⛵ Celebrate City of Water Day on July 13th with a screening of WindShipped!
Plus: Filmmaker Magazine on climate cinema, The Spotlight series, opportunities, and more
In this newsletter:
🎬 Our Open Call for films has closed!: We received over 300 submissions and can’t wait to share our program (and ticketing links!) soon. Watch this space 👀
⛵ WindShipped: Fossil fuel-free futures? Join CFF and the Waterfront Alliance at the South Street Seaport Museum for a City of Water Day screening of the short film WindShipped!
❓What is climate cinema?: Check out highlights from Deniz Tortum’s recent write-up featuring CFF for Filmmaker Magazine.
🌅 The Spotlight: Looking for your next film? CFF’s Rahul Nihalani has your answer.
🎉 Opportunities: Fellowships, funding, events, and more.
Next Up: Charting a Fossil Fuel-Free Future: WindShipped on City of Water Day (Sat. July 13)
Image courtesy Brad Vogel
Join us Saturday, July 13th at 5pm at the South Street Seaport Museum (207 Water Street) for a captivating City of Water Day screening of the inspiring short film WindShipped (dir. Jon Bowermaster, 2022, 39 min.), co-presented by the Waterfront Alliance and the Climate Film Festival.
Bringing together past, present, and future on the Hudson River, WindShipped reveals the intersections between climate solutions, fossil-free cargo, and community action on New York’s waterways. A thought-provoking panel discussion with the filmmakers and protagonists will follow the screening.
About the Film:
What started as one man’s quixotic dream has turned into reality. For the past five years the 65-foot Schooner Apollonia has been delivering goods up and down the Hudson River by sail—sans fossil fuels—a throwback to a time when there were 1,200 such boats on the river each day. It turns out buyers prefer the non-polluting, anti-Amazon way of making deliveries.
Advanced registration is suggested for this free event, but walk-ups will be accommodated as possible and drop-ins are welcome. For other City of Water Day events, check out the South Street Seaport's full line-up here, and the region-wide map here!
What does climate cinema look like?
CFF recently had the exciting opportunity to sit down with Deniz Tortum to talk about the state and stakes of climate cinema for Filmmaker Magazine in “Over the Horizon Line: Looking for a New Climate Cinema.” In his thoughtful, insightful piece, Tortum discusses the critical interplay of climate and cinema, positioning films like How to Blow Up a Pipeline (2022, dir. Daniel Goldhaber) alongside the Sharknado series as examples of how expansive the growing canon can be.
As Tortum writes, “‘What is climate cinema?’—not only is it a vast question, it’s also most probably the wrong question. There is no set definition of either ‘cinema’ or ‘climate.’ However, for me, the term relates to a need to build a canon of moving image work that deals with the future in a grounded, realistic and responsible way.” Check out the full article at the link above!
🌅 The Spotlight
The Spotlight series takes a fresh look at works of climate cinema
By Rahul Nihalani
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind (1984)
Dir. Hayao Miyazaki
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a visually stunning, intellectually stimulating animated film that feels incredibly relevant in our current global landscape. As we grapple with climate change and environmental crises, Nausicaä’s journey and her message of harmony with nature echo growing sentiments among many of us today.
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki and released in 1984, the film laid the foundation for Studio Ghibli’s celebrated legacy and its recurring focus on environmental themes, which appear again in later works such as Princess Mononoke (1997) and Ponyo (2008).
The film takes us to a post-apocalyptic future when the Earth is recovering from ecological disaster and war. Human survivors live in isolated communities surrounded by the toxic Sea of Decay, a sprawling jungle inhabited by giant, mutant insects. At its heart, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind explores the ever-present question of how humanity should engage with the natural world and challenges the view that nature exists solely for human exploitation. By focusing on a future society in which people live in fear of a “rageful” environment created by past human exploitation and violence, the film forces the audience to grapple with the dystopian effect of our anthropocentric mentality.
At the same time, the film showcases a different possible future through the main character Princess Nausicaä, a future of hope. Nausicaä’s connection with the environment and its creatures is antithetical to our current model of self-centered exploitation. She symbolizes living together and in mutual respect with nature, and her journey asks the audience to consider the idea that real unity comes from understanding and empathy, not domination. As our current climate landscape worsens, Nausicaä’s fight to heal her society 1,000 years in the future inspires us to persevere here in the present. The movie’s focus on harmonic living reminds us that human imagination is a powerful tool as we strive towards a more environmentally-conscious future.
