July & August 2020

Dear friends,

As we experience a summer unlike any other, we are finding new ways to connect with each other and to reconnect with the world around us. There is a powerful call for greater justice and equity for everyone, and this collaborative spirit can lead to solutions that ensure a healthy, safe planet for all who live upon it. We will continue to create, inspire, engage, and activate with films and media that bring us together, not drive us apart. Your support, from providing internship opportunities for students to mentoring emerging filmmakers to supporting films such as “Unbreathable - The Fight For Healthy Air,” can change lives.

For more information, contact Maggie Burnette Stogner at stogner@american.edu. 
Visit our website, www.environmentalfilm.org. 
Your support makes a very real difference. Donate here.

Conservation, Filmmaking, and Intersectionality

We have seen nationwide and international action taken in the past several weeks by masses who advocate for change, inclusion, and equality. Our friends at the American Conservation Film Festival recently released a resource list related to racial and environmental injustice and the intersectionality that often occurs. 

Unsure about what intersectional environmentalism is? Watch this World Surf League episode, as intersectional environmentalist Leah Thomas (@greengirlleah) explains, how a single, powerful post on social media ignited a movement, and why conservationists should embrace anti-racism. 

If you’re interested in finding more creatives to follow, check out this list of initiatives dedicated to combating the lack of diversity in creative industries. 

World Premiere A Success 

With over 1,000 views in just two weeks, we have extended free streaming of CEF’s new film, Unbreathable: The Fight for Healthy Air, through July 19 on the DCEFF website! It premiered virtually on June 18th with the DC Environmental Film Festival and a live panel discussion that included Mustafa Santiago Ali,VP of Environmental Justice, National Wildlife Federation; Bill Reilly, former EPA Administrator; Shashawnda Campbell, co-founder of Free Your Voice in Baltimore; Beth Gardiner, author of “Choked”; Maggie Burnette Stogner, director of “Unbreathable" and executive director of the Center For Environmental Filmmaking; and, moderator Paul Billings, National Senior VP of Policy, American Lung Association. The panel discussion that took place following the premiere is available here. If you are interested in hosting a screening of “Unbreathable,” please contact events@unbreathable.org. 

The film was made possible by the generous donations and resources of American University’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking in partnership with the American Lung Association and AU’s Center for Environmental Policy, and the Hanley Foundation. For more information, visit the website at www.unbreathable.org. To support the distribution and outreach of this critical civic engagement tool, contact Maggie at stogner@american.edu.

Staying Creative While Social Distancing

As the nation reopens, maintaining social distancing is important to keep ourselves and others healthy. The outdoors provides filmmakers and photographers an opportunity to practice their creativity, while we maintain our distance from one another. CEF students, faculty, and others  have been challenging themselves to work within their backyards, identifying plants, insects, and animals and getting creative on how to capture their surroundings. 

Video 
Graduate students Beth Ebisch, Grace Eggleston, and Lia Nydes created an archival-based film focusing on the past 50 years of Earth Day. Earth Day was established in 1970 and since has become a day of global celebration and activism. The film highlights what actions are still needed to protect our planet as we face rising temperatures, changing ecosystems, and limited resources. Watch “50 Years of Earth Day” by clicking the image below or click here.

Graduate student Jess Wiegandt recently created a short comedy featuring red-spotted newts, using a pond she found near her home. She combined her love for mountain biking with information she knew about these salamanders. Click on her photograph of a newt or use this link to see the short video!

Photography
Graduate student Grace Eggleston has been spending time in quarantine practicing new techniques to capture life in her backyard. Her latest project has been to find a camera setup in her backyard pond that is juuusst right for filming a muskrat, however, she recently found another visitor! Be sure to have your sound on to hear the snuffles and shuffles of this furry critter. 

CEF Director Maggie Stogner has been getting close to her subjects with a macro lens, exploring edges of flowers. Can you identify what petals and flowers she’s been photographing? 
        

Chesapeake Film Festival Selects Two CEF Films

Two films made by CEF students, faculty, and alumni have been selected for the 2020 Chesapeake Film Festival. 

Graduate student Nick Tucker’s “Inspiring Tomorrow’s Leaders” was completed for The Nature Conservancy, and focuses on a cohort of six students from western Maryland’s Allegany and Garrett Counties. For two weeks, these students took part in hands-on field experiences to explore local forest landscapes and learn about careers in conservation.

The second film selected is “Unbreathable: The Fight for Healthy Air,” a film directed by Maggie Stogner, accompanied by an impressive team of talented American University film alumni, including Elizabeth Joy Herzfeldt-Kamprath, Shannon Lawrence, Matt Cipollone, Stephen Tringali, Ari Sherafat, and Matt Twiford. The film spotlights the ongoing struggle for clean air in the United States, the work accomplished in 50 years of the Clean Air Act, and what still needs to be done so clean air is accessible for all. 

Film Grants and Fellowship Deadlines Approach

Mountainfilm
Mountainfilm is a program committed to supporting documentary filmmakers in telling stories that support their vision to use the power of film, art, and ideas to inspire audiences to create a better world. The Commitment Grant is focused on supporting documentary filmmakers in production or post-production. 

The Emerging Filmmaker Fellowship is an effort to support new voices in documentary filmmaking. The fellowship is focused on supporting filmmakers who are in production or post-production of their first or second documentary film.

Both programs are accepting applications through July 31, 2020. More information can be found at https://www.mountainfilm.org. 

Jackson Wild
The Jackson Wild Media Lab Digital Edition, is a cross-disciplinary virtual science filmmaking workshop that brings scientists and media creators together to learn from leaders in the profession and work together to develop effective tools to communicate about science, nature, and conservation with diverse audiences across the world’s evolving media platforms.

Applications for fellowships are now open until August 2, 2020 at 11:59pm PST. The Jackson Wild Media Lab will take place from September 21-25, 2020. 

As you may have noticed, this newsletter is covering July and August. We are releasing this as a combined month edition and will return in September! Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to keep up with the latest CEF news. 

Take special care of yourself and others, and enjoy the summer!

Kind regards,

Maggie
Executive Director
Center for Environmental Filmmaking
stogner@american.edu