Weeds may be the bane of many people's existence, but they were the reason two Wollongong men landed on a red carpet in New York recently.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Food forager Diego Bonetto's "magnetic personality" and passion for dandelions had Morgan Way and Sam Doyon thinking he'd be the great subject for a film.
![On set of The Weedy One with Illawarra-based Wayward Films, and documentary star Diego Bonetto. Picture supplied. On set of The Weedy One with Illawarra-based Wayward Films, and documentary star Diego Bonetto. Picture supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/UPAcJLQNVGftX3BUDy544C/ba1dc2a5-5df7-415c-9c5c-7cff4bccdc50.jpeg/r0_314_4032_2706_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Their subsequent nine-minute documentary, The Weedy One, had its world premiere at the Montauk Film Festival at the end of July.
"[Diego] is passionate about such a specific, strange thing," Doyon said.
"He built this whole community around himself over the years ... even when people were laughing at him thinking 'why would anyone eat weeds off the ground'."
Bonetto moved to Australia from Italy around the age of 20 and has since forged a career around environmental education through teaching skills in foraging, his art, his books and other media appearances.
![A screenshot of food forager Diego Bonetto from The Weedy One. Picture supplied. A screenshot of food forager Diego Bonetto from The Weedy One. Picture supplied.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/UPAcJLQNVGftX3BUDy544C/2aacf839-62dd-42c4-94c3-a41f7c42ddc4.png/r64_0_1985_1079_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"He's got a lot of determination and grit to him, it's a very inspiring story," Doyon said.
"The more time you spend with him you realise the more people who ate like this not that long ago. We used to live off the land a lot more."
Way added it was nice to see how people reacted to the film rather than just watching the expressions of friends and family.
"They laughed when they were supposed to laugh, they smiled and cried when they were supposed to," he said.
"There were some nice moments."
Doyon and Way are happy with their documentary effort as the majority of their work with their company Wayward Films is producing commercials or corporate videos.
![Eating dandelion weeds helped put Wollongong film duo on world stage Eating dandelion weeds helped put Wollongong film duo on world stage](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/UPAcJLQNVGftX3BUDy544C/3ca86209-7570-4b9c-8c91-19abcb947938.jpeg/r0_538_4032_2921_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But this isn't the first major bite of fame for the duo, having a "very forgettable" feature film, Travis Jenkins, picked up by an American distributor.
As part of their University of Wollongong studies Way and Doyon wrote and directed the drama which was sent around to US Army bases and on cable TV movie channels - despite the pair playing down the quality of the feature.
For more information about The Weedy One and to watch it in its entirety, visit Way and Doyon's website at: https://waywardfilms.com.au/theweedyone/
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on the Illawarra Mercury website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. Sign up for a subscription here.