Hayao Miyazaki’s iconic direction, combined with breathtaking animation and a powerful message, makes this film an enduring classic. Whether you are a longtime fan of Studio Ghibli or new to Miyazaki’s work, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind is a climate classic worth a watch this summer.
Rahul Nihalani is a CFF Founding Volunteer and Marketing Lead.
Opportunities & Events
🎬 Hollywood Climate Summit
When: June 25 - June 28, 2024
Where: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Samuel Goldwyn Theater, Los Angeles, CA
The Hollywood Climate Summit organizes year-round, high energy convenings and creative labs for multi-sector media professionals to level up their climate knowledge, spark collaborations, deepen intersectional values, showcase innovation, and lead a cultural movement of sustained impact and climate action.
🧿 Open Worlds: More than Meets the Eye
When: June 28 - June 29, 2024
Where: Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Ave, Astoria, NY 11106
MoMI opens its doors for a series of free events that bring into conversation mycologists, biologists, and ecologists alongside artists and filmmakers, exploring how the tools of science and cinema can reveal more of our urban landscape than is visible to the naked eye.
🎆 Entertainment + Culture Pavilion: Bangkok
When: June 28 - June 29, 2024
Where: 134 Nakhon Sawan Road Khwaeng Wat Sommanat, Bangkok 10100 Thailand
In partnership with Creative Migration, Bangkok 1899, Sauntr Media, The Convergence, Green & Beyond Magazine, and Love Frankie, among others, E+C is co-designing two days of programming to explore and enhance the role of culture in climate action, providing a platform for dialogue, collaboration and innovation. The Pavilion will host various activities, including panel discussions, workshops and performances, all focused on the intersection of environmental sustainability and cultural practices.
🌿 Bloomberg Green Festival & Docs
When: July 10 - July 13, 2024
Where: Seattle, WA
We have a few free passes to share, just email us or use code Climate40 for 40% off!
The world needs radical solutions to address our climate reality - and whether you run a business or a household, lead a non-profit or work within your community group, have already begun effecting change in an organization or don't know where to start - join Bloomberg Green Festival and find the tools to learn from experts, lend your ideas, and collaborate on practical solutions to Earth’s most urgent problems.
🦠 SYMBIOSIS 2024
Due: July 31, 2024
Symbiosis is the backbone of the annual Science New Wave Festival now heading into its 17th year. The initiative will take place in NYC during the festival dates from October 18-25. Filmmakers and scientists are paired for a one-week adventure during the festival. They will meet for the first time at our new space - the Science New Wave Lab - on October 17. Midweek, they present their early science/film experiments at Caveat. Their films are screened at the closing night of the festival. Each pair is provided a $2,500 production stipend and the winning Symbiosis pair gets a $1,500 prize. This program is presented by the Science, Society and Culture at the Simons Foundation. Our partnering platform is Labocine.
🎥 MONO NO AWARE’s Underwater 16MM Filmmaking Course
When: July 23 and July 26, 2024
Where: MONO HQ (33 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn, NY) + Pool Location TBA
In this workshop participants will be introduced to the Bolex Underwater housing! This workshop will be held in two sessions; the first will meet on dry land at the MONO HQ. The second session will meet at a private pool, during which each participant will be able to conduct a shoot with a full roll of 16mm Vision3 color negative film (roughly 2.5 minutes). You will leave the workshop with the knowledge to operate the machine independently for future use (beach shoots, pool parties, water-balloon toss). Your underwater reel will be processed, printed, then presented after the conclusion of the course at our screening party at Anthology Film Archives!
🌎 The Young Climate Prize
Due: July 31, 2024
Applications are open for the second cycle of The Young Climate Prize award and mentorship program! The prize was conceived by New York-based nonprofit organization The World Around to support the generation of designers and activists who were born into the climate crisis and uniquely positioned to address it. The prize pairs young change-makers with mentors in the international design community who can accelerate the impact of their work and connect them with a global network of like-minded people. 25 finalists will win a life-changing mentorship, and three winners will be flown to New York City to share their work and ideas at The World Around’s prestigious Annual Summit in 2025.
🎤 NRDC Climate Storytelling Fellowship
Due: December 5, 2024
The Fellowship will grant $20,000 each to three writers (or writing teams) to support revision of a feature screenplay or pilot that engages with climate change in a compelling way through events, actions, character, emotions, plot, and/or setting.