Crouch End Picturehouse to Screen Exciting New British Documentary Six Inches of Soil plus Unearthed a locally produced clay stop-frame animation by Jo Pearl

(Crouch End Wednesday 20^th March 6pm) – The Crouch End Picture House is announcing a screening of the eagerly anticipated documentary film, Six Inches of Soil. The film tells the inspiring story of young British farmers standing up against the industrial food system and transforming the way they produce food - to heal the soil, our health and provide for local communities. The programme will also include, Unearthed, a whimsical animated ‘short’ by Islington artist and film maker Jo Pearl, exploring the hidden world of the soil beneath our feet - teeming with life, and followed by a panel discussion with complimentary nibbles.

Six Inches of Soil follows three new farmers on the first year of their regenerative journey - Anna Jackson, a Lincolnshire 11th generation arable and sheep farmer; Adrienne Gordon, a Cambridgeshire small-scale vegetable farmer; and Ben Thomas, who rears pasture fed beef cattle in Cornwall. As the trio strive to adopt regenerative practices and create viable businesses, they meet seasoned mentors who help them on their journey. They’re joined by other experts providing wisdom and solutions from a growing movement of people who are dedicated to changing the trajectory for food, farming and the planet.

Claire Mackenzie, Six Inches of Soil Producer adds, “Community screenings are a hugely important part of our impact campaign. We’re so excited that the Picturehouse has adopted our film and created a Green Screen Tour in 13 of its cinemas around the country. It’s really important that people have discussions at a local level to find ways to move forward to create profitable food systems that benefit the community whilst looking after our soil and the environment in the best possible way.”

Jo Pearl, Unearthed film maker adds, “Today, people invariably think soil is ‘dirt’ and are squeamish about insects and microbes living there. With Unearthed, I want to enchant with the awe-inspiring abundance of life in healthy soil. Afterall, it holds the key to our future.”

The post-show panel discussion will be chaired by Johanna Gibbons, soil expert and Founding Partner in award winning landscape architects J&L Gibbons, and featuring the documentary’s producer Claire Mackenzie, animator Jo Pearl and local soil hero Eslam Mohamed Mohamed Ahmed, founder of the Sustainable Nutrition Academy who is currently running a project collecting food scraps from local restaurants and composting it at the Sunnyside Community Garden, N19. For those wanting to continue the conversation in the bar after the screenings there will be tasty nibbles provided by Nourished Communities, who represent over 200 UK independent growers and producers.

About Six Inches of Soil:
Six Inches of Soil is the first full-length campaigning documentary feature film that tells the untold story of the UK's regenerative and agroecology movement and its benefits to soil. With the first global screening at COP28 and UK screening at ORFC 2024, the film aims to inspire UK farmers to adopt regenerative agroecological farming practices and encourage consumers and policymakers to support their efforts. With a compelling narrative, engaging animations and interviews with leading figures, it tells the story of our soils and our food and farming system through the eyes of three new-entrant farmers and examines how we can replace this with a resilient and localised agroecosystem. 

Six Inches of Soil has been produced with an independent team including, Director Colin Ramsay, Founder and Director of DragonLight Films and Freelance Producer Claire Mackenzie. See the full team here. During the post-production process, Claire and Colin set up Springtail Productions to  further develop the impact of the film. The aim is to inspire farmers with the confidence to shift to a more regenerative mindset and approach; to give consumers the impetus and information to rethink their food choices; and ultimately create a groundswell of public opinion leading to policy change, support and funding for a British regenerative farming and agroecological revolution.