—Systemic change begins with personal change—
Rebecca Harrell Tickell and Josh Tickell have one of the most enduring, boutique environmental film studios in the country, making movies with the commitment to heal themselves and the planet.
Rebecca Harrell was on the basement floor of a monastery, covered in buckets of goo while giving birth to a giant squid-like baby that was trying to eat her. At that moment, the actress knew she was ready for a career change.
As a young girl, Rebecca had a lead role in the Christmas classic, Prancer, a film that had touched many people’s lives. Now in her 20s, she wanted to contribute by making meaningful movies about positive transformation. Acting in a series of horror films was not part of the plan.
Shortly after, Rebecca met Josh Tickell, the “Veggie Van” guy she had seen on TV. The pair began making movies together with the commitment to heal themselves and the planet. That was 16 years ago.
Today, Rebecca Tickell is a director, producer, and environmental author and activist. She produced the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Audience award-winning, environmentally themed movie, FUEL, and co-directed/produced The Big Fix, an Official Selection of the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Rebecca’s 2014 directorial debut (with husband Josh) was the critically acclaimed documentary, Pump, narrated by Jason Bateman. Recent films directed by Rebecca include the John Paul DeJoria story, Good Fortune, The Revolution Generation, as well as The Earthing Movie about her family's journey to wellness. In 2020 her award-winning film Kiss the Ground starring Woody Harrelson launched with a media reach of over 1 billion people. Her forthcoming documentaries On Sacred Ground, Common Ground, We Are the Bees and Groundswell will premiere over the next few years with her husband Josh.
Josh Tickell is an internationally recognized author, film director, speaker and expert on sustainability and the climate. Josh has been a featured guest on Jay Leno’s, The Tonight Show and Good Morning America. He is a regularly featured opinion leader in news stories on CNN, Discovery, Reuters, NBC, Fox and NPR.
In 1997 Tickell captured global attention by driving a van powered by used French Fry oil across the United States. “The Veggie Van,” as it was called, was a viral sensation. Only four years after the first web browser was introduced, Tickell’s Veggie Van Web Site received over 1 million visitors.
By 1998, Tickell had published his first book and was touring colleges. College students enthusiastically embraced Tickell’s philosophy of making the world a better place through disruptive technologies, efficiency and common-sense changes to wasteful practices. Tickell continued his lecture tour de force for a decade – going to over 100 colleges. His journey culminated in 2008 with the release of his first feature film, FUEL.
FUEL won the Sundance Audience Award for Best Documentary, was shortlisted for an Oscar, was screened in the White House and was released theatrically globally. Producing and Directing with his wife Rebecca Harrell Tickell, he followed the movie up with the critically acclaimed, award-winning energy-related films, The Big Fix and PUMP. His 2016 film titled Good Fortune, a biopic about legendary entrepreneur John Paul DeJoria, owner of Paul Mitchell Hair and Patron Tequila was released to rave reviews, winning “Best of Festival” film at the Sedona Film Festival and was released internationally by Lionsgate.
Watching environmental documentaries means having seen the Tickells' work, especially Fuel and Kiss the Ground, which they did with podcast guest Bill Benenson. Bill introduced us, though we scheduled this conversation to release the day before their new movie On Sacred Ground, on the Dakota pipeline. In this conversation, they share about the process of choosing the subject, the story and its roots in their lives at the protests, the actors performances, interacting with indigenous cultures, and the emotion the movie evokes. You'll hear some behind-the-scenes stories, but most of all, you'll feel compelled to watch the movie. The movie tells the story of an outsider coming to the protests of the Dakota pipeline and seeing the community there, particularly Native Americans, as a last stand to stop the pipeline coming through their land.