THE CHASE (6 min, 2018) by Hunter Harding
University of Kansas graduate, Lawrence, Kansas

In this 6-minute sci-fi thriller, a young man watches TV and hears the news that the US has pulled out of the Paris Climate Agreement. His TV blacks out, then he looks out the window to see a bright glowing object falling from the sky. He leaves his house, jumping on his bicycle to find where the object landed. In a field lies a glowing pyramid, which he touches and then passes out. At this point, he is transported to micro and macro views of the planet, from outer space to beneath the ocean, seeing both beauty and destruction. He then wakes up and carries the pyramid to the local observatory to, search for a new Earth.

Writes Hunter, “‘The Chase’ shows a young man the atrocities of humanity toward the environment, warning him that if mankind does not change its ways, the only option will eventually have to be abandoning the barren wasteland of Earth’s future in search of a new home.”

VANDALS (6 min, 2020) by Suzie Kang, April Chang, and Emily Wong
New York University, Tisch School of the Arts graduates, New York City, New York

Entirely without dialogue, this engaging six-minute animation conveys its message via sensitive imagery, music and sound effects. The film begins when a landscape artist has trouble selling his paintings. By accident, he figures out how to magically capture beautiful scenes from nature in jars, and a thriving business ensues. The artist transforms into a salesman, traveling the globe to capture colorful fields of flowers, desert cacti, jungle plants and even the Northern Lights for market. When skies turn gray, he realizes he can’t capitalize on nature without consequence and attempts to right his wrong.

KOKU/SCENT (5 min, 2022) by Sezgin Yüzay
(password: koku-scent-5)
Muğla Sıtkı Koçman University student, 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. Upon 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.

ENDANGERED (4 min, 2022) by Tim DeBlois
Hampshire College graduate, Amherst, Massachusetts

Tim’s 4-minute stop-motion film “Endangered” takes us first to farm country and then inside a healthy beehive, where a queen lays eggs and worker bees care for her young. Meanwhile, a nearby farmer sprays pesticide on his garden, which falls like white cotton onto some of the foraging bees. They bring the white poison back to the hive, infecting others, including their young. Oblivious to his impact, the farmer sits in a rocking chair whistling, while, ironically, reading about the extinction of bees. There is no narration nor score, making the background birdsong and sound effects of the bees’ slowing movements more poignant.

YASUNI NATIONAL PARK: THE REAL POWER BELONGS TO THE PEOPLE (7 min, 2020) by Oriana Camara
Wheaton College graduate, Norton, Massachusetts

Ecuador’s Yasuni National Park, home to 5,000 species of plants and animals, sits atop nearly a billion barrels of crude oil. Oriana’s 7-minute film tells the story of this dilemma through the gentle voice of an Indigenous man who considers the forest his home. Accompanied by fluid piano music, the camera lovingly takes in the beauty of the Amazon rainforest from industrious ants to exotic birds to cascading waterfalls and green mountains. The formerly protected park has been open to encroaching oil and agricultural companies since 2013. At the film’s conclusion, Greta Thunberg’s clear voice rings the alarm about fossil fuel extraction and the climate crisis. Wrote Oriana in her contest submission: “For me personally, documentary film is the opportunity to propel forward change, an open dialogue, and a message.”

VERGE (3 min, 2018) by Chingtien Chu
School of Visual Arts graduate, New York City, New York

This high-quality animated short follows a young sea turtle’s ocean voyage through polluted water. As only 1 in 1,000 baby sea turtles survive to adulthood, this small film shows the big struggle facing marine life today.

Film Director Chingtien Chu was born on Penghu, a small island on the Taiwan Strait. Currently based in Los Angeles, Chingtien earned his MFA in computer animation at the School of Visual Arts, in New York, focusing on lighting, look development and compositing.

EYES (6.5 min, 2021) by Zachary Goodwin, Flynn Harris, Alex Flanagan, Alex Kumph
New York Film Academy students, Los Angeles, California

Describing how this film came about, Zach writes: “My mother has been vegan for roughly 3 years now, and even though she begged me to [go vegan] with her, I refused. Once we moved to Los Angeles, she started participating in activism events. After many tries, she got me to go to one of these events. . . . It was such a profound experience, I felt very obligated to share this with the world the best way I know possible: filmmaking.”

The event Zach describes is an LA Animal Save Vigil. During these peaceful events, animal rights activists wait on the side of the road for truckloads of pigs to stop for 2 minutes of compassion before heading to slaughter. During those 2 minutes, the activists spray the pigs with water, stroke those they can reach, and look into their eyes. Zach and his team interview participants, including police who support the activists by keeping the vigils orderly. This moving film skillfully tells an emotional story without judgment.

SPELL OF THE WEST (7 min, 2019) by Samantha Lane
California Institute of the Arts graduate, Santa Clarita, Calif.

In this 7-minute fictional fantasy, Rose, the cacti farmer, is enlisted by her friends, the birds, to confront an elusive man who chops down trees in the forest. One morning, Rose wakes up to find all her cacti have also been cut down. She feels completely overwhelmed by this problem, but her friend Boots, a blue horse (who also happens to wear boots), knocks on her door to offer a solution. The sumptuous landscapes as well as narrative reveal that nature is spiritually alive, vulnerable, and needs our protection.

Samantha wrote: “I was interested in re-framing the environmental conversation. . . with a deep respect and poetic appreciation for the natural world. With that goal in mind, I began ‘Spell of the West,’ and ended up adding a bit of humor and weirdness just to spice things up.”

ENVIRONMENTAL RACISM (3 min, 2021) by Nathan Goswick
DePaul University student, Chicago, Illinois

In this 3-minute film, Nathan equates environmental racism to warfare by using imagery symbolizing combat. He juxtaposes these with facts that show the disparities of negative environmental impacts on communities of color. With a subtle, ominous soundtrack, Nathan narrates a concise script offering two examples of environmental injustice: contaminated water in Flint, Mich., and “cancer alley” in Louisiana. The clink of lead bullets in a glass of clean water fluidly symbolizes warfare for Flint, while Nathan continues his metaphor, describing Louisiana’s “cancer alley” as an “aerial attack.” Archival 35 mm film, a glitch effect, swishing sound effects, and many inventive, artful techniques combine to make this film a creative and powerful statement about human rights.

LUCY (2 min, 2020) by Tara Gupta
Rhode Island School of Design graduate, Providence, RI

Tara’s almost two-minute film is a concise animation in mostly black and white with a few bold, primary colors. Her message is a simple one about the relationship between Mother Earth and humankind, personified as Lucy (in a nod to the 3.2 billion-year-old australopithecine). Tara animates deftly when an Earth on fire transforms into a woman’s angry eyes and then shrinks to the minute face of an escapee in a rocket ship. She wrote in her contest entry: “I hope to share this film and help initiate a dialogue around the way we maintain our relationship to the Earth, especially as we young filmmakers and media consumers come of age and have the opportunity to reshape this relationship.”