Awaken The Giant Within is a feature length documentary about self-improvement, pushing boundaries, and achieving dreams. This movement began as something much smaller, a birthday present from me to my younger brother Karl-Emil. Being at his lowest point of anxiety and depression, I wanted to give him an experience that would inspire him. A dramatic change of setting could kick-start his process of regaining mental, emotional, and physical strength. My brother has been dealing with anxiety for most of his life and has spent the last year in a severe depression. At the time he was feeling like a failure after having dropped out of school twice, missed countless commitments due to anxiety attacks, and experienced a significant decrease in physical health. The school in which I graduated from a few years ago and which my brother attends, Frankfurt International School, was very understanding in supporting my brother during his time there but also after dropping out of his grade. They expressed a genuine interest in giving him the care that he specifically needed by not applying further pressure when he has at his weakest. Being given some time to focus on getting better I hoped that I could help him begin a process of recovery. I wanted to get him back on his feet to let him discover the giant that was and has always been within him. I signed us both up to compete in an 18km obstacle course that would challenge us mentally and physically all the while pushing us both completely out of our comfort zones. I had no idea what the obstacle course would give him, but I knew that he would be forced to change his mindset and actions in order to compete. From the moment that I signed us both up, this project has continued to grow into something much larger than just the two of us.

I have personally struggled with an intense fear of failure for most of my life. I have always been irrationally afraid of what people thought of me, usually twisting reality to suit my pessimistic interpretations. I have also been afraid of knowing with myself that I could have done something better. This has in turn made me obsessed with completing tasks to the best of my ability. Most people probably perceive this as a positive trait as it has led me to achieve degrees of success that I am definitely proud of. However, more often than not, this fear has been holding me back from taking on bigger ventures and dreams.

For the past couple of years I have not taken action on major opportunities because I didn’t believe they were possible for me. I was afraid of failing. These dreams didn’t go away, but would rather linger as constant pains that I couldn’t escape from. I quickly discovered that alcohol was very successful at numbing this pain and so I started to abuse it. I would spend multiple days straight watching movies about other people achieving physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual success. Under the influence of alcohol, I felt a false sense of connection with these achievements. Once the alcohol wore off, the original pain had become stronger and I had made no progress of my own. These were by far some of my darkest and most painful experiences. I reached a point where I knew that if I kept going down that path, recovery would become impossible. I finally decided to face my fear of failure and made myself believe that I could change even though it appeared hopeless. I began to read self-help books, workout consistently, eat healthy, and consciously engage my fears on a daily basis. Since that decision, I have stayed completely sober, started my own business, and begun training for my first marathon. There are so many other dreams that I have begun working on, and this project is one of them. Having succeeded in massively changing my lifestyle, mental state, and feeling of personal fulfilment, I wanted to try and help my brother succeed in this way as well. 

The Documentary

So let’s talk more about the documentary itself.  On the 13th of May, along with our 4 crew members, my brother and I will embark on an 8 day trip through Germany. Our goal is push ourselves further than we have ever gone before. We will be competing in an 18km obstacle course organised by Tough Mudder, kayak the world famous white water river Loisach, and summit Germany's tallest mountain, Zugspitze. The Tough Mudder race will force us to work together as a team and face challenges like mud slides, barbed wire, and ice water. Having never kayaked before, the Loisach river will test our ability to adapt and learn quickly under pressure. Summiting Zugspitze will require us to scale vertical cliff sides using rope, navigate a glacier, and ascend nearly 3,000 vertical meters in under 8 hours. Determination, confidence, and a goal oriented mindset will play a key role here. So why do we want to take on all of these physical challenges? We believe that extreme situations like the ones we will put ourselves in, can literally be life changing if we succeed in anchoring them to important values and beliefs. The core of our trip and documentary revolves around making a conscious decision to begin finding out what we want to do with our lives. What do we want to achieve? How do we want to be remembered? Once we find answers to these questions we will begin working on bringing them into reality. What kind of person do I need to be to get there? What is holding me back? How can I turn my weaknesses into strengths? We have spent enough time dreaming, now we want to do something about it. We believe that we can inspire other young people to begin the same process.

