By Lisa Biehle Files
The One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest will continue the celebration of award-winning student films via a virtual event to kick off Earth Week Mini Film Fest in April. See eight short, student films from among 13 honorable mention/notable winners on Monday, April 18, at 5 p.m. CDT.
Topics range from conserving the last frontier of Alaska, to reducing ocean waste, to disconnecting from electronics and re-connecting with nature. Contest Founding Director Sue Crothers will facilitate a short Q&A with each filmmaker after their films screen.
“There are some very thought-provoking films that should lead to interesting discussions,” said Sue. “Students will Zoom in from the Midwest, East Coast, Scotland, and even Turkey.”
These films are among the best from 148 submissions, as rated by a jury of 16 film and sustainability professionals. The Young Filmmakers Contest asks students from grade 3 to age 25 to create a 3- to 8-minute environmental film that inspires change or action. Animated or stop-motion films can be a minimum of 45 seconds long.
All 12 honorable mention film descriptions are below, along with one notable film from Turkey.
Athena Ousley
CLOUD CHAOS (2 min)
Athena Ousley, Grade 3
Homeschool
Ashland, Oregon
Athena uses paper and fabric cutouts to create her 2-minute stop-motion nature film “Cloud Chaos.” A mother bird cares for her fledglings, padding her nest, which rests in the branches of a large tree. When she gathers a portion of white cloud, the cloud becomes angry, strikes the tree with lightning, then releases rain, later clearing the skies. Other animals help rebuild the damaged nest, and finally, the cloud offers more of its precious white fluff for the bird family’s nest in this heartwarming story of forgiveness and cooperation.
Henry Sobel
BATS AND WHITE-NOSE SYNDROME (2 min)
Henry Sobel, Grade 6
Homeschool
Naperville, Illinois
Pipe cleaners, felt, paper and wood are the materials Henry uses in his 2-minute stop-motion film, “Bats and White Nose Syndrome.” Bats are in decline, threatened and even endangered because of habitat loss and white-nose syndrome, a deadly disease. The fungus that causes white-nose syndrome spreads in caves, where bats tend to hibernate. Henry suggests building bat boxes out of wood to keep bats in safe, fungus-free, homes. He concludes, “Stopping the decline of a species is an important thing to do. . . . Earth is in big trouble, and we need to save it.”
Mason Mirabile
STOP PEBBLE MINE (5 min)
Mason Mirabile, Grade 6
Williamsburg Middle School
Arlington, Virginia
In his 6-minute film “Stop Pebble Mine,” Mason recounts the story of a recent clash between developers and conservationists in Bristol Bay, Alaska. Northern Dynasty Minerals wanted to create what would have been the largest open pit gold and copper mine in North America. A coalition of environmental groups fought to protect their local ecosystem, one of the last great salmon systems in the world. Mason interviews 3 environmentalists about this controversy which ended successfully when permits were denied in January 2021, preserving the natural ecosystem.
Callie Deng
SEALING THE LEAK (7.5 min)
Callie Deng, Grade 7
Herbert Hoover Middle School
Potomac, Maryland
Callie verbally and visually honors the beauty of Alaska’s pristine natural setting in her 7.5-minute film “Sealing the Leak.” Then she reminds us that in 1989, 11 million gallons of crude oil spilled into Prince William Sound after the Exxon Valdez super tanker ran aground, puncturing several cargo holds. Callie interviews two experts about this disastrous accident and the lingering impact on wildlife and the local economy. Safety improvements have resulted, but we can all reduce our use of oil by driving less and avoiding plastics, she concludes.
Destiny Hardy
LESS WASTE (1 min)
Destiny Hardy, Grade 8
Emerson Middle School
Detroit, Michigan
With brightly colored graphics and upbeat music, Destiny covers primary ways to reduce waste in her 1-minute animation “Less Waste.” Images flash across the screen telling us to reuse bags, bring our own water bottles, plan meals to reduce food waste, and reuse glass. With a light tone, the overall theme is reduce and reuse, helping viewers to engage and be motivated to make these simple lifestyle changes.
Piper Sobel
PANGOLIN PROTECTION (3 min)
Piper Sobel, Grade 8
Homeschool
Naperville, Illinois
Piper’s 3-minute stop-motion film “Pangolin Protection” features a Claymation mother pangolin (and baby) that easily rolls into a ball, to protect herself with her outer scales. Piper explains that there are eight pangolin species in Africa and Asia, but all of them are threatened, endangered, or critically endangered. Poachers often sell them for medicinal use. With surprise and delight, Piper announces that in Illinois, we can support the Pangolin Protection Act HB4787, which prohibits the sale, trade, possession or distribution of pangolins and pangolin products.
