Bill Nye: Science Guy film
Bill Nye, center, and filmmakers David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. (Kickstarter Photo / Bill Nye: Science Guy)

A documentary film exploring the life and work of Bill Nye, television’s famed Science Guy, will get its world premiere at the South by Southwest festival in March, the film’s creators announced on Tuesday.

“Bill Nye: Science Guy” is the official title for the film, which is being directed by David Alvarado and Jason Sussberg. The independent filmmakers launched the project on Kickstarter in the summer of 2015 and it went on to set a record for the most-funded documentary on the crowdfunding site. The film raised $859,425 from 16,850 backers.

“People(s) … this is pretty exciting!” Nye tweeted to his 4.23 million followers in sharing news of the SXSW premiere.

In a blog post on the film website, Alvarado and Sussberg shared what they hope to convey:

“After three years of developing, filming and editing, we are excited to share our labor of love with Bill’s fans. Our story will intimately bring you into Bill’s personal life with his family; to the top of the world in Greenland where Bill sees the smoking gun of climate change; to Kentucky to see Ken Ham’s antiscience Ark Park; and to witness Bill fulfill Carl Sagan’s unrealized dream of launching a solar sail. All of this is happening in a world that is increasingly hostile to science, reason, and evidence. Science might be on defense today, but our film shows Bill fighting the good fight for a more scientifically engaged and literate culture. We can’t wait to share it with the world!”

The film isn’t the only project tapping into Nye’s celebrity. Netflix announced last summer that a new TV show called “Bill Nye Saves the World” would launch in spring of 2017 with episodes tackling topics from a scientific point of view.

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