LOS ANGELES, Calif.—January 27, 2021—Acclaimed directors Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell Tickell (Oscar® short list for “Fuel,” Official Selection Cannes Film Festival for “The Big Fix”) will release KISS THE GROUND: FOR SCHOOLS, a 45-minute-long educational version of their latest critically lauded eco-documentary, KISS THE GROUND. Beginning January 28^th, the new version is free to all schools, students, teachers, and community educators via KissTheGroundMovie.com. KISS THE GROUND: FOR SCHOOLS has new scenes not in the feature film including a series of person-on-street interviews with Rosario Dawson and a scene in which Tony Tenfingers, a Lakota Elder, describes the importance of the once-prevalent buffalo for Native American peoples. KISS THE GROUND: FOR SCHOOLS is also available with subtitles in 18 languages including English Closed Captions, Spanish, Mandarin, and Hindi. To ensure the success of this unprecedented educational release, Big Picture Ranch has partnered with ro*co films, a leading distributor of documentary films with proven expertise within the academic market. “As a mission-driven documentary distribution company, we are honored to play a role in bringing this powerful film and resource to all schools, without the financial barriers that too-often limit what students get to experience in the classroom,” said Annie Roney, founder and CEO of ro*co films.

In addition, the film has partnered with the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) to bring free, NGSS-aligned science lesson plans and student activity sheets to educators and students nationwide. The new, classroom-ready materials will explore regeneration topics and will be available in late March, in time for Earth Month, taking place in April. Educators interested in receiving the materials can pre-register at nsta.org/kisstheground.

A DVD version, which includes both the 45-minute education cut and the original 84-minute version, is also available free to schools at KissTheGroundMovie.com.

“Rebecca and I are proud to present this new version of ‘Kiss The Ground’ for free and make it widely available online to 114,000 U.S. schools and to over 35 million students nationally and millions more internationally,” said Josh Tickell. “One of the key messages in our film is today’s youth are the best positioned leaders to implement the practices of regeneration and climate change reversal.”

“’Kiss the Ground: For Schools’ represents a watershed moment for our country’s educational system,” said Rebecca Tickell. “This is the first time that climate change reversal through regeneration and drawdown will be taught in classrooms – both online and in person. The new version of the film for schools and the forthcoming curricula will provide powerful new tools to students everywhere.”

The winner of over 40 U.S. and international film festival prizes, KISS THE GROUND is narrated by Woody Harrelson and unveils a game-changer: We can reverse global warming and the Earth’s soil is the solution. By regenerating earth, we can completely and rapidly stabilize our planet’s climate, restore lost ecosystems, and create abundant food supplies. With epic footage shot on five continents, striking visuals from NASA and NOAA, and stunning animation, the documentary conveys this critical message through the voices of leading scientists, ecologists, and experts including Nobel Laureates in climate, members of the International Panel on Climate Change, top scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA), as well as environmental activists such as Gisele Bündchen, Tom Brady, Jason Mraz, Ian Somerhalder, Patricia Arquette, and Rosario Dawson. As an urgent call to action in addressing the world’s climate crisis, KISS THE GROUND artfully illustrates an accessible, relatively simple solution to humanity’s greatest challenge. Originally intended for a world premiere at this year’s Tribeca Film Festival followed by a theatrical release, KISS THE GROUND is currently playing on Netflix and Vimeo on Demand.

KISSTHEGROUNDMOVIE.COM

Trailer: YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook

Instagram: @kissthegroundmovie

Facebook: facebook.com/kissthegroundmovie

Twitter: @kissthegroundoc Instagram: @kissthegroundmovie

Facebook: facebook.com/rebeccatickell, facebook.com/ecodude (for Josh Tickell)

Instagram: @joshtickell, @beccatickell

NSTA.ORG/KISSTHEGROUND

ABOUT BIG PICTURE RANCH

Nested in the Los Padres National Forest in Ojai, California sits Big Picture Ranch – an organic avocado farm which also operates 24/7 as a soup-to-nuts film studio. Founders Josh and Rebecca Tickell are Sundance Award-Winning documentarians. Big Picture Ranch creates content that changes the global narrative around important environmental issues. Filmmakers Josh and Rebecca Tickell won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival with their first film FUEL, premiered their oil spill documentary THE BIG FIX as an official selection at Cannes, and are launching their first scripted feature film, HEARTLAND soon.

ABOUT ro*co FILMS

Founded in 2000, ro*co has distributed exceptional documentaries to the global and educational markets including eighteen Oscar-nominated feature documentaries and festival award-winners, such as Born Into Brothels, Hoop Dreams, Jesus Camp, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, Gunner Palace, The Weather Underground, Promises, Street Fight, No End in Sight, The Devil Came on Horseback, How to Survive a Plague, The Invisible War, Blood Brother, Particle Fever, After Tiller, The Internet’s Own Boy, E-Team, The Case Against 8, Inequality for All, Girl Rising, Miss Representation, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, Cartel Land, The Hunting Ground, Life Animated, DOLORES, Knife Skills, Human Flow, An Inconvenient Sequel, Charm City, The Fourth Estate, Angels Are Made of Light and RBG.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL SCIENCE TEACHING ASSOCIATION

Founded in 1944, the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) is the largest organization in the world dedicated to promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. A vibrant community of 40,000 science educators and professionals, NSTA is committed to best practices in teaching science and its impact on student learning. NSTA offers high quality science resources and continuous learning so that science educators grow professionally and excel in their career. For new and experienced teachers alike, the NSTA community offers the opportunity to network with like-minded peers at the national level, connect with mentors and leading researchers, and learn from the best in the field.

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