Filmed and set in Humboldt County, “Humboldt County” the movie is about a medical student who gets stranded in Southern Humboldt with a family of marijuana growers. While bloggers around the county have expressed annoyance that another piece of media seems to be focusing on the marijuana-growing stereotype about Humboldt County, the writers and directors of “Humboldt County” profess a deep love for the community as a whole and said they wanted to write a movie about people, inspired by a place they find so beautiful.

Directors Danny Jacobs and Darren Grodsky have been friends since grade school. Jacobs spent his summers in Southern Humboldt with his aunt and uncle. During those summers, he said, he fell in love with the area.

“I really kind of idealized (Humboldt County) as a kid,” Jacobs said in a phone interview. “Compared to the Midwestern suburbs of St. Louis … very different from the redwood forests of Humboldt County. I just absolutely loved it.”

Because of his background with the area, when he and Grodsky were working on a movie and needed to get away to concentrate, Humboldt County seemed the logical place to go. It was then that Grodsky also fell in love with the area, and they decided to set their first movie in Southern Humboldt.

The film was inspired by the filmmakers’ love for ’70s character-driven dramas like “Five Easy Pieces” and “Harold and Maude.”

“It just felt like that kind of story fit well with a place like Humboldt, but in the end it was really the place that inspired us,” said Jacobs.

The movie is about a man’s journey. “We had a journey ourselves going from the hustle and bustle of the city to living in forest with no cell phone service and using an outhouse,” said Grodsky. “Humboldt (County) is a character in the piece, and it seduces the main character, and we felt it had to do it for the audience.”

As part of the filmmakers’ research, they watched all the movies previously made about the area. After viewing those films, they were dismayed by how the area was portrayed. They said they noticed a lot of stock archetypal characters, and they didn’t want their movie to be like that.

“I love the passion of Humboldt residents; it’s outstanding. We knew going in we couldn’t please everyone, so we just tried to make a film that was real to these characters. We tried to make a movie about human beings, not archetypal characters,” said Jacobs.

“We don’t pretend to make a movie that accurately represents the entire county. I don’t think it’s possible given its sheer size. In the same way the movie ‘Chicago’ doesn’t represent the whole city. We are telling a very specific story,” Jacobs said. “For us, the film is not really about pot. It’s about a family in the same way ‘The Godfather’ isn’t really about mob violence; it’s about family.”

Cassandra Hesseltine did the local casting for the film. “I think it’s very well done, so far without seeing the whole movie,” she said. “Obviously I’ve read the script, and I was on set a lot. Until I see the end results I really won’t know how it was put together. I think they were taking a slice of life in Humboldt County and telling that story.

“Danny and Darren where sensitive of Humboldt County; they weren’t mocking. It was just intriguing to them. Humboldt County became almost a third character. We all just want the best out of the film. We want it to be not something that will betray Humboldt, but an interesting story.”

The South By Southwest Film and Music Festival is held in Austin, Texas, annually and features independent filmmakers and musicians from around the country. The festival runs March 7-15 this year.

Grodsky and Jacobs said they would love to bring the film to Humboldt County for a screening. However, at this point they can’t say when or how that will happen. They are hoping for some attention at the film festival and then some distribution, but, they said, sometimes distributors only allow screenings in certain places.