Eco Film and Media Arts Festival
University of Southern California
Project Overview
The inaugural Eco Film and Media Arts Festival was designed to bring together student filmmakers and artists engaged in climate storytelling and activism. The festival featured 11 student films that represented an array of genres including narrative, documentary, and media art. Example subjects included university divestment from fossil fuels, the dangerous loss of biodiversity in coastal waters, nature-inspired design, and the harmful effects of oil drilling and chemical processing in primarily BIPOC communities in and around Los Angeles. Thematically, the projects engaged conversations in eco-feminism, ecological justice, and sustainable futures. Links to most of these projects are available via the primary event website linked in this proposal.
Prior to the screenings, Natasha Nutkiewicz (primary author) moderated a panel discussion featuring Courtnee Zambrano, a screenwriter working on the Apple+ series Extrapolations, and Jay Ponti, grassroots activist and political organizer who participated in some of the most impactful movements of the last two decades including Standing Rock and Occupy Wall Street. Following, the films were shown and then there was a Q&A with the student artists and filmmakers. Together, the student films and lively panel discussion emphasized the need for hopeful and informed climate storytelling, the challenges of being a young filmmaker processing eco-anxiety and depression, and how to work with these emotions and cultivate hope. Overall this festival emphasized the critical importance of the arts in connecting the human experience to our larger ecological crisis as we heal, inspire action, and create communities of care.
Background
The panel began in the midst of climate crises taking place in California--drought, extreme heat, and fires produced a tremendous amount of anxiety, and we knew that students were using art and film to express their fears and find community. Supported by USC's Arts and Climate Collective, we wanted to create a space for students to share their stories and voices to spark conversations and activism. A study conducted by the Norman Lear Center and Good Energy found that between 2016-2020 only 2.8% of 37,453 scripted television and movie scripts mentioned climate change. Knowing how big of a concern this is for our generation, we wanted to demonstrate the value of these stories as well as bring in professional voices to discuss the challenges and opportunities to feature climate storytelling--especially stories that raised questions surrounding ecological justice and the intersectional nature of the climate crisis. We viewed this as an opportunity to capitalize on the power of film and media arts to raise awareness and inspire action through the human experience.
Goals
In addition to the critical goal of elevating student storytellers and showing the possibility and importance of climate storytelling, the event intended to draw together a community to inspire hope and action. We wanted to provide people avenues to become activists and use their skillsets to effect change. It was also a central goal to make sure students left inspired and empowered to make projects about the issues most important to them and to uplift the power of art, recognizing both the space that exists in the current media landscape as well as the need for these stories.
Implementation
Following the initial inspiration, we reached out to our staff and faculty partners in the Arts and Climate Collective for guidance and support. We consistently met with our mentors there as well as partners in the School of Cinematic Arts to ensure all technical aspects of the event were accounted for. We also relied heavily on the work of students in the Arts and Climate Collective and other volunteers to help with logistical aspects along the way such as outreach and marketing. Of course, our panelists and filmmakers were critical partners in this endeavor.
Timeline
From start to finish, this project took 4 months. August 2022-November 4, 2022
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Find event producing collaborators and partners. Specifically, faculty and staff mentors were critical in helping us identify other stakeholders and attain resources (such as AV equipment and room availability). We also found student and peer collaborators who would help with vision, marketing, outreach, and consulting.
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Identify the where and when. We booked a room ASAP and selected a Friday evening so as to not conflict with classes and it ended up generating good attendance.
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Plan the programming and schedule. We decided to hold the panel first, then screened the films, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers.
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Issued a call for submissions. We wanted to be open to all sorts of formats including media art (things such as experimental films, trailers for video games, or sizzle reels for new eco-products). With the call we issued spec requirements such as the formatting of the video and inclusion of a title slide. We mass-distributed the call for submissions across arts and environmentally-oriented departments on campus.
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Reviewed and selected the submissions. Once the films were submitted, we selected the ones to screen at the festival. Only one was rejected since it was not submitted by a student but rather an alum.
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We then produced the panel. Initially, we made a dream list of people who we wanted to participate, knowing some were likely to not respond. But we importantly needed to think about our vision--sustainable filmmaker? Activists? Producers and people behind the scenes? We reached out primarily via LinkedIn, though asked some professors and staff if they had any connections as well. Once we were able to garner some interest and attain commitments for our chosen date, the panel was set.
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We then publicized the event. We created an Eventbrite to handle RSVPs and made sure that panelists' information and headshots were included in all publicity. We specifically reached out to film and arts classes, environmental clubs, and professors. We also invited community partners such as youth climate strikers and other local activists. We ensured all filmmakers reposted and shared our flyer via their social media channels.
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Final preparations for the event. We designed a powerpoint to use during the panel and made sure we had someone on-hand to take photographs. We ensured that all films were received and adhered to the necessary specs. We made sure all technical aspects were accounted for including HDMI cables and wireless microphones. We secured parking permits as well as made arrangements for our panelist who required rideshare. Finally, we made sure there was signage printed to direct people to the event space.
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Day of the event. We maintained constant contact with our primary stakeholders and panelists throughout the day and had a team ready to address any last minute problems. Volunteers assembled at the designated time and place to check in guests, redirect people who were lost, and make sure our panelists had snacks and water.
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Meet to discuss how the event went. Debrief and identify successes and improvements for next year.
Financing
There were not many costs associated with the event since we were able to reserve the space on campus free-of-charge. We paid for the rideshare or parking for our panelists (~$50), aluminum bottled water for the panelists (~$15) and printing, though much of this was received as donation (~$20). In the future, we will likely seek prize money to award selected films at the festival.
Results
The inaugural Eco Film and Media Festival had over 100 attendees and the primary result was cultivating a group of like minded artists and activists committed to climate storytelling. This was the beginning of a network that has only continued to grow and since, students have shown additional interest in creating more art, but also incorporating sustainable production practices when it comes to things like craft services, costumes, and set design.
Here are two student testimonials "Your event inspired me so much. Thank you for bringing the community together and giving these artists a venue to showcase their work” - Eliana
"Thank you for inviting me! Seriously it was so inspirational to see everyone's stories and hear what they had to say. In a way, it really made me think differently about the talent at this school and really made me think about what I want my art to do for the world. If there's anything else like last night going on please let me know because I'd love to come and show my support again!!!" - CJ
Lessons Learned
In the future, we will expand the festival to include other art forms such as dance and theater productions. We also recommend soliciting submissions sooner. We will also include more time for networking before and after the panels. We are also interested in expanding the panel discussions to include behind-the-scenes efforts toward sustainable filmmaking. In general, we will begin this process much earlier.
Overall, we learned that people are interested in and hungry for this sort of event and that there is no shortage of art that can help communicate human dimensions of climate. While being located in Los Angeles enabled us to more directly connect with those involved in the film industry, students elsewhere could tap into local artists communities, identify alumni who are working in this space, or consider hosting professionals via Zoom. We would encourage people to capitalize on the arts strengths at their individual institution--whether that is film, theater, or fine arts. The key goal is to elevate the role of the arts in climate conversations and activism.