The Possibilities
of Regeneration

Documentary · Kiss the Ground

Regenerative agriculture is usually told as a new idea. This film, co-written and narrated by Lyla June Johnston, tells it as a very old one: gentle fire on the Great Plains, desert cornfields fed by mountain rain, kelp forests planted for herring off British Columbia. Colonization tried to erase that knowledge, and the land has paid for it. The film's answer is to learn from it again, and to return land and leadership to the people it was taken from.

Every frame had to be right for its time and place: the clothing and jewelry, which plants grew where, the color of the soil and the water. Environmental films often show people as the problem. This one shows them as stewards of the land, working in step with it, so we made the land as alive as they are: bright, textured, full of food, and full of possibility.

The plan was to shoot most of the film and animate a few sequences. The animation kept growing until it was the whole film. Things grow when you tend them.

6 min · 2023

Poster for The Possibilities of Regeneration: the hand-lettered title sits on a band of dark, layered soil, framed by green leaves and vines and a purple coneflower — Kiss the Ground.

"The root of regeneration isn’t in the soil. It’s within us. It’s in our hearts. It’s a way of seeing the world."

— Lyla June Johnston, co-writer and narrator

A way of seeing

Concept

Pink and blue fish swirl in a spiral against a deep black-blue current — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
At dusk, a woman cradles a small flame in her hands, using fire to help heal the soil — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Drawn in fine blue line against the sky, Mother Earth rises from a red mesa, arms open wide — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Two figures embrace, their bodies filled with forest and watercolor greens — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.

Old ways, new ground

Color Script

Color script for The Possibilities of Regeneration, moving from dusk purples through stormy blues and parched browns to lush greens and golden sunrise. It opens on a purple-pink sunset over green hills — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Gr
Color script: a hand cradles a glowing flame against a dusk sky — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: four women hold small flames beneath a night sky and a full moon — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: pale flames burn against deep violet — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: pink coneflowers rise from dark soil — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: bison graze in a meadow of pink flowers — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a bison stands before a storm as lightning strikes — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: dark blue rain clouds roll across the sky — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a white river rushes over dark rocks in the rain — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: two hands clasp to retain rushing water — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a young corn plant grows against a peach sky — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: water and green growth wind through a red desert canyon — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a turtle with a forest growing on its shell swims through pale aqua water — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: fish swim through a forest of kelp made of hands — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a fish breaks out of a nest of eggs attached to kelp — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: an orca and salmon circle in deep blue water — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: two white fish circle inside a ring of blue — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: seen from above, a commercial fishing boat cuts through a school of fish — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a fishing net hangs full against gray — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: hands clean a fish with a knife — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: stones lie on cracked, dry soil — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a barren plowed field disappears into clouds of dust — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a woman in traditional dress looks out over grassland toward red mesas — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a woman lifts a seedling overhead among tall trees — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: hands raise a corn plant against a pale sky — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a lush field of crops and wildflowers in morning light — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a patchwork of green farm fields seen from above — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: people gather at green food stalls at a market — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: plants grow in rows of glass jars — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: Hands press into soil among green grass and flowers — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: tree roots spread through the soil beneath the grass — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a hand cradles a glowing flame against a pale sky — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a glowing tree branches out with new green buds — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: Mother Earth, in a red and black dress, rises from a mesa with open arms as birds fly overhead — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a cyan burst of light glows against black — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: a woman in a red and black dress and a turquoise necklace holds an ear of corn — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: cupped hands hold kernels of corn against a sunset — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Color script: three women, of different generations, embrace at sunrise — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.

Full of possibility

Final Frames

A sea turtle swims through blue water, a small forest of trees growing on its shell — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
A woman in a red and black dress, seen from behind, looks out over desert grassland toward red mesas — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
A woman with long braids kneels before a glowing fire at night — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
A woman lifts a patterned clay pot above her head — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Two hands clasp to retain flowing water — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Fish swim through a forest of kelp made of hands — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
An orca, salmon and a white wolf circle one another in a deep blue whirlpool — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Morning light spreads across a red rock canyon with growing crops — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Mother Earth, in a white dress and turquoise necklace, rises from a mesa with arms open wide — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Seedlings and coneflowers sprout between the roots of two trees — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
At sunrise, people tend a farm together as a woman kneels to plant in the foreground — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.
Hand-lettered words, "Imagine the possibilities," framed by green plants and pink coneflowers — The Possibilities of Regeneration, Kiss the Ground.

Credits

Written by
Lyla June Johnston · Karen Rodriguez · Kate Oliva

Narrated by
Lyla June Johnston

Animation Director
Jason Carpenter

Creative Director
Jason Carpenter

Animation Producer
Holly Stone

Art Director
Sabine Volkert

Animation Team
Hannah Brewerton · Tash Dupker · Tom Fisher · Scott Ingalls · Joumana Ismail · Aira Joana · Christine Le · Kate Michaelides · Goyo Moreno · Hannah O’Brien · Lisa O’Sullivan · Claire Schlaikjer · Inari Sirola · Sabine Volkert

Compositing
Jason Carpenter · Tom Fisher · Scott Ingalls · Claire Schlaikjer

Cultural Advisor
Lyla June Johnston

Producers
Kate Oliva · Karen Rodriguez · Jackie Hansen

Animation Studio
Bright Eye

Production
Kiss The Ground

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