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AU’s Center for Environmental Filmmaking
www.environmentalfilm.org
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2015 Report
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By Chris Palmer, Director
palmer@american.edu
February 15, 2015
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The following report provides an overview of the Center for Environmental
Filmmaking’s activities and events scheduled for 2015. The Center’s programs are made
possible by the generosity of the foundations and donors listed at the end of this report.
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With Dean Emeritus Larry Kirkman’s support, I founded the Center ten years
ago at the School of Communication in the belief that the world faces unprecedented
environmental challenges, from climate disruption to species extinction.
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Powerful films, images, and stories can play a key role in fostering conservation
and bringing about change. We are committed to raising awareness and empowering
action through the innovative use of media. Our tag line is: Changing lives. Fostering
creativity. Conserving our environment through the power of media.
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Our mission is to inspire a new generation of filmmakers and media experts
whose commitment to environmental stewardship drives them to produce creative work
that is informative, ethically sound, and entertaining—and that makes a positive
difference. Our signature initiatives include:
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Creating partnerships with established organizations—Maryland Public
Television, the National Park Service, The Nature Conservancy, and others—
that give students the opportunity to produce professional films.
Bringing world-class filmmakers to American University to talk, teach, and
mentor.
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Developing innovative, interdisciplinary, and experiential classes and
programs.
Promoting the ethical treatment of wildlife and the environment.
Awarding student scholarships and fellowships.
Supporting and mentoring environmental and wildlife filmmakers in a variety
of ways.
More information about our programs can be found on our website
www.environmentalfilm.org and at www.ChrisPalmerOnline.com.
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Here is a list of our current projects and programs (please see hyperlinks for more
information):
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1. Center Scholars program: The Center provides $2,000 stipends annually up to
ten top grad students who display academic and creative excellence and who
show outstanding leadership qualities. The stipends are used towards developing
conservation media projects. This year’s Center Scholars are Vanina Harel,
Jamey Warner, and Nick Zachar.
2. Senior Scholars program: When an appropriate candidate can be identified, the
Center awards a $5,000 stipend to honor distinguished professionals whose work
exemplifies the Center’s mission. The first winner of this award in 2013 was
filmmaker Sandy Cannon-Brown.
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3. Mavis and Sidney John Palmer Scholarship: This scholarship (endowed with
$50,000) honors outstanding grad students who have demonstrated a commitment
to conservation and wildlife filmmaking. The winners this year were Vanina
Harel, Marilyn Stone, Jamey Warner, and Nick Zachar.
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4. Donors Sheila and Bill Wasserman are funding a $5,000 prize for the student
thesis that best reflects environmental impact related to the loss of any wild
animal populations and/or major ecosystems, or to the benefits of a plant based
diet. The winners this year were Vanina Harel, Sam Sheline, Marilyn Stone,
Jamey Warner, and Nick Zachar.
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5. Challenge Prize: The Center is creating a new annual $15,000 awards
program, working closely with AU’s Financial Aid office, to give prize money to
graduate students who have overcome (or are overcoming) severe challenges and
adversity in their lives (including personal tragedy, poverty, racism, and so on)
and plan to use environmental and wildlife films to make the world a better place.
Five students will be selected and they will each receive a $3,000 prize.
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6. National Park Service Fellowship: Born through a unique partnership with the
National Park Service (NPS), the fellowship program provides grad students with
the opportunity to produce films for NPS as paid employees. The fellowship’s
flagship project, the web series America’s Wilderness, has produced a diverse
collection of films to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Wilderness Act. Recent
NPS Fellows include Sarah Gulick, Erin Finicane, and Sylvia Johnson.