We know that the documentary will naturally take on a life of it's own once we begin the trip. We are so excited to see where it will take us and know that what we capture will above anything else be genuine and true. As a filmmaker with a background in script writing, cinematography, and editing I have been planning and preparing this documentary for the past 4 months. We will capture the trip in a truly breathtaking and original way, that mirrors the magnitude of what we are experiencing physically, emotionally, and mentally. The cinematography will place us with nature and will convey visually what we are experiencing internally. The script that I have created places our story as one among the many stories experienced around the world. The script also seeks to portray our minds and what we allow our minds to think about in an engaging new way. This is something that we have spent weeks conceptualising and bringing into reality. This original and challenging idea is what will make Awaken The Giant Within stand out as an important film that needs to be seen in the world we live in today.  

Why Is This Project Important?

My brother allowed me to make a short documentary about his battle with depression and anxiety which can be seen on my Youtube Channel. The video showed my brother’s first steps in beginning to overcome some of his struggles. After releasing it, so many people reached out and told their own stories. It was truly touching and eye-opening. We quickly became aware of how universal these issues are. We noticed that people feel like they cannot discuss about their issues, as they are still misunderstood by the vast majority of people. Mental health issues are not spoken about openly and this needs to change. Our film will begin that conversation and make it possible for people to feel heard and understood. Our personal experiences have led us to discover the potential and strength we all possess. We want to spread this message in an engaging and effective way.

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learnt, is the importance of sharing what I discover as I continue to grow. By passing forward what I learn I am potentially helping someone, but I am also making it even clearer for myself. Teaching something to someone else is often the best way of learning it yourself. This is precisely what we aim to do with our campaign. We want to bring as many people together as possible. This way we can all collectively learn from one another and make this project the best it can be. In the world that we live in today an estimated 350 million people suffer from depression and suicide is the second leading cause of death among people ages 10-24. Young people are becoming increasingly unable to handle the growing pressures that modern society puts on them. The statistics prove that too many people feel like they have nowhere to get help. It is important that we begin to change our perspective on what our problems mean for us and for those we love. We believe that it is crucial to approach our problems with the mindset that we have the solution ourselves no matter how difficult if may be. This is an intimidating thought, but it is what will empower us to make lasting changes. As a way of becoming a community, we have designed Awaken The Giant Within armbands that everyone who contributes can wear. Additionally, we will be sending everyone an extra armband that they can give to someone who might need a helping hand. Reach out to people and help give this movement a voice. Please contact us if you wish to receive more armbands. 

Your Contribution 

The financial contribution that you make to this project will go toward funding our filming expedition in May.

Up until this point we have funded the project out of our own pockets and will soon need financial support to continue working on it. Our 6 man crew consisting of a director, executive producer, producer, cinematographer, camera assistant, and sound recorder will be battling the elements along side us. They will all be working with us for a total of 1 month, taking the film through the production stage. Their involvement and expertise is absolutely crucial in creating the film we have envisioned, and they will be fully emerged in the experience of the trip. To capture this adventure in the most effective way we will need to significantly upgrade our filmmaking equipment. Telephoto lenses, wide angle lenses, time-lapse gear, drones, action cameras, stabilisation rigs, portable charging stations, and much more will be needed to complete production of this film. Funding the month long campaign, along with the money we have already put into making the video and armbands, will/has racked up a fee that needs to be covered. We hope that our campaign can reach as many as 2,000 people.  

The above budget adds up to more than the 45,000 we are trying to raise through this campaign. This is because we are very interested in partnering up with some of the brands whose networks support values that we want to promote. The above budget also doesn't mention any post-production costs. We have very exciting things planned in terms of editing, scoring, mixing, and marketing and cannot yet calculate their full costs. When we have the success of this campaign supporting us, we will be able to move on to the next step. However, we truly need your help in getting there. Contributing is not the only way that you can get involved, spreading the word is just as valuable. Our social media and Indiegogo share tools will allow you to share our campaign with the world.

Our Promotional Videos

To promote this movement we have created some immersive and interactive 360 videos that will allow you to virtually take part in our training. These videos feature my brother and I preparing ourselves mentally and physically for the challenges this May. We will be releasing them throughout the duration of the campaign as we reach financial goals. We are so excited to continue on this journey with you and will update you regularly with progress reports, videos, and personal messages!