Chicago Series ‘Wake and Bake with Dom Brown’ Headlines Launch of Free Streaming App Hipstr from Cow Lamp Films

Cow Lamp Films has announced their new streaming app and linear AVOD channel, Hipstr, will be available on smartphones and smart TV’s this November and coming soon to VIZIO SmartCast® TVs. The free streaming app will feature Hipstr Original, Wake and Bake with Dom Brown.

First things first, let’s enjoy this special preview of the new show:

Hipstr is curated to challenge perspectives and drive the global conversation forward with groundbreaking documentaries and scripted series. The line-up includes several genres from Chicago-made films, criminal justice, Hollywood, LGBTQ+ and Black voices, cult classics, to Millennials. 

The collection is largely curated from Cow Lamp Films, Midwest’s first and only full-service distribution, acquisition and production company. Since it launched in 2018, it has distributed award-winning indie films including Chicago International Film Festival favorites like Olympia and The View From Tall. 

“Hipstr is a game-changer in the entertainment world.  This is the first dedicated streaming service that celebrates the amazing creative talent in Chicago and the Midwest,” shared Josh da Silva, Vice President of Cow Lamp Films.

This year, Cow Lamp Films launched a production side to its business and started filming Wake & Bake with Dom Brown, a social equity cannabis tourism show taking viewers to the cannabis scene around the country, including Chicago, Denver and Los Angeles.

The host, Dom Brown, is known for his work with large-scale events including Chicago’s pride parade and festival, and his infamous Monday night Porn & Chicken parties that toured nationally. He’s also an activist and co-director of Activate: Chi, which produced one of the largest Chicago Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 in just 4 days. 

“Creating Wake & Bake with Questar has truly been a dream come true. I’ve been given the opportunity to reshape the narrative surrounding POC and Cannabis,” shared Dom Brown, host of Wake & Bake with Dom Brown, “I’ve been able to explore legal cities and dive deep into their promises of Social Equity while highlighting boutique businesses.”

Wake & Bake with Dom Brown takes you on an adventure through the billion-dollar cannabis industry and delves deep into the societal and cultural impact.  Each episode features a dispensary and a product weed review with a breakdown on the Sativa and Indica scale. It also includes a cannabis cooking component, with special guests featuring Harold Sims, winner of Cooked with Cannabis on Netflix. And lastly, a social equity dinner with politicians, rappers, and activists. The first episode was filmed in Chicago and features Anna Rose Li-Epstein, Social activist, True Social Equity in Cannabis; Rickey Hendon, former Illinois Senator; Vic Mensa, recording artist and activist at Save Money Save Lives; and Dr. Ameena Matthews, community activist and candidate for Illinois Congress.

A 2020 analysis concluded black people are 3.64x more likely than white people to be arrested for marijuana possession, according to The American Civil Liberties Union. In the first episode, Vic Mensa weighed in on the conversation sharing, “If we look at cannabis as what it should be and what it has the potential to be, it needs to be seen as a form of reparations because the war on drugs has ravaged our communities…”

Wake & Bake with Dom Brown series editor, Brian Naughton, who joined Questar in September 2020, spent the past few years at Barstool Sports Chicago as the Senior Video Producer, where he directed and edited comedy sketches. The director and executive producer, Domenic Del Carmine, is currently a producer at Ten35, and developed his talents as a senior producer and editor at A.V. Club and a senior producer at Onion Lab’s. Other local creatives include Orville Kline as the composer for the series and Post Production Sound Services by local post house, Noisefloor Ltd.

Cow Lamp Films is also in the production of a Midwest true-crime series, Uncoiled, and in post-production for a Chicago sketch comedy show, Out of the Loop.

This is Chicago distribution and OTT streaming company, Questar Entertainment’s third linear channel release this year with OTTera, along with FamilyTime and GoTraveler. Hipstr will be available for free in November as an app and linear channel on Smart TV’s and iOS and Android apps as well as on connected TVs including Roku and Fire TV.