The programme of film screenings, workshops and panels will engage audiences in meaningful discussion about the climate emergency.
A new programme of film screenings, workshops, and panel discussions exploring the climate crisis will take place at venues across the UK during March and April 2022.
Led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), the programme will feature award-winning films that are rooted in arts and humanities climate research.
The films address a wide range of issues from eco-anxiety to intergenerational justice, fragile polar landscapes to the experiences of coastal communities.
Film screening locations
The screenings will take place in the following locations:
- Watershed, Bristol, 27 March 2022: Green Screen: Climate Emergency Films of the Year
- Chapter Arts, Cardiff, 8 April 2022: Cardiff Animation Festival (CAF): Clwstwr, Research in Film Awards (RIFA) and CAF present: Animation and the Climate Emergency
- Community Central Hall, Glasgow, 8 to 10 April 2022: Youth Film Access Festival.
Events for the public and creatives
The programmes in Bristol and Glasgow are aimed at a public audience, with a rich line-up of screenings and discussions for a variety of ages and interests.
Highlights for these events include:
Workshop to explore stop-motion in climate filmmaking
A workshop for 8 to 14-year-olds will be held at the Watershed from 10:00 on 27 March.
It will give children and teens the chance to explore how stop-motion can be used in climate filmmaking.
This session is hosted in collaboration with the AHRC funded research and development (R&D) partnership Bristol + Bath Creative R+D.
RIFA-nominated film screening and panel event
Screening of the RIFA-nominated film Kii Nche Ndutsa (Time and the Seashell) as part of a panel event with:
- filmmaker-researcher Dr Itandehui Jansen (University of Edinburgh)
- Screen Sustainability Manager for Scotland Mairi Claire Bowser
- wildlife filmmaker and We Are Albert ambassador, Libby Penman.
The event will take place at Community Central Hall, Glasgow from 17:30 to 19:00 on 8 April.
This session will be hosted with Film Access Scotland as part of their Youth Film Access Festival.
Media industry day
The event in Cardiff is of particular interest to those working in:
- animation
- gaming
- broadcast
- post-production
- research.
The screenings, workshops and panel discussions will take place on 8 April, during CAF as part of a media industry day, and will explore questions such as:
- how do we effectively represent climate change on screen?
- how can those working in the industry become ‘changemakers’ in the face of the climate crisis?
This session is hosted in collaboration with the UKRI-AHRC funded R&D partnership Clwstwr, which is committed to Wales becoming a leader in green media production.
Screening award-winning films
At each screening event, there will be a chance to:
- hear from filmmakers working at the forefront of climate filmmaking
- watch a selection of films that have been shortlisted or awarded prizes at AHRC’s RIFA.
Since 2015, the RIFA has celebrated the best in academic filmmaking and has inspired researchers to share their work with the wider world.
Previous RIFA winners have gone on to:
- win BAFTAs and other awards
- be screened at other film festivals
- secure funding and further achievements.
The films
Films on show:
A Stork’s Journey
This film invites viewers to fly with storks as they migrate from Germany to Sudan, navigating perils including pollution and pesticides.
The Promise
This film follows a young girl who introduces nature to her city and discovers how, to rewild the world, she must first rewild herself.
INSECURE: Intergenerational stories of a coastal community facing climate change impacts
This film explores the rapidly eroding coastline of the town of Withersnea in Yorkshire.
Kii Nche Ndutsa (Time and the Seashell)
This film explores indigenous reflections on the environment and landscape in Mexico.
To Be a Marma
This film follows four members of the Marma community in the Bangladesh Myanmar border. The four members reflect on the prospect of mass migration into their ancestral lands.
Newland: New Vision for a Wilder Future
This film offers a beautifully meditative window into the agricultural community’s move towards less intensive methods of farming and more sustainable practices.
A Short Film About Ice
This film is a visually dramatic film-poem documenting the journey of a cinematographer through the changing landscapes of the Arctic.
After Ice
This film exposes the physical, aesthetic, and personal impacts of recent glacier melt in the Hornafjörður region of south-east Iceland.
In Hot Water
This film reveals the impact of glacier retreat on local communities in the Peruvian Andes.
Bringing climate research to new audiences
Mike Collins, Head of Public Engagement at AHRC, says:
We are proud to be working with our partners in Bristol, Cardiff and Glasgow to bring arts and humanities climate research to new audiences.
To tackle the climate crisis effectively, we need the right stories and tools to change mindsets and behaviour.
Storytelling through film is a hugely impactful method in affecting this change.
We hope this programme inspires the public, and those working in the creative sector, to feel empowered about their role in tackling the climate crisis.
To find out more about the events and to book tickets, see the ‘further information’ section.
Further information
Full programme of screenings, workshops and panel discussions
Waves of Change Family Screening and Animation Workshop
27 March 2022, 10:00 to 10:45
Workshop
Watershed, Bristol (delivered in partnership with the UKRI-AHRC funded Bristol + Bath Creative R+D)
Calling all young changemakers and film enthusiasts for a morning of award-winning animated films on the climate emergency.
Followed by an animation workshop led by the Waves of Change project filmmakers.
Screening:
- The Promise (RIFA 2021 finalist)
- A Stork’s Journey (RIFA 2020 finalist)
- a new film by Waves of Change project.
This workshop is suitable for 8 to 14-year-olds.
Our Land Our Lives: RIFA finalist short films
27 March 2022, 13:00 to 14:20
Film screenings
Watershed Bristol (delivered in partnership with the UKRI-AHRC funded Bristol + Bath Creative R+D)
The climate crisis is a crisis of culture.
