Out of 196 entries total, the following nine finalists will also be recognized for their Honorable Mention films, which will screen at a separate event in April, near Earth Day. In addition, a few of these films will be incorporated into the One Earth Film Festival as “trailers” before feature films between March 6 and 15, because the content for these shorts enhances or matches the feature film content.
Recently, South Korean filmmaker, Bong Joon Ho, swept the 92nd Academy Awards, opening the door for a cross-cultural vision in cinema. Meanwhile, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest had a parallel surprise. Suzie Kang took the top prize at the post grad level for her animated film "Vandals." From South Korea originally, she graduated from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts last spring.
Imaginations soared at the 2019 Young Filmmakers Workshops (YFW) with results ranging from a documentary about endangered box turtles to a humorous fantasy involving the Loch Ness monster, no longer able to hide in a dried up lake due to global warming.
With all Young Filmmakers Workshops, teachers focus content on the environment, encouraging but not requiring students to enter the Young Filmmakers Contest.
Slater Jewell-Kemker is unstoppable. For 10 years, the 25 year-old filmmaker traveled the globe, chronicling the vibrant, untold story of the global youth climate movement. Her film, “Youth Unstoppable,” is making its Chicago-area premiere at the 2019 One Earth Film Fest, and we had the chance to catch up with her to talk about the film, how she got started, and what kept her going.
This year, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest drew a record 157 entries from as close as River Forest, Illinois, to as far away as Hawi, Hawaii, with topics ranging from plastic pollution to e-waste to fast fashion.
Exactly 100 of those entries competed for the top prize, a $1,000 scholarship at the college level (which includes grade 12 of high school).
