How my hemp journey started

1️⃣ How It All Started – A Life-Changing Encounter

I never set out to become a filmmaker.

After high school, I spent a year living and working in India and Australia—experiences that opened my eyes to the power of choice, self-determination, and the paths we carve for ourselves.

Originally, I was passionate about photography, capturing portraits, nature, and wildlife. But then, on an Australian beach, during a 420-infused moment of clarity, I had an epiphany—I wanted to become a travel photographer.

A few days later in Singapore, I met a German survival artist—a math student turned online poker player who funded his travels with strategy and skill. He had incredible camera gear and a keen eye for storytelling. Inspired, I invested in the same camera setup he used.

The mountain View Eco Farm in Nepal

Just two weeks later, I found myself on an organic farm in Nepal, where I met an inspiring farmer. Drawn to his vision, I impulsively offered to create a video project for him—despite having zero experience in filmmaking. But as fate would have it, I met a Brazilian cameraman at a coffee shop, told him about the project, and within days, we were out in the fields, shooting my first-ever documentary-style film.

Everything started here: at the foothalls of the Annapurna Mountain Range in Nepal

🎒 The Hemp That Changed Everything

Then, in Pokhara, I stumbled upon a small shop selling beautifully woven hemp backpacks. Behind the counter stood Sunti Saugat—a small-framed Nepali woman with a radiant smile and the warmest energy.

Curious about the material, I asked, “What is this made of?”

She laughed and replied, “It’s hemp—Cannabis!”

Despite having been a Cannabis consumer for years, I had never seen it transformed into textiles. I was stunned.

She shared her story—rising from an illiterate farm girl to an entrepreneur, building a family business with the help of a microcredit loan. Her work with wild Himalayan hemp wasn’t just about crafting backpacks; it was about creating jobs, empowering local communities, and preserving an ancient tradition.

The woman Collective in the mountains

Then, she asked me a simple question:

👉 "Would you like to collaborate with me?"

I had no experience in business, hemp, or filmmaking—but something inside me screamed YES!

Eight weeks later, 150 of her handmade hemp backpacks arrived at my tiny room in Berlin Kreuzberg. What started as a spontaneous collaboration turned into the catalyst of my entire journey.

🎥 From Backpacks to Filmmaking: A Bigger Story Unfolds

As I launched my hemp backpack venture, at the german Start-Up Camp Berlin I´ve met Dennis Bartelt, Founder of STARTNEXT (Germany´s biggest Crowdfunding Platform), and after carefully listening to my Story about this “wild hemp” up in the Himalayan mountains, he suggested that traveling back to Nepal to film everything could be a great way to build a crowdfunding campaign to help me get started properly.

But I felt something deeper—I needed to understand the entire process, beyond just the product.

So I traveled back, deep into the hidden valleys of the Himalayas, where I met the true protectors of these mountains—the people who had been using hemp for centuries.

🚜 They harvested and processed the plant by hand.
🏡 They used it for textiles, construction, food, medicine, firewood, and even animal bedding.
♻ Every part of the plant had a purpose.

It felt like stepping into Avatar’s Pandora, realizing that this wasn’t about textiles at all—it was about survival, sustainability, and self-sufficiency.

Being shown around their “wild” hemp and stinging nettle areas in the western Himalayas

I returned from that journey in absolute awe. The textiles were beautiful, but I couldn't stop digging deeper.

💡 Why did something so sustainable, versatile, and beneficial have no real place in our modern world?
💡 Why did most people shy away from Cannabis?
💡 Why was this plant still so heavily demonized—even in Nepal, where growing hemp was still illegal?

Back in Berlin, I began connecting with the few people in Germany who were daring to invest their time and energy into Cannabis.

Then back in Berlin, through visiting an art exhibition and asking for tobacco to a stranger (to roll a joint), I met my mentor who introduced me later to a cameraman who saw the potential of what I was trying to do. We decided to go all in.

That’s when everything aligned.

🎬 While food-saving at the Turkish market, I met a cancer survivor who casually told me, “Without this plant, I wouldn’t be alive today.”

Randhi: “Cannabis saved my life”

We decided to sit down for an interview.

That one conversation turned into more than 100 filmed interviews—patients, doctors, scientists, activists, pioneers—all sharing their connection, experience, and healing through this plant.

This was bigger than a business.
Bigger than a product.

💡 This was a movement that needed to be told.

And so, I set out to tell it.