When Hennie’s family moved from South Africa to Vermont in 1998, the alienation proved brutal for the then twelve-year-old. “I’d never even worn normal clothing to school,” he recalls. “I grew up having a school uniform. What the hell clothes do I wear?”

Then a can of soda changed everything. “We went skiing through this deal where you bring in a can of Mountain Dew and you get a free lesson—that changed the entire course of my life. I found my little haven in the ski world.”

Hennie and his new skiing buddies started making camcorder videos in what he calls his “Jackass phase.” He realised that he was a better cinematographer than skier, so he leaned into shooting footage, especially of his talented friend Little John, who you might know as pro skier LJ Strenio. “I got my first hundred bucks for a couple of shots of him.” 

While seeking a University of Utah film & media arts degree, Hennie accepted full-time work shooting ski movies for Rage Films before graduating—a logical move, given this sort of gig “was the dream that I was going to school for.”

His early work caught the eye of renowned action sports photographer Erik Seo, who introduced him to Camp 4 Collective cofounder Tim Kemple. Hennie became the content studio’s first employee. “That took me from being a ski filmer to shooting all these other sports for commercial clients around the world.”

Since Camp 4, Hennie has moved back and forth from freelancing to steady gigs, filming and editing content for everyone from the Freeride World Tour to Powder magazine to National Geographic to Patagonia. He truly shines when telling the human stories behind the sick action shots—and pulling from his own life experiences for inspiration. These projects include “Stacy’s Story,” about an Iraq War veteran seeking solace in rock climbing; “Lineage,” the story of legendary freeskier Ingrid Backstrom’s quest to balance her career with her role as a mother; and “Of the Black Sea,” his latest film following Turkish-American freeskier Giray Dadali as he reconnects with his roots (and skis) in Türkiye.

“Storytelling needs to be more than just a dude who scaled this epic mountain,” says Hennie. He maintains a deep respect for action-oriented films and their role in the core culture—after all, that’s where he got his start. But at this point in his career, he has an eye on the bigger picture. “I want to make films that relate our love of the sport to a broader audience. Why should the rest of the world give a shit about this story?”

“Here in Salt Lake City, everybody loves getting the shot, but not a lot of people like editing those shots,” says Hennie. So, to fill the gaps when he’s not making movies, he takes on editing assignments. Not only has this boosted his career, it also helps him grow as a filmmaker. “Editing for other people, you get exposed to different workflows and styles of storytelling. You get to see inside the brainworks of other people.”

Hennie and Giray are spreading the word about “Of the Black Sea,” with recent world premieres at the Winter Park Film Festival and the Wasatch Mountain Film Festival. From there, they’ll be working the rest of the film festival circuit. “Our goal is to get as many eyeballs as possible on it,” he says. 

They also want to get distribution in Türkiye. “We want people there to see it. Giray wants other people who look like him to know that they have access to freeskiing, not just groomer stuff. There’s a whole world open up to them.”

Concurrently, Hennie and another producer are working on a project about the 2018 water crisis in Cape Town, when the region became so parched that they came within 90 days of shutting off the municipal supply.

The South African city has since reversed the problem. Hennie wants to share with the world how they did it. “We want to link up the dams that feed the city in some kind of adventurous way, maybe on mountain bikes, to tell the story of how all these different areas feed Cape Town and how the different communities dealt with the crisis.”