we will work hard to make this a beautiful movie worthy of an audience as beautiful as yourself.

That is more than okay! It is close to the holidays and groceries are expensive, if not unobtainable for those reliant on SNAP. There are other ways you can help us! You can:

Follow Rockweed on Seed and Spark: We can get perks and rewards, such as film festival submission entry, through seed and spark simply from people like you showing your interest! Our initial goal is 500 follows, but we would love to be pleasantly surprised with more, as well.

Follow Rockweed on Social Media: Join the community! You can learn more about our team, see BTS captures, and get updates. Check out our social media links by clicking the icons at the top of the page.

in us on socials to see cast and crew features, behind the scenes intel, and get updates! We have fun.

Share with Family and Friends: Share far and wide! Shout it from the rooftops! Email your Grandma! Let everybody know! Tag us on social media if you share on socials!

Volunteer in Your Own Community: Rockweed is all about the importance of community. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, do some trail work, or shovel our someone's sidewalk for them. Get out there and love your community.