Clockwise from top left, top winners are Sarah Glees from Illinois, Radheya Jegatheva from Australia, Paulina Verdalet from Mexico, Neo James from South Carolina, Jody Wu from Taiwan, Sufi Momin from Georgia, Asiana Spaw from Indiana, and Dante Downey from Florida. See additional group winners from California and Brazil below.
By Lisa Biehle Files
Since its inception in 2013, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest has grown from a local, Oak Park/River Forest, Illinois, project accepting just 12 submissions to a highly competitive international competition garnering 403 submissions. Countries such as Brazil, Australia and Mexico and states such as California, Georgia and Indiana will be represented among this year’s winners at the Global Awards Celebration at 11:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, in person at the Gene Siskel Film Center, 164 N. State St., in Chicago, or online virtually anywhere in the world.
“The secret ingredient to our success is youth. They have opinions, ideas and viewpoints about the climate emergency,” observes Founding Director Sue Crothers. “It’s hard for people to deny what’s happening when they’re living through extreme floods, fires, and tornadoes. And the younger generations have something to say about the mess our generation has made.”
The Young Filmmakers Contest asks students from age 8 to 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. The deadline each year is June 25, which gives individuals and school groups the entire academic year to submit their film projects.
The call for entries for 2024 will open soon on Film Freeway here:
California’s Magnolia Elementary School Mag TV students with father Andrew Luria center. See all student names below.
And the winners for 2023 are:
ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AWARD
“Back in My Day” (3 min)
$100 to keep + $100 matching gift donated to
The Climate Reality Project
GRADES 4 and 5 MAGTV STUDENTS
(starting Grades 5 and 6 now)
Magnolia Elementary School, Carlsbad, CA
The 3-minute film “Back in My Day” places Grandpa Harold and Grandma Mabel side by side with their grandchildren, comparing what was cool about cars back in their day with what’s cool about cars today. We learn that today’s electric vehicles are quiet, clean, have rebates, and don’t need pricey gasoline. “Today is Your Day!” the grandkids say as grandpa and grandma magically drive off in their noiseless new car.
Nathan Luria, Ryan Harris, Nico Ratajczak, Riley Ganz, Lilly Evans, Bennett Lupica, Livia Panichella, Jake Beaman, Romeo Hernandez, Ella Sciortino, Savannah Bray, Jack Ferone, Cash Ward, Brooks McEvenue, Trevor Vermillion, Loralei Ballard, Analia Thornton, Reese Fernandes, and Terryn Teat were a part of the MagTV program at Magnolia Elementary School. Guided by father and news anchor Andrew Luria, the students learned storytelling, editing, anchoring, reporting and photography.
Sufi Momin
MIDDLE SCHOOL AWARD
“Human Activities Cause Declining Biodiversity:
Solutions to Protect Our Ecosystems” (5 min)
$200 to keep + $200 matching gift donated to Greenpeace
SUFI MOMIN
Grade 6, Westminster Schools of Atlanta, GA
(starting Grade 7 now)
The 5-minute film “Human Activities Cause Declining Biodiversity: Solutions to Protect Our Ecosystems” explains big ideas in a digestible way with lively narration and a subdued musical soundtrack. Sufi maintains people have caused climate change by burning too many fossil fuels (coal, oil, and gas), raising the world’s temperature 1.1 degrees Celsius. In turn, this has caused droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, deadly storms, and declining biodiversity. One million species now face extinction. Conserving the world’s biodiversity is essential, Sufi pleads. She offers five solutions: policy, energy alternatives, sustainable products, sustainable living, and education, which includes sharing her film with others. “Go ahead,” she says. “I’m waiting.”
Sufi holds out hope for the future: “I believe climate change is reversible,” she writes in her contest submission. “Humans are major contributors to declining biodiversity and they will need to lead efforts in addressing this issue.” By offering simple solutions in her film, she hopes to effect change.
Four students from the Multi Media Project, Escola Parque, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. See all student names below.
HIGH SCHOOL AWARD +
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION AWARD from JANE GOODALL INSTITUTE USA
“The Speech of Txai Surui” (4 min)
$350 to keep + $350 matching gift donated to Jane Goodall Institute USA
$500 Environmental Action Award from Jane Goodall Institute USA
GRADES 9 to 11 STUDENTS OF MULTI MEDIA PROJECT
Escola Parque, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
(starting grades 10 to 12 now)
In 2021, a 24-year-old indigenous activist named Txai Surui was the only Brazilian speaker at the Conference of the Parties (COP-26) in Glasgow, Scotland. The 4-minute stop-motion film “The Speech of Txai Surui” multiplies the impact of Txai’s speech by re-enacting it with Claymation characters and 2-D portraits.
Says the animated Txai: “The climate is warming. The animals are disappearing. The rivers are dying, and our plants don’t flower like they did before. The Earth is speaking. She tells us we have no more time. . . . Stop emitting lies and fake promises. Let us end the pollution of hollow words and let us fight for a livable future and present.”
The Claymation version of Txai Surui.
“ Let us end the pollution of hollow words and let us fight for a livable future and present.”
The Multi Media Project at Escola Parque in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, created this film with help from two mentors: Alexandre Juruena and Lilian Sodré.
Over 40 high school student directors were involved: Marina Horta Montero, Vicente Rubin Roly, Yongquan Li, Sofia Emi Kasai, Tainá S. Oliveira, Luisa Cymbalista, Luisa Marques Bras, Ana Julia Costa Abreu, Anair Constança Lima, Mylena Vitória Sales, Cecília Vila Maior Teixeira, Rafaela Ameli Muñoz, Rosa Flaksman Veloso, Anouk Margot Goldfeld, Eduarda Almeida Barreira, Maria Eduarda Mayrink, Maria Eduardha Mangi, Tomaz Weller Lopes, Maria Clara Busato, Fabio Borges de Oliveira, Felipe Salvatore, Gabriel Lent, Olivia Longo Rocha, João Marcelo Bertoti Sereno Catarina Varejao Paz, Clara Ferreira Moreira, Julia Marinho Macedo, Rita Zerbini, Cecilia Vidal, Henrique Camara Veiga, Isabella Lima, Maria Barcellos Mendonça, Antonio Monteiro Lins, Clara luz de Salles, João Antonio Conde, Maria Luiza de Carvalho Duarte, Diogo Guaraná T. Cavalcanti, Ramon Gallindo Lima, Sophia Ribeiro Pouchucq, Nereo Cardoso Neto, Nina Sichinel Chávarry, Celine Badre, Marina Gomes Giancristoforo, and Guadalupe Lima Torretta.
Sarah Glees
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION AWARD from
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW AND POLICY CENTER (ELPC)
“The Long-Lived Effects of the Long Meadow Parkway” (7 min)
$500 Scholarship
SARAH GLEES
Junior, Elmhurst University, Elmhurst, IL
(starting senior year now)
The Long Meadow Parkway (under construction) has a 4-lane Fox River bridge crossing, which is meant to alleviate traffic in Kane County, Illinois. Sarah begins her 7-minute film “The Long-Lived Effects of the Long Meadow Parkway” with an interview with Parkway opponent Sue Haney, a Dundee Township Trustee. Sue explains that trucking companies wanted the Parkway to serve logistics hubs where items are stored or manufactured and then trucked out. Sue’s main concern is contamination of the Fox River from heavy metals such as arsenic and chromium released from tires, hydraulic fluid, gas leaks, and the fine particulate matter from exhaust. “It’s so long-lived and so very fine that when it gets into the water and the river, the fish have the same problem we do. It gets into their bodies and their gills. It’s like a slow poison.”
Sarah suggests possible solutions such as electric trucks, which have no emissions, and permeable pavement, which reduces runoff and the cost of water treatment. She writes in her contest submission: “It means so much to share this story and hopefully evoke change.”
Neo Sky James
ANIMATION AWARD: TIE
“Submerged” (4 min)
$500 Scholarship + $500 matching gift donated to
The Surfrider Foundation (Charleston Chapter)
NEO SKY JAMES
Grade 12, Charleston County School of the Arts, Charleston, SC
(Now a freshman at DePaul University, Chicago, IL)
In the 4-minute animated film “Submerged,” a teenage boy has two contrasting dreams: one in which his house becomes a beautiful blue aquarium filled with exotic fish, sea turtles, and jelly fish, and another in which his home turns into a colorless, polluted body of water, filled with plastic bags, cans, straws, and debris. When he answers a knock at the door, a surprise awaits. Finally, the boy wakes up to reality, feeling compelled to do something to make a difference.
Neo succeeds in creating the feeling that this home is an underwater aquarium through color, subtle reflective lighting, and underwater sound. The viewer feels a sense of floating and swimming through inventive angles in his dream sequences.
Explains Neo in his contest submission: “This is a short film which highlights the beauty and wonder of marine life while raising awareness about the importance of marine conservation. The making of this film has been an independent, self-driven, self-taught passion project of mine involving hundreds of hours of online research, tutorials, and YouTube videos.”
He concludes, “My appreciation and love for the marine world and 3D animation has increased tenfold while creating this film.”
Jody Wu
ANIMATION AWARD: TIE
“Hope” (4 min)
$500 to keep + $500 matching gift donated to Greenpeace
JODY WU
Graduate, Taipei National University of the Arts
Taipei, Taiwan
“This is not a time to sit on the sidelines, it is a time for resolve, determination and yes, even hope.” These words are from United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres’ opening remarks at the Dec. 19, 2022, press conference.
Jody’s 4-minute animated film “Hope” brings these words to life by showing animated footage of protesters and environmental refugees—people impacted by floods, fires, drought, and extreme weather. She layers these images with those of United Nations leaders discussing how to go forward in such dire circumstances. “We are not currently on a pathway that keeps 1.5 [degrees Celsius] within reach,” says one representative. “Our planet is fast approaching tipping points that will make climate chaos irreversible,” says another. “We need climate action now,” says a third.
Ominous music gives the film a sense of urgency as leaders discuss how to move forward amid increasing environmental catastrophe. In her contest submission, Jody writes: “With the impact of extreme weather, how should people in different situations face the current dilemma? What exactly is hope?”
Asiana Spaw
UNIVERSITY LEVEL AWARD
“Microplastics: Not a Small Problem” (4 min)
$1,000 Scholarship + $1,000 matching gift
donated to Alliance for the Great Lakes
ASIANA SPAW
Grade 12, Culver Academies, Culver, IN
In her 4-minute film “Microplastics: Not a Small Problem,” Asiana uses her original Indiana Dunes film footage and paintings by Frank V. Dudley while she describes the problem of microplastics in Lake Michigan. Eleven million pounds of plastic enters Lake Michigan each year and then breaks down into microplastics. She explains that some tiny particles are not entirely filtered out of wastewater treatment and they absorb toxic chemicals such as PCBs, PFAS, DDT, and flame retardants. Animals and people then consume them in fish and drinking water. “Fibers have been found in tap water and beer with source water from the Great Lakes,” she explains.
With 10 million people acquiring their drinking water from Lake Michigan, there could be a subsequent impact on human health via inflammation and immune responses. Asiana suggests reducing single use plastics to protect water, animals, and people; and she hopes her film will encourage both individual and institutional action against plastic pollution.
Radheya Jegatheva
SALLY STOVALL AWARD FOR CREATIVITY
“Painting by Numbers” (4 min)
$1,000 + $1,000 matching gift donated to
Jane Goodall Institute Australia
RADHEYA JEGATHEVA
Graduate, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Radheya’s 4-minute film “Painting by Numbers” transforms seven art gallery masterpieces to illustrate the seven deadly sins (greed, gluttony, lust, envy, pride, sloth and wrath) and their environmental impacts. Banksy’s “Girl with Balloon” visits this mystical art gallery, which takes on a life of its own.