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7. Maryland Public Television partnership: Our long-standing partnership with
MPT gives students the opportunity to produce professional films for Chesapeake
Bay Week on public television stations. Over the last six years, thanks to Sandy
Cannon-Brown’s leadership, the student-produced films from this program have
received numerous awards, including five Student Emmys and several CINE
Golden Eagles. Emmy Award-winning executive producer Mike English has
now taken over from Sandy and last semester his students produced a 30 minute
film, Chesapeake Villages, which will air on MPT and other PBS stations in
April 2015, and also play at the Environmental Film Festival.
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8. NOAA Oceans for Life program: Oceans for Life gives two or more grad
students the opportunity to acquire field experience working with NOAA and the
National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation while collaborating with National
Geographic or the Jean-Michel Cousteau’s Ocean Futures Society. They serve
as filmmaking mentors to high school students from the Middle East and the US.
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9. Prince Charitable Trusts’ films on sustainable farming: The Center works with
the Prince Charitable Trusts to produce films on sustainable and profitable
farming. Aditi Desai produced Farming for the Future in 2013, and Aditi Desai
and Vanina Harel have just completed a second film on sustainable farming
called Fifty Years of Farming: For Love & Vegetables. We will embark on a third
film in the series this spring. These films will be screened at the Environmental
Film Festival at 7 pm on Saturday, March 28 in the Doyle/Forman Theater at
SOC.
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10. MFA concentration in Environmental and Wildlife Filmmaking: Under
Brigid Maher’s leadership, the MFA program is developing three concentrations,
one of which is in Environmental and Wildlife Filmmaking. The Center is
working with Film and Media Arts faculty to implement this exciting
development. In January 2015, these concentrations were approved at the
university level.
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11. Classroom in the Wild in the Chesapeake Bay: This outdoor class offers
students and the public a one week program in March on the Chesapeake Bay as
an introduction to the challenge and excitement of environmental filmmaking. It
is led by filmmakers Jamey Warner and Steve Droter.
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12. Classroom in the Wild: Extreme HD Alaska: Under the leadership of Larry
Engel and Brian Horner, this summer class offers students and the public a three
week, three credit immersive course in HD filmmaking under challenging
environmental and expeditionary conditions in Alaska.
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13. Funding and producing films: The Center provides funding and filmmaking
expertise to students and others making films on conservation. See Center Vimeo
website and Center YouTube website.
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14. Events at 7 pm Tuesdays in the Doyle/Forman Theater in McKinley with
renowned filmmakers and environmental advocates. The Center creates and hosts
15-20 events a year, attracting large public and student audiences. Recently our
speakers have come from Animal Planet, Greenpeace, Smithsonian, National
Geographic, and PETA.
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15. Eco-Comedy Video Competition: The Center created this annual international
competition, sponsored by The Nature Conservancy’s Maryland/DC chapter,
to encourage the use of humor to promote conservation. We receive about 100
submissions annually from all over the world and the winner is awarded a $2,000
cash prize from TNC.
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16. Visions Festival award for Best Environmental Film: The Center awards an
annual $2,000 cash prize for the best environmental film at the Visions Festival.
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17. “An Evening with Chris Palmer” annual event at the Environmental Film
Festival: This year at 7 pm Tuesday, March 24 at AU, I’ll discuss my new book
Confessions of a Wildlife Filmmaker: The Challenges of Staying Honest in an
Industry Where Ratings Are King and will show numerous clips.
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18. Student Short Environmental Film Festival (7 pm Wednesday, March 25, 2015
at AU): This annual event is part of the Environmental Film Festival and is
curated by Sandy Cannon-Brown and Brad Forder. We exhibit and celebrate
the best conservation short films produced by students nationwide.
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19. Panel at Environmental Film Festival: “OK, I’ve Watched the Film—Now
What?” (7 pm Thursday, March 26, 2015 at AU): The Center and EFF sponsor
this event annually to draw attention to the need for conservation films to be far
more than distracting entertainment. Multifaceted and multilayered campaigns
are essential to produce real results and have a measurable impact.
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20. Environmental Film Festival in the Nation’s Capital: Every March, the