The Infernal Grove is an unsystematic structural analysis of drug use, addiction and recovery (not necessarily in that order). It is anti-carceral, anti-prohibition and seeks to amplify the voices of radical harm-reductionists and their coalitions. It recognizes the value of the sacred while rejecting all forms of piety. It posits wonder and the land as spaces of enchantment, as not an antidote to but an extension of the space opened up by drugs.
It’s based on the artists’ lived experience of drug use and the consequent interventions of state and medical establishments, which included both involuntary hospitalization and outpatient rehabilitation.
The film is based on interviews with members of Vancouver’s Drug Liberation Front, a radical harm-reduction group that hosted giveaways for free, tested cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin (DULF operated a compassion club distributing these tested drugs at fair costs to members for just over one year before they were criminalized and shut down. DULF has since been charged and will pursue a constitutional challenge and is looking for people to donate when possible, host fundraisers, and spread the word: https://www.dulf.ca/
The visual material has been collected over several years through a process both painstaking and wobbly. Much of it is timelapse and all of it is made to draw the viewer into the inside of beauty—to actually be in beauty for a while—because inside beauty there is a room, and in the room is enchantment or wonder.