Handcrafted Hemp Transformation in Portugal Shown at the Uruguayan Cannabic Film Festival

The short documentary “Hemp Fiber Lab”, made by the duo socialweed, will appear in the 4th edition of the FICC – International Festival of Cannabic Film from Uruguay, next Thursday. The film was made in May 2021 during the 3rd edition of the Hemp Fiber Lab workshop, promoted by the collective 7 sisters, at Herdade da Mina da Caveira, in Grândola, Portugal.

The curation team at FICC surrendered to the artisanal transformation of hemp in Portugal, through the lens of the Brazilian duo Marcel Favery and Erick Carmona, founders of socialweed. The five-minute mini-documentary, produced by the team in the 3rd edition of the “Hemp Fiber Lab” workshop, was selected to compose the festival's poster, which takes place between the 19th and 23rd of October 2022 in Uruguay, and which features 29 titles from 15 countries around the world, including new themed sections and three competitions.

Marcel Favery (right) and Erick Carmona (center) with Cannareporter Journalist Laura Ramos during the Hemp Fiber Lab in Portugal in 2021

Produced in conjunction with the project 7 sisters, this mini-documentary will be shown on October 20, at Cinemateca Uruguay. The “Hemp Fiber Lab” is the only film about textiles and the production of hemp fibers in an artisanal way, in addition to being the only representative of Portugal. To Cannareporter Erick Carmona, producer of the documentary, said that representing the culture of Portugal is “very rewarding”. “To think that cannabis was brought to our people through Portugal and today we have the opportunity to represent it through our art is really very magical. The plant unites everything and everyone.”

The Social Weed duo, who reacted to this selection with “a very special feeling”, also told CannaReporter that this feat makes them “even more convinced of the purpose of transforming stories into art”. Since the documentary was released, “the most interesting feedback was realizing how much we impacted the elderly and especially the more conservative people, a sign that we managed to get the message across”, added Erick Carmona.

In addition to Uruguay, the film will also be screened in Argentina between the 15th and 23rd of February, at the Buenos Aires Festival. The Hemp Fiber Lab was created by Marcel Favery and produced by Erick Carmona, with the support of CannaCasa, Grupo Maeté and the partnerships of Cannadouro and Cannareporter.

About the mini-documentary

Before the textile industry emerged, the work of manual transformation of vegetable fibers, which involved the entire community, was very important in local communities, especially for women – the spinners and weavers.

Crafts, and specifically textile creation, have been, since the beginning of humanity, one of the first and most important pillars of women's sustainability and autonomy. The film marks an encounter with nature, in addition to experiencing hemp traditions and culture, rescuing the lost knowledge and techniques around this plant, which was used so much in Portugal.

In the film, it is possible to follow the entire hemp transformation process, showing from its historical use to the fiber transformation techniques, the process from the plant to the raw fiber, dyeing, beginning of spinning, dyeing and natural fiber cleaning.

The “Hemp Fiber Lab” Workshop was facilitated by Lilian Enders Ribeiro, hemp producer, and Alice Aranha, artisanal and sustainable textile design professional.