{"id":201333,"date":"2026-03-03T00:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/201333\/"},"modified":"2026-03-03T00:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T00:33:10","slug":"eco-media-fest-opens-doors-for-student-environmental-filmmakers-annenberg-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/201333\/","title":{"rendered":"Eco Media Fest opens doors for student environmental filmmakers \u2013 Annenberg Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

A hush fell over the crowd as the lights dimmed inside the Albert R. and Dana Broccoli Theatre at the USC School of Cinematic Arts on Saturday afternoon. <\/p>\n

On screen, deer wandered near a highway at night until one was struck by a car \u2014 the screen went black, prompting audible gasps from the audience. <\/p>\n

The scene became one of the festival\u2019s most jarring moments, underscoring the fourth annual Eco Media Fest\u2019s focus on student films and media art that confront environmental realities.<\/p>\n

Presented by the Arts & Climate Collective and SCA\u2019s Division of Media Arts + Practice, the festival serves as a gateway for emerging filmmakers seeking to tell environmental stories in an industry that rarely prioritizes ecological urgency.<\/p>\n

A 2025 study from Rice University revealed that just under 13% of the 250 most popular films released between 2013 and 2022 depicted climate change, while 19% of the films addressed other environmental issues, such as air pollution, erosion and species extinction.<\/p>\n

Industry leaders, including Grammy-nominated filmmaker and USC alum Danny O\u2019Malley, were present to weigh in on how these young voices could shape Hollywood\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

\u201cHollywood doesn\u2019t always acknowledge these stories, and I think there\u2019s a lot more room in that space than people think,\u201d O\u2019Malley said. <\/p>\n

\"RyanRyan Grant (left) and Jan Hettich (right) are supervising and flying a drone to capture footage of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing.
\n(Photo courtesy of Talia Frank) (Talia Frank) <\/p>\n

O\u2019Malley cited his work on \u201cChef\u2019s Table,\u201d the Emmy-nominated Netflix documentary series that elevated food television while subtly prompting audiences to consider sustainability, sourcing and humanity\u2019s relationship with the natural world. <\/p>\n

By weaving environmental consciousness into a mainstream series, he helped introduce audiences to ecological storytelling that is usually pushed to the industry\u2019s margins. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn my experience working on \u2018Chef\u2019s Table,\u2018 we\u2019ve had everything from chefs who focus on ocean sustainability to chefs trying to connect people in their communities after generational trauma and genocide,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople tune in to watch a food show and then they experience these things about deeper values.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Eco Media Fest was founded in 2023 by USC alum and Argentinian actress Natasha Nua with the help of a grant from the Arts and Climate Collective. Her passion for climate storytelling began while growing up in Miami, where she dealt with the region\u2019s hurricanes and floods. <\/p>\n

\u201cWith the grant, I did a short film called \u2018Our Garden,\u2019 and it explored themes of climate anxiety, climate grief, and how as young people we\u2019re falling in love in this crisis,\u201d Nua said. \u201cHow do we have a hope and future for romance in our future, while we feel like the world is ending?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TunnelTunnel wildlife crossing from the film Crossing the Divide.
\n(Photo courtesy of Director of Photography Ryan Grant) (Ryan Grant) <\/p>\n

She added that while she was proud of her work on the film, she found there was nowhere to show it, leading to her development of the event \u2014 originally called the Eco Film Festival \u2014 to fill the space.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was super proud of this film, but there\u2019s nowhere to show it,\u201d she added. \u201cSo, why don\u2019t we organize an Eco Film Festival?\u201d<\/p>\n

This year, the festival was rebranded as Eco Media Fest to reflect its expansion beyond film, incorporating art installations and music. The event also drew submissions from around the world, with projects arriving from India and the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

Outside of the black-box setting of the Broccoli Theatre, a gallery-style hall showcased environmental student art installations. After a two-hour screening featuring 16 films, the space buzzed as students connected with industry professionals. <\/p>\n

\"EditorEditor Karli Korszeniewski (left), Director of Photography Ryan Grant (center), and Producer\/Director Talia Frank (right) at Crossing the Divide’s premiere at UCSB’s Pollock Theater in June 2025 (Photo courtesy of Dana Welch) (Dana Welch) <\/p>\n

Among them were the directors, Ryan Grant and Karli Korszeniewski, of \u201cCrossing the Divide,\u201d the event\u2019s opening film depicting deer struck on a darkened highway, a topic they felt was often ignored. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe kind of look over roadkill every time we go onto the highway,\u201d Grant said.<\/p>\n

The 10-minute documentary examines how road fragmentation disrupts wildlife habitats and highlights wildlife crossings as a solution. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think being more conscious about your carbon footprint, like getting into a car and using the freeways \u2014 I mean, we can\u2019t really get around that because that\u2019s our transportation \u2014 but wildlife was here first. Our environment comes first,\u201d Korszeniewski added.<\/p>\n

\"DroneDrone shot of the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing. (Photo courtesy of Jan Hettich) (Jan Hettich) <\/p>\n

Other students translated similar concerns into immersive art installations.<\/p>\n

Graduate student Avidha Raha stood beside her photo project, \u201cRising Above the Melt,\u201d which captures life in a village in the Indian Himalayas. The project features nuns of various ages facing and adapting to water scarcity, where access to the natural resource is limited to school hours.<\/p>\n

She captured the photos over the course of three years, during a prolonged stay in the region.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was me who went from having that outsider privilege to see that these are problems,\u201d she said. \u201cFor example, having water only during a particular time of the day, mostly during school hours \u2014that is hampering a lot of the study hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AvidhaAvidha Raha’s “Rising Above the Melt” art installation. (Photo by Amy Contreras) (Amy Contreras) <\/p>\n

Raha said she hopes audiences will better understand climate impacts beyond urban centers.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople in urban regions talk a lot about climate change,\u201d she said. \u201cBut if people get to know what\u2019s happening in the remotest corners of the world \u2014 ecologically sensitive regions like the Himalayas \u2014 there will be more empathy amongst people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Festival director Arian Tomar, a senior studying film production at USC, said the growth is less about scale and more about impact. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think the real value of Eco Media Fest is showing students that there are places where their voices are valued,\u201d Tomar said. \u201cWe hope the festival is a beacon for creatives looking for an outlet to express their anxiety and despair and to build community around it.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019 Malley cautioned that environmental films sometimes struggle in mainstream spaces when messaging overshadows storytelling.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes the characters take a backseat, and it becomes more of an \u2018An Inconvenient Truth\u2018 approach or just getting the facts out,\u201d he said. \u201cYou lose the ability to cut through in Hollywood or to an audience because a film is supposed to entertain. It\u2019s supposed to get to the heart before it gets to the head.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Malley added that the future of environmental storytelling in Hollywood may depend less on genre and more on values.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, films are about values, and if you\u2019re telling a story, chances are it can have values that are relevant to the environment,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hush fell over the crowd as the lights dimmed inside the Albert R. and Dana Broccoli Theatre…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[93480,93479,93482,460,6903,15587,93483,48,52,51,47,50,49,93481],"class_list":{"0":"post-201333","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-art-installation","9":"tag-eco-media","10":"tag-ecological","11":"tag-environmental","12":"tag-film-festival","13":"tag-filmmaking","14":"tag-inconvenient-truth","15":"tag-la","16":"tag-la-headlines","17":"tag-la-news","18":"tag-los-angeles","19":"tag-los-angeles-headlines","20":"tag-los-angeles-news","21":"tag-student-filmmaker"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}