Groundswell

Nespresso is putting the spotlight on climate-smart coffee farming with a campaign by Lucas + Carroll centered around Groundswell, the new documentary from acclaimed activist filmmakers Big Picture Ranch Studios, which won the Golden Globes Prize for Documentary at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.

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

Groundswell focuses on soil regeneration as a climate solution which could fix the global agri-food system. From a Nespresso Sustainable Quality Plan partner coffee farm in Colombia to communities across five continents, the film showcases the farmers, scientists and Indigenous leaders reshaping our relationship to the land.
The film is directed by Big Picture Ranch founders Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell, and narrated and executive produced by Hollywood stars Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson.

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

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, entitled: "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 13th.