EXCLUSIVE: The King has thrown his support behind Rebecca and Josh Tickell’s moving documentary trilogy, as they recall a special trip to meet him in Scotland
A powerful new documentary has received the royal stamp of approval – from the King himself. A decade–in-the-making, Groundswell, the final film in a stirring trilogy by California-based husband-and-wife team Rebecca and Josh Tickell, is at the forefront of a global movement bridging climate and regenerative agriculture.
Narrated by Demi Moore and starring Woody Harrelson, it also features a royal cameo from Charles’ son, Prince William.
The monarch was so moved by the couple’s original film, Kiss The Ground, which explores how regenerative agriculture can heal the planet – that he shared it with over a thousand people, reaching out personally to the farmers featured.
“The King invited us up to Dumfries House in Scotland to meet him personally, and see all the regenerative farming he’s doing there – and so yeah, we did. And he told us Kiss the Ground was ‘his favourite film’,” Rebecca said.
“He actually said he believes it’s his purpose on Earth to spread the message of regeneration – and that’s exactly what we believe.
“I was just really impressed to hear that was his truth, and what that could mean when we have leaders like him, who see the vision and the power of soil to heal our world.”
As Josh is at pains to point out, however, this is no “boring” environmental film – it’s about everyone’s future. He insisted: “We call it a ‘six-pint’ movie – it’s a great date night film, it will give you so much to talk about at the pub!”
“I don’t think that there’s a more important issue than feeding ourselves on Earth. I think this could be the most important movie you watch this year.”
He added of William’s cameo: “There’s a moment where Prince William introduces this rancher, at the end at a farming conference. It’s a great cinematic moment because the two are kind of joking, but it was totally organic. And we’ve followed this rancher’s journey, across all three films, he’s the emotional backbone of them. It was very special.”
The film, which received its worldwide premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last month, also has plenty of A-lister star power behind it.
“Demi watched our previous film and just had such an ‘a-ha!’ moment. She’d just become a grandmother, and she just felt like… she realised her life had extended much further into the future beyond her own,” Rebecca said.
”I think when people become parents, they become interested in the future in a whole new way. And Woody has three daughters, and says that’s what motivates him. They both realized this was probably the most important thing that they could do with their reach, for their family.”
As for Rebecca and Josh’s own two children, they got to walk the famous Cannes red carpet with their parents and Demi , in front of the flashing light bulbs of the world’s paparazzi. Rebecca laughed: “It’s going to take an awful lot to top that moment!”
The mother-of-two also admitted that it feels like a ‘huge relief’ to have the third film out in the world soon. “When we started this in 2013, it felt like the weight of the world was on our shoulders”, she said.
“We’d realised that storytelling could work and that we weren’t done telling the story. Groundswell’s not just a movie; it’s the story of the global movement happening right now to reshape our world so that we can have a regenerative, stable future.
“And it’s happening by unlikely heroes in unlikely places, and it’s happening everywhere, and the goal is a billion acres.
“So as a storyteller, to get Groundswell out as a catalyst to reach that tipping point of a billion acres globally into regeneration, to say that it’s a relief is an understatement. It feels like our lives depend on people hearing this story.”
Josh is equally passionate about the cause, as he discusses Britain, specifically: “The UK is in the middle of a farming crisis right now. You have a food crisis, you have a farming crisis, a fertilizer crisis.
“So this has gone from being an eco-issue to being front-page news, a mainstream issue. How do we feed ourselves? How are we going to deal with the food crisis?
“Groundswell being a UK initiative, being there and filming that, was such an important thing. Andy Cato, who’s a star of Clarkson’s Farm, is in the movie. Jeremy Clarkson appears as well. It’s a very powerful film for people in the UK to watch. It’s going to change your life. – and your country.”
Groundswell premieres 5 June on Amazon Prime worldwide.
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