The importance of coffee cannot be overstated. It’s a product used by 1 billion people throughout the world every day. In Colombia, that product is the economic base for many families. Making coffee production sustainable matters to the world.

The documentary film, Groundswell, presents a positive view about the future of farming with actionable climate solutions. It focuses on soil regeneration as a climate solution that could fix the global agri-food system. The film presents the farmers, scientists and Indigenous leaders reshaping our relationship to the land. Nespresso is putting the spotlight on its climate-smart coffee farming with a campaign by Lucas + Carroll, by activist filmmakers, Big Picture Ranch Studios.

Groundswell was directed by its founders, Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell; narrated by Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson; and won the Golden Globes Prize for Documentary at the recent 79th Cannes Film Festival.

Nespresso also has a starring role in the award-winning film, that premiered at Cannes ahead of its global release on Amazon Prime Video on June 5. Lucas + Carroll forged the strategic and creative partnership between Nespresso and the Groundswell filmmakers.

Lucas + Carroll were executive producers on the film and were on the ground in Colombia during the shoot. They were also behind a social-first campaign for the film’s release, enlisting influential climate leaders to tell the story.

The Groundswell filmmakers travelled to Colombia to investigate regenerative agriculture in coffee and met with Don Ruben, a farmer who has participated in the Nespresso Sustainable Quality Plan for 20 years. Nespresso works directly with more than 130,000 independent farmers, providing training and technical support to empower them in the transition to regenerative agriculture. The filmmakers created a dedicated edit of the film for Nespresso to use as part of its campaign to promote the release of Groundswell. In the short film, Where Exceptional Coffee Begins, directors Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell take audiences on a journey to discover how healthy soil and regenerative agriculture can support the long‑term resilience of coffee farming.

Nespresso is supporting the film launch with a social activation, by Lucas + Carroll, called Climate is Culture: BTS of Groundswell. For the campaign, created in collaboration with Swiss agency, Vandy Studio, Lucas + Carroll enlisted four of the world’s most compelling young climate and cultural leaders – Wawa Gatheru, Jerome Foster II, James Stewart and Dylan Page, known to his 19 million TikTok followers as NewsDaddy, and invited them behind the scenes of the Groundswell shoot in Colombia. 

Each creator spent time on the ground with the farmers at the heart of the film, forming their own connection to the story of regenerative agriculture in coffee. Their experiences and perspectives were then woven into the social campaign, and their voices featured in Nespresso’s annual sustainability report, giving next-generation climate leaders a platform inside one of the world’s largest food and beverage companies. They were then invited by Nespresso onto the red carpet for the film’s premiere at Cannes on May 13.

Nespresso’s role in the film is further amplified by Nature Knows Good Coffee, a social-first campaign by New York agency, Accompany Creative, that uses the sensory richness of agriculture – birdsong, biodiversity and farms that thrive like forests p to show how healthy ecosystems support quality  coffee.

Groundswell is the third in Big Picture Ranch’s “soil trilogy”, which also includes the awarded Kiss the Ground (2020) and Common Ground (2023). The series of films present a global perspective on the three biggest problems humans face – climate change, species loss and soil loss p and the regenerative methods being used to address each.

Leo Aizpuru, Nespresso chief marketing officer, stated, “This was a once‑in‑a‑lifetime opportunity to have our sustainability story told by the leading voices in climate storytelling. Our partnership with the filmmakers challenged our traditional ways of working and pushed the boundaries of creativity. The result is a powerful film—one that delivers a message of hope and is designed to truly resonate with audiences.”

Susie Lucas, co-CEO of Lucas + Carroll, added, “Nespresso’s trailblazing, long-standing commitment to regenerative agriculture had been under the radar. Our solution was to orchestrate a collaboration that would be authentic for the independent film makers at Big Picture Ranch and would deliver for Nespresso. It was a bold and disruptive approach for a major global brand, but from the moment we brought Nespresso and the filmmakers together, we witnessed a meeting of minds. It was paramount to both parties that the filmmakers maintained editorial and artistic integrity. Nespresso were confident that their story not only deserved to be told, but stood up to scrutiny.”

Simon Carroll, co-CEO of Lucas + Carroll, commented, “It takes courage for a brand to open its doors to independent documentary makers, and that signalled to us that Nespresso were ready to disrupt. Inviting young climate activists behind the scenes of the shoot was a way to magnify the impact of the documentary, ensuring it resonates beyond the predictable audiences.”

Watch the Groundswell trailer: