My Journey With Community Tourism and Climate Action Films

I distinctly remember walking on an empty stretch of beach in Goa a few years ago. The setting sun had streaked the sky in pastel shades of orange, red and pink. The soft glow of the evening light, dispersed by the stratocumulus clouds, reflected on the waves of the Arabian Sea. On the other side of the beach, a reddish-yellow full moon was rising.

Normally I would have taken some photos to immortalize the moment, and noted down the words rising through my body like the tides rising up in the sea. But I consciously decided not to. Instead, I rotated my phone vertically and captured a short video clip. It was my first attempt at making an Instagram reel – and I failed miserably.

Also read: Ideas of Love and Life from the Tribes of Chhattisgarh

I had no idea why I wanted to capture that moment, how I intended to use the clip, or what my accompanying message would be. More importantly, deep down, I didn’t want to do this.

Since my early days of travel blogging (~2011), I had known that I loved telling stories through writing. I took photos yes, but more as a way of remembering or accompanying. I never thought myself a visual storyteller.

But as Instagram evolved and became a primary income stream for me, it became abundantly clear that I needed to create video stories… or quit. Over the next few months, I struggled and stumbled through the video creation process. Then a vision finally began to emerge on how I could tell meaningful stories through video, without putting myself in front of the camera. I was lucky to have an ace editor (looking at you, Dhruv) who understood the ‘feeling’ I wanted to create through my reels.

Fast forward to 2023, and I won Silver at the prestigious Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards for video under two minutes, and an honorable mention for Instagram Storytelling! I worked on multiple brand collaborations around sustainable tourism and beyond, of which reels were a key component. By now, I was not only absorbed in the rhythm of creating short videos, but also loving the creative process.

Also read: How to Get Paid to Travel the World

A new challenge

Time and again, the impulse of creating longer videos and films visited me. I shoved it aside, for my plate was already filled with writing, short form video, a virtual Master’s program, and building two new entities: The Shooting Star Academy for self-paced storytelling courses, and Climate Conscious Travel, for sustainable tourism research and education.

But some creative ideas don’t take no for an answer.

So in 2024, I threw myself a new challenge: To create a series of short documentary films on community tourism and grassroots climate action. This passion project had multiple goals:

Centre community voices

As a travel writer, when I pen stories on community tourism, the voice and perspective remain mine. I’ve tried to challenge this through collaborative community storytelling, where a story is penned by community members in their own language, translated, and run alongside my perspective as a traveller.

For the Singapore-based publication Our Better World, my story about Uttarakhand’s Himalayan Ark was run alongside two stories by Bina Nitwal and Trilok Singh Rana from the local community in Sarmoli. All photography for the story was done by community members. It was a beautiful experience to work together and have our voices published together, but as it turns out, not many publications or editors are interested in this approach.

With these documentaries however, I could interview community members on camera, and centre their powerful, emotional, real voices.

Showcase the power of conscious travel

We often hear that conscious travel can impact local communities, especially women, through the creation of alternate livelihoods and the celebration of their living culture. Through these docufilms, I could showcase the power of our travel choices from the perspective of the people they’ve directly impacted in a community.

Highlight the impacts of climate change on local communities

These short documentaries (under 10 minutes) are not climate films per se, but they highlight the impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, and show what grassroots community action could look like – from investing in initiatives that empower rural women, to community-led waste management.

Also read: Everything You Need to Know About Community Tourism

The Routes of Resilience Series

Thus was born Routes of Resilience – a series of travel documentary films highlighting community tourism and grassroots climate action, shot across India and Peru!

Film #1: Routes Of Resilience (India)

The journey of the first collective of rural women guides in the Tirthan Valley, Himachal Pradesh – supported by Himalayan Ecotourism.

Watch it in Hindi

Film #2: Mujeres Ya Trabajan (Peru)

The Indigenous communities leading sustainable tourism in Peru’s Sacred Valley – supported by Planeterra.

Women Waste Warriors (India)

The ‘Paryavaran Sakhis’ aka female waste warriors of Dehradun, on a mission to segregate, recycle and manage waste against all odds – supported by Waste Warriors.

Coming soon:

• A film on Indigenous-owned homestays in Peru’s high altitude villages.
• A film on a women-led upcycling initiative in Maharashtra, India.

Unexpected recognition

When I released the first film on the journey of Tirthan Valley’s first collective of rural women guides on Youtube, my community on Instagram encouraged me to submit it to film festivals. I googled some, and randomly sent them the link.

One morning, I woke up to a notification from the Mountainfilm Summit in Bosnia and Herzegovina, stating that the film had been shortlisted (and a few weeks later selected) to be showcased at the film festival. Whoa!

In the months since, films from the Routes of Resilience series have received some encouraging recognition:

• The series won the Social Impact Award at the Bessie Awards (New York, 2025)
• The film Routes of Resilience won Broadcast of the Year (vlog) at the Inspire Global Media Awards (London, 2025)
• The film Routes of Resilience was selected to be screened at 19 film festivals, including the Swedish International Film Festival, Eastern Europe Film Festival and Cambodia International Film Festival, and became an award winner at 9 film festivals.
• The film Women Waste Warriors was premiered at the Mussoorie International Film Festival, and some of the women featured in the film were invited to attend the screening!

The most gratifying part about making these films though, is screening them for the communities featured in them. There have been tears, laughter and joy during the screenings. The films have also been used to showcase their work to local authorities. The Women Waste Warriors film, for instance, was screened at Dehradun’s Zila Panchayat (District Development) Office!

Also read: What I Learnt From an Indigenous Shaman in the Amazon Rainforest

Micro films on Instagram

One lesson from shooting, translating and editing these films is that I can’t create them at the pace I had initially hoped. It takes time, emotional energy and financial resources, even though I’m lucky to have found a great editor (looking at you, Deepthi), and translation support from my Instagram community.

Besides creating short documentaries, I decided to try my hand at Instagram reel-style micro films, and love how well they’ve been received:

The dilemma of reach and impact

It has felt so empowering to change my self-perception from being a writer to someone who can tell stories through many creative mediums. As part of the journey to upskill myself, I enrolled in a documentary filmmaking workshop by acclaimed Iranian director Hossein Martin Fazeli, and walked away with the conviction to make more docufilms.

But therein lies a dilemma.

The longer films (under 10 min), though they’ve been screened at film festivals and led to recognition for the community initiatives, have seen reach of only 2-4k views each on my fledgling Youtube channel.

On the other hand, the reel-style micro films on Instagram (1-2 min) have had impact of a different kind: 200-500k views each, leading to great conversions for some of the initiatives.

I’m trying to figure out which ones to pursue. I usually have limited time for the interviews and shooting broll, so shooting in both landscape and portrait is hard. The former allows for more depth, the latter for more reach. Any advice?

Also see my course: Get Paid to Travel the World With Purpose

A message to the universe

As I slowly continue this unexpected filmmaking journey, I’m on the lookout for impactful social enterprises and non-profits – in travel and beyond – to partner with to tell their stories. I would particularly love to continue spotlighting community tourism initiatives and grassroots climate action work, in the form of short documentaries and/or micro films.

If that’s you, or you know someone whose work needs better storytelling, please connect us!

Have you ever dabbled into filmmaking of any kind? What kind of documentaries and films do you like to watch?