When renowned US film director Paul Thomas Anderson and his Argentine producer Florencia Martin visited the Sisters of the Valley farm in California’s Central Valley, they were stunned. They were scouting locations and finding inspiration for their new film, and that work, the lush greenery, those open landscapes, those distant mountains… all that timeless mystique remained etched into their retinas.
“The connection was very organic,” Sister Karina readily acknowledges, amid the hype surrounding the film One Battle After Another, that crime-drama gem starring Leonardo DiCaprio that is currently a box office hit.
So who are the Sisters of the Valley? Essentially, an international community of women (and allies) united by a common purpose: to defend women’s sovereignty, honor spirituality, and protect the cannabis plant as sacred medicine. They say it’s not a traditional religious order, but an independent spiritual movement with its own lineage that, they claim, “predates conventional religious structures.”
Photo by Shaughn and John
PTA was already familiar with the work of the Sisters of the Valley and respected the cultural impact surrounding their movement. However, both Anderson and the Sisters of the Valley knew that the farm wasn’t suitable for filming such a production, but they continued the conversation and stayed in contact. There was “something” that drew him to the Sisters… Finally, they were invited to participate in the filming, to bring their ritual elements, and to be part of the ensemble that appears in the scenes filmed at La Purísima Mission State Historic Park in Santa Barbara County.
“It’s a historic site with colonial architecture and expansive grounds, which allowed us to create a larger-scale film set without losing that earthy and spiritual feeling that characterizes our spaces. Although they are different places, they share a similar energy,” explains Sister …
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Author: Hernán Panessi / High Times
