“One Plant” Doc at Nashville Film Festival Sketches Hemp History: A Practical Look
Writer/Director Jordan Berger lost his mother to alcohol and opioid addiction in May 2019. That grief sparked “One Plant,” a thought-provoking 90-minute documentary at the 57th Nashville Film Festival on Friday, September 26th. The documentary asks this question: If hemp has helped humanity for thousands of years, why were we taught to fear it?
The film tracks hemp’s history across three areas—fiber, grain, and flower—through compelling on-the-ground stories. A Franklin, Tennessee startup makes hemp tampons (traditional ones contain 12 heavy metals linked to cancer). Cameron McIntosh in Allentown, Pennsylvania just secured a $2 million Department of Defense grant for research into hemp-based construction materials. Farmers, researchers, and entrepreneurs make the case: this plant could help us move from extraction to regeneration.
“One Plant” Hemp Documentary Screens at Nashville Film Festival.
Cinematography by Berger, Garrett Henderson-Black, and Maxwell Duryea is excellent, supported by a strong original score. It’s an impressive amount of information, presented well and informatively.
The real villain here is history. The 1937 Marijuana Tax Act and Reagan’s disinformation campaigns of the ’60s and ’70s buried hemp—a plant George Washington grew on 8,000 acres, that Lewis & Clark used in 1803. Why? Oil and paper industries saw hemp as a threat. Racism and fear were used to give hemp a bad name that is hard to rejuvenate.
Berger builds a convincing case that hemp deserves a second look. With documented benefits for children with brain tumors, addiction recovery, and neurodegenerative diseases, plus hemp’s regenerative potential for the planet, the film’s mission is clear: “Save the world. We have one plant.”
“One Plant” sketches hemp’s history at 57th Nashville Film Festival.
