How To Heal The Planet — Aspidistra Films

Sizzle Reel

HOW TO HEAL THE PLANET: DOCUSERIES

This is a new docuseries, working title How To Heal The Planet. Over the first season, we are telling stories of individuals around the USA & Puerto Rico who are using new technologies or returning to older, indigenous methods to address the environmental effect climate change is having on their local community. A warming planet means less fertile soil to grow food in, less fresh water, drier trees and more forests lost to fire, warmer oceans and mass sea creature die-off, hotter cities and dire health results for humans and animals. Taking collective action on climate change, on any scale, can lead to more abundance for us all and that’s one of our main aims – to show how!

The pilot episode is a 25-minute short documentary following Jeffrey Orkin, a Mississippi native and urban farmer who runs the cutting-edge hydroponic lettuce company Greener Roots Farm in Nashville, Tennessee. Over the past decade, Jeffrey has built a world-class farm operation designed to address one of the biggest threats of climate change: the collapse of food systems. Using hydroponics, he grows twice the produce of traditional soil farms per season while using 90% less water, producing over 40 tons of veggies each year across his two properties.

The film traces Jeffrey’s farm-to-table journey, including interviews with Nashville culinary pioneers who helped build the city’s independent restaurant ecosystem. In the 1990s, Nashville’s dining scene was dominated by corporate steakhouses and hibachi grills sourcing ingredients from faraway wholesalers. One central voice is Margot McCormack, a Nashville native and founder of the legendary Margot Café & Bar, which has spent decades sourcing exclusively from local farmers and mentoring chefs, helping cultivate a thriving local food community.

We premiered the pilot in Nashville in April to a sold-out crowd of over 200 people and then in June, Patagonia invited us to do an in-store screening and we hit capacity there too! There is definitely an appetite for climate films that tell great stories, provide hope to communities by showing ways to collectively mitigate some of the worst effects of climate change.

Credit: Writer, Director, Producer

Notes:
Runtime: 25 minutes (Digital)
2026 / Aspidistra Films & Junk Films
USA
Website: https://junkfilms.com/

Press:
Nashville Premiere (Nashville Scene)
Patagonia Screening (Critic’s Pick)