Join us for a screening of four films sharing stories from communities in Bangladesh, Cornwall and Mexico fighting to protect their land, ecosystems, and histories from environmental destruction.
Introduced by Suzie Cross (RIFA 2021 winner).
Screening:
- Newland: New Vision for a Wilder Future (RIFA 2021 winner)
- To Be A Marma (RIFA 2020 finalist)
- Kii Nche Ndutsa (Time and the Seashell) (RIFA 2021 finalist)
- INSECURE: Intergenerational stories of a coastal community facing climate change impacts (RIFA 2021 finalist).
Filmmaking as climate action
27 March 2022, 14:50 to 15:50
Panel discussion
Watershed Bristol (delivered in partnership with the UKRI-AHRC funded Bristol + Bath Creative R+D)
How does film help us in the fight against climate change?
Join this panel of changemakers, from filmmakers documenting the frontline of environmental collapse to activists forcing the film industry to be active participants in the transformation to a green economy.
Featuring:
- Suzie Cross (RIFA 2021 winner)
- Adam Laity (RIFA 2020 winner)
- Alfie Warren Knight (Bristol-based filmmaker and founder of Film Strike for Climate)
- Manu Maunganidze (Bristol-based filmmaker and director of Bristol Green Capital Partnership).
Ice on Fire: RIFA finalist short films
27 March 2022, 16:20 to 15:20
Film screenings
Watershed Bristol (delivered in partnership with the UKRI-AHRC funded Bristol + Bath Creative R+D)
Join us for a screening of three cinematic shorts that bear witness to the shrinking and crumbling of ancient ice landscapes at the hands of the human race.
Introduced by Adam Laity (RIFA 2020 winner).
Screening:
- A Short Film About Ice (RIFA 2020 winner)
- After Ice (RIFA 2021 finalist)
- In Hot Water (RIFA 2020 finalist).
Animation and the Climate Emergency
8 April 2022, 13:00 to 17:00
Media industry day
Chapter Arts, Cardiff (delivered in partnership with UKRI-AHRC funded Clwstwr as part of CAF)
Join us for an afternoon of screenings, talks, a workshop and networking on environmental sustainability in the media industry.
The sessions are an opportunity to be inspired by content and films that are already raising awareness and advocating for change.
You can also participate in discussions about ways in which the climate emergency can be communicated to different audiences using animation.
From animators to content commissioners, academic researchers to production researchers, we’d love to welcome you along for an afternoon of changemaking thinking, including:
- 13:00 to 14:00: Networking lunch
- 14:00 to 15:15: Screenings and filmmaker and industry questions and answers. Featuring award-winning author, Nicola Davies. Screening:
- The Promise (RIFA 2021 finalist),
- The Stork’s Journey (RIFA 2020 finalist)
- 15:15 to 15:45: Coffee
- 15:45 to 17:00: Planet placement and communicating the climate emergency workshop.
We would also love you to join us in the morning from 10:00 for a visioning session.
The session will design the perfect green workspace for the future of animation, visual effects, games and post-production, and how we can make it a reality in Wales.
Sustainable Storytelling in the Scottish Screen Sector
8 April 2022, 17:30 to 19:00
Panel discussion
Community Central Hall, Glasgow (delivered in partnership with Film Access Scotland and the Youth Film Access Festival)
What might sustainable storytelling look like for the film industry?
How can screen content and production, in both policy and practice, give back rather than take from the environments and communities that tells its stories?
Featuring:
- Dr Itandehui Jansen (RIFA 2021 finalist and filmmaker-researcher at the University of Edinburgh)
- Libby Penmann (wildlife documentary filmmaker and We Are Albert ambassador)
- Mairi Claire Bowser (Screen Sustainability Manager for Scotland).
Earthly Explorations: AHRC’s Research in Film
9 April 2022, 13:00 to 14:30
Film screenings and filmmaker questions and answers
Community Central Hall, Glasgow (delivered in partnership with Film Access Scotland and the Youth Film Access Festival)
This event uplifts the voices of those who are often excluded from conversations surrounding the climate crisis, showcasing shortlisted films from the AHRC RIFA.
These films, based on cutting-edge climate research, encourage us to engage in meaningful conversations and take action to heal our relationship with the planet.
Screening:
- Kii Nche Ndutsa (Time and the Seashell) (RIFA 2021 finalist)
- A Stork’s Journey(RIFA 2020 finalist)
- INSECURE: Intergenerational stories of a coastal community facing climate change impacts (RIFA 2021 finalist)
- To Be A Marma (RIFA 2020 finalist)
- The Promise (RIFA 2021 finalist).
90-sec filmmaking workshop on mobile devices
9 April 2022, 10:00 to 12:00
Workshop
Community Central Hall, Glasgow (delivered in partnership with Film Access Scotland and the Youth Film Access Festival)
Can you tell a story about the climate crisis in a 90-second film?
Learn to make quality films on your mobile devices with this quick filmmaking workshop.
Delivered by Inma de Reyes, who participated in Film Access Scotland’s 1.5 ° Film Challenge delivering workshops on how to make a 90-second environmental film.
This workshop is suitable for 12 to 16-year-olds.
Sustainable Stop Motion Animation Workshop
10 April 2022, 10:00 to 12:00
Workshop
Community Central Hall, Glasgow (delivered in partnership with Film Access Scotland and the Youth Film Access Festival)
Learn the magic of stop motion animation through this environmentally friendly workshop.
Aimed to under 12s, the workshop will walk you through the steps of creating a stop motion animation using upcycled materials and equipment you can find at home.
Delivered by writer, director, animator and puppet maker Ana Songel.
This workshop is suitable for 6 to 11-year-olds.
Top image: Credit: Adam Laity