Gabby Goss
ART: A POLLUTION SOLUTION
(5 min)
Gabby Goss, Grade 12
Bishop O’Dowd High School
Alameda, California
Gabby interviews Angela Haseltine Pozzi, founder of the non-profit Washed Ashore, in her 5-minute film “Art: A Pollution Solution.” Volunteers collect plastic trash on beaches and then they create giant sculptures with the refuse in the form of the animals threatened by debris, such as penguins, jellyfish, turtles, and dolphins. Angela says, “The arts are an international language. They can move your heart and mind. . . . If you can find hope and a way for people to participate in a solution, then you have a chance.” Angela hopes to save animals lives but also to inspire people to change their consumer habits.
Madeleine Toomey
MY JOURNEY ACROSS THE OCEAN (4 min)
Madeleine Toomey, freshman
St. Andrews University
St. Andrews, Scotland
Due to her father’s work, Madeleine and family lived on a sailboat for an entire year. In her 4-minute animated film “My Journey Across the Ocean,” she recounts the story of their trip across the Atlantic, from the Canary Islands to Barbados, when they saw no land for 20 days. The family survived a squall at one point, but the main hazard along the way was floating trash. The Toomey family collected what they could to discard it at their destination, but this encounter with debris made Madeleine more acutely aware of ocean waste. She asks us all to be mindful of our waste and “be the change.”
Nathan Goswick
HOW CHICAGO’S RAPID TRANSIT IS FAILING (3 min)
Nathan Goswick, Mariel Mudrik, and Liam McCormick, freshmen
DePaul University
Chicago, Illinois
In their 3-minute film “How Chicago’s Rapid Transit is Failing,” Nathan, Mariel, and Liam critique Chicago’s public transportation system. In green and red colorized footage, they show trains and riders from all angles while they list their suggestions for improvements: closer access, faster service, more security measures with a dedicated non-police force. Many artistic techniques, sound effects, and even animated segments are used to convey their message about the flaws in this green transportation option.
Climate Change: A Call to Action
CLIMATE CHANGE: A CALL TO ACTION (5.5 min)
Grace Cancian, Jason Chan, Sergei LeFaivre, Parker McKenzie, and Spencer Steinke,
juniors and seniors
University of Connecticut
Storrs, Connecticut
This group of motion design and animation students took scientific information about climate change and made it visually palatable for viewers in the 5.5-minute film “Climate Change: A Call to Action.” In their interview with Dr. Alice DuVivier, a polar scientist and climate modeler at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, we hear her voice but see her as a brightly-colored animated avatar. Alice talks about the concerning rate of global warming and how we all can take individual actions to reduce our carbon footprint, thereby decreasing climate anxiety.
Stefie Gan
PLASTIC ECOSYSTEM (1.5 min)
Stefie Gan, recent graduate
University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts
Los Angeles, California
The 1.5-minute stop-motion mockumentary film “Plastic Ecosystem” takes us to an underwater scene where ocean trash has quickened to life: plastic knives and spoons swim in groups like schools of fish, plastic gloves move like flowing sea creatures, and coffee stirrers pop out of empty cream containers to defend themselves against predators. The upbeat music adds a sense of irony to this plastic underwater habitat.
Shaun Hu
ISLANDS (2 min)
Shaun Hu, recent graduate
New York University,
New York, New York
In his 2-minute film “Islands,” Shaun shows a futuristic world in which humans outfitted in straitjackets with gas masks and virtual reality screens are connected by wire to a large cyborg and also to nature in the form of a tree. Humans, cyborg, and trees each float on their own islands, linked electronically. Are the humans being controlled by the cyborg? Is virtual reality the only way they can experience nature? This dystopia raises questions about how disconnected we are from the natural world and who/what controls the flow of our information?
Sezgin Yüzay
SCENT/KOKU (5 min)
a Notable film
Sezgin Yüzay
Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University
Muğla, Turkey
Most of Sezgin’s 5-minute film “Koku,” which means “Scent” in Turkish, is in black and white. This stark film has only one character who wears a gas mask in what seems like a post-apocalyptic world. The main character travels home by train, which is entirely empty. On the way home, he stops to purchase a scent in a glass bottle. On arrival he switches from gas mask to virtual reality mask, where he imagines he is walking through a lush forest. When he inhales the scent from the bottle, the black and white screen turns to color. We see his virtual forest, hear the birdsong, and imagine the forest scent, all making his virtual world appear more vivid than the real world.
The above films were reviewed by a jury of 16 leaders in film and sustainability: Deborah Adelman, Felice Bassuk, Katie Brennan, Amy Brinkman, Lisa Daleiden-Brugman, Monica Fox, Paula Froehle, Bill Gee, Patrick Thomas Keen, Jennifer Maiotti, Jonathan Moeller, Julie Moller, Jim Rohn, Karen Weigert, Risé Sanders Weir, and Marc Wellin.