Based on the true story of a Chipotle farmer, “A Future Begins” champions a family farm’s remarkable revival. The stop-motion animated film begins by depicting a farming family sending their child off to college. While the family battles to keep their farm intact, ultimately putting their land up for sale, the child struggles to discover his calling away at school. After a moment passes where his true duty becomes clear, the child returns to save the family farm by introducing new technology and sustainable growing techniques, which are inspired by current Chipotle suppliers and partners.

Chipotle, which sources more local produce than any other national restaurant, is committed to Cultivating a Better World. Ten years ago, Chipotle premiered the award-winning stop-motion film "Back to the Start" which launched the Cultivate a Better World platform. The film told the story of a farmer's embrace–and subsequent rejection–of "factory" farming. The film's soundtrack featured an original rendition of Coldplay's "The Scientist" by country music legend and friend to farmers Willie Nelson. "Back to the Start" expressed Chipotle's industry-leading commitment to sourcing its produce and protein from family farms.

However, in the decade since, thousands of family farms have fallen into disrepair or disappeared entirely because the children of aging farmers reject farm life for city life. 

In "A Future Begins," Chipotle revisits the same farm to share the inspiring story of how the next generation can employ modern, sustainable farming practices to ensure the survival of family farms.

The film was made entirely in-camera, using stop-frame animation, with no additional visual effects. Everything from snow, to water, to flickering projector light, was captured on set by a hard-working team of craftspeople and animators. Stop-frame is a traditional technique where each frame of animation is captured individually, with our two animators moving the puppets (and everything else) one tiny increment at a time. It’s a laborious technique where nothing is left to chance: every aspect of the production is considered, from avocados the size of your little fingernail to flooded tomato fields. The team really strived to push the medium—combining a single fluid camera move across ten separate sets, each at a successively larger scale—all in service of the story. The result is something that can't be replicated in CG, with the creator’s touch at the heart of every millisecond of the final film.