Smallscreen News

Heart and soil tale 'Dirt! The Movie' comes to PBS April 20

By April MacIntyre Feb 24, 2010, 19:24 GMT

Jamie Lee Curtis with son Tom and daughter Annie - © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

Coming to PBS and retail stores in April, "Dirt! The Movie" is an astonishing, humorous and substantial look at the unappreciated ground beneath our feet.

Dirt feeds us and gives us shelter. Dirt holds and cleans our water. Dirt heals us and makes us beautiful. Dirt regulates the earth’s climate.

Filmmakers ask: Why do we humans ignore, abuse, and destroy our most precious living natural resource?

Consider the results of such behavior: Mass starvation, drought, floods and global warming.

Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis, the film tells the story of humans trying to re-connect to dirt—the living skin of the earth. Traveling from the vineyards of California to the plains of Kenya, Dirt! reveals how repairing our relationship with dirt can create new possibilities for all life on earth.

An Official Selection of the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and timed to release before Earth Day’s 40th Anniversary, "Dirt!" hits DVD shelves—in Eco-friendly packaging—on April 6, 2010. 

The film will have a broadcast premiere on PBS’ Independent Lens on April 20th at 10pm nationwide. *check local listings.

Two additional hours of DVD bonus material include extended animations, bonus scenes; interviews; the theatrical trailer and a filmmaker biography.

FESTIVALS:

Sundance Film Festival Official Selection

Visions Voices Environmental Film Festival - Winner, Best Documentary

Mendocino Film Festival – Winner, Best Film for Our Future

Maui Film Festival – Winner, Best Green Documentary

FILMMAKERS:

Directed by Bill Benenson and Gene Rosow

Narrated by Jamie Lee Curtis

Executive Producer: Laurie Benenson

Produced by Bill Benenson, Gene Rosow and Eleonore Dailly

Associate Producers: Tracy J. Brown, Marisa Murgatroyd, Christine Deitner and Tyler Harbour

Co-Director Eleonore Dailly

Music by Jorge Corante

Edited by Jonathan P. Shaw, Brian Singbiel and Alexandra Komisaruk

Based on the Book “Dirt, The Ecstatic Skin of the Earth” by William Bryant Logan

TECHNICAL INFORMATION:

Catalog #:            NNVG215760                     Language:           English

Rating:                  N/A                                        Color:                    Color

Running Time:   80 mins. + extras              Audio Format:   Stereo

Genre:                  Documentary                    Website:              www.DirtTheMovie.org