Because of greed, Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” is filled with smokestacks emitting dark pollution. Because of gluttony, Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” is littered with fast food and plastic waste. Because of lust, Botticelli’s “The Birth of Venus” is marred from an explosion. Because of envy, Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring” makes continuous costume changes with new clothes, hats, and jewelry. Because of pride, Louis-David’s “Napoleon Crossing the Alps” winds up destroying the land with large, yellow excavators. Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” illustrates sloth, showing environmental inaction while time passes. And due to wrath, Munch’s “The Scream” becomes an Australian landscape ablaze.
Due to envy, Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Eearring” is a clothes horse in Radheya Jegatheva’s film “Painting by Numbers.”
Radheya closes with the Doomsday Clock at 100 seconds to midnight (which is now at 90 seconds to midnight). Originality and creativity are off the charts in this striking, impactful film. In Radheya’s contest submission, he writes, “I am passionate about the value of using film and animation in educational and social development contexts.”
Dante Downey
ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION AWARD
from GREEN AMERICA
“Garden of Remembering” (5 min)
$500 Scholarship
DANTE DOWNEY
Senior, Santa Fe College, Gainesville, FL
In the 5-minute film “Garden of Remembering,” Dante profiles Will Hasell, who hosts a community garden, free seed library, and community compost in his front yard. Will explains, “What I once saw as a small act is actually something very revolutionary, very intersectional, as far as what it brings to a community and what problems it addresses in very meaningful and personal ways.”
Will says community gardens can restore the land and the health of people physically, emotionally, and spiritually. Community gardens can also sequester carbon and create biodiversity, supporting natural and human systems.
Dante hopes to inspire others to create community gardens via his film. Note: light-hearted musical score was created by gardener and musician Will Hasell, along with Robert Edmonson.
Paulina Verdalet
POST-GRAD AWARD
“My Brand New Car” (3 min)
$1,000 to keep + $1,000 matching gift
donated to 350.org
PAULINA VERDALET
Graduate, National School of Cinematic Arts
Mexico City, Mexico
A grandfather gives his grandson toy cars of all colors and varieties in the 3-minute film “My Brand New Car.” The boy loves adding to his collection and racing the vehicles until they begin to fill the house with fumes and smoke.
Three statistics flash across the screen: 250,000 vehicles are sold daily, 1.45 billion vehicles are in circulation, and in urban areas, 60 percent of pollution is from vehicles. At the film’s conclusion, the grandfather switches gears and decides to give his grandson a gift with lower environmental impact.
Paulina Verdalet is a graduate in cinematic arts who already made her first documentary series with SPR-Canal Catorce, and has worked in production with History Channel Latin America, Piano, SAG AFTRA, Teatrix, and Procine, among others.
Thank you to our jury of 32 experts in sustainability and film. Learn more here.
Look for an article about One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest Honorable Mention Winners in September.
Elementary School
Scott Lee, “Lost But Not Forgotten,” Georgia
Hasan Muhammad, “The Salt Solution,” Illinois
Middle School
Andrew Thomas Older, “Invasive Fish in the DesPlaines River,” Illinois
Mason Mirabile, “A Reason for Hope,” Virginia
High School
Jenny Kim Ha Vu, “Voices of Water,” Virginia
Milo Smith, Matthew Wilson, Romeo Keyser, “Expedition,” Michigan
Yoel Mesfin, “A Crisis Carol,” Colorado
University
George Hu, Simarya Ahuja, Nicita Raam, Alexa Shuey, Caitlin Weber, “Environmental Justice,” California
Gerardo ‘Tony’ Godinez, “The Garden Project,” Illinois
Animation
Stanisław Maciejewski, “Happy Eggs,” Poland
Post-Grad
Nia Mahran, Maged Michel Seha, Mario Seha, “Statement,” Egypt
Oscar Adan Lopez Parres, “Who is God?” Mexico