The film premiered at Metropolis Cinema in Dunedin yesterday to a sold-out audience which included the city's mayor, Peter Chin, and Green Party MP Jeanette Fitzsimons, who described it as "simply stunning".
Two Otago men, soil ecologist Mr O'Gorman and botanist and guardian of Lake Manapouri Prof Alan Mark, were among the 10 people interviewed in the film, which focused on New Zealanders working for the environment.
Mr O'Gorman said the film-makers "just turned up", and they were interested in his research into organic farming.
Seeking an alternative to chemicals used in agriculture, he had embraced microbiology, soil technology and ancient techniques to come up with "something different".
People wanted to take responsibility for their food but often believed gardening was a chore when it need not be, he said.
He took Urban Eden workshops, at which people learned how to feed a family of four from the garden for half an hour of work a week.
Director Kathleen Gallagher said the people in the film were "amazing and totally inspirational".
She spent one and a-half years making the film and hoped it would show others they could be intimate with the Earth wherever they lived.
"It's not a hard thing, you just have to start."
The film will next screen at Dunedin's Rialto cinema on June 5 for World Environment Day.
