OUR FILM
How can we transform agriculture to ensure food security in a rapidly destabilizing climate?
As our current approach to farming ravages our land, depletes our oceans, and leaves hundreds of millions of people hungry, Grounded tells the story of the people fighting to create a resilient food system that can feed a growing population and withstand the extremes of the climate crisis.
THE ISSUE
Agriculture currently faces massive disruptions from the ever-accelerating and worsening impacts of climate change.
As extreme heat waves trigger droughts and rising sea levels and climate-induced monsoons flood massive tracts of land, farmers around the world face dire circumstances. At the same time, these impacts of climate change that hurt agriculture are actually perpetuated by agriculture itself.
Our mission with this documentary is to raise awareness about how agriculture is both disrupted by and an accelerant of climate change by showcasing the lives of the people who have committed themselves to changing it.
MEET THE TEAM
We are a New York City-based team of young filmmakers from on a mission to address environmental issues through storytelling. As the next generation, we recognize that we must play an active, crucial role in solving the crises that threaten our future. It is our hope that through our filmmaking, we can inspire compassion and action in others by sharing the stories of people tackling humanity’s most urgent issues.
Simon Geisker
Director & Writer
Sophia Loren Heriveaux
Lead Producer
George Du
Director of Photography
Victoria Guillem
Editor
Josh Kane
Assistant Editor
Christabelle Tan
Producer
Mickey Santana
Head of Marketing,
Associate Producer
Meghan Muramaki
Marketing Coordinator,
Associate Producer
Anushka Dhoot
Associate Producer
Gabby Piamonte
Producer
Olivia Kruger
Producer
James Qiu
Producer
Jenny He
Producer & Translator
Spencer Collantes
Associate Producer
Thomas Monsellato
Producer
Sinclair Neff
Production Crew Member
Braulio Lin
Production Crew Member
Josh Sturm
Production Crew Member
THE RESEARCHERS
Our research team is made up of graduate and undergraduate students and alumni from some of most esteemed universities in the U.S. including Stanford University, Iowa State University, University of California, Los Angeles, and New York University. They work closely with Grounded’s writers, not only keeping the film factually accurate, but also influencing the positions it holds and the stakes of its emotional tempo.
Anna Gomes
Head Researcher
Tianmei Wang
Head Researcher
Gaby Sotelo
Researcher
Jackie Plein
Researcher
Sara Reshamwala
Researcher
Kara Grady
Researcher
Claire Sarbacker
Researcher
Sutton Payne
Researcher
THE INTERVIEWEES
These interviewees range from founders of organic co-ops, to distinguished lab scientists, to vegan restaurants owners to industrial-scale commercial farmers. We travelled all across the United States, through parts of Canada and throughout mainland China to visit each of these experts and hear their take on how to improve our food system.
THE DESIGNERS
An incredibly talented group of artists, our designers have carefully crafted a brand that fits Grounded’s ‘science, but fun’ aesthetic beautifully. They were tasked for months with articulating a style that would visually translate this important message about our food system (which, admittedly, is not a topic that would naturally catch a general audience) into something approachable and engaging.
Patrick Xu
Brand Strategist
Paloma Williams
Graphic Designer
Kate Slate
Graphic Designer
THE NEXT PHASE
In 2017, our team filmed over 25 interviews around the US and Canada. What we kept hearing again and again from the experts we spoke to was that we needed to talk to the people on the frontlines of this crisis.
In the summer of 2018, we followed their advice by interviewing farmers across the US before traveling to China, where we spoke with producers growing potatoes just south of Siberia, a team raising aquaculture on the coast of the Bohai Sea, and the founders of a small scale organic co-op in Hunan province.
We are now in post-production and hope to release the film in 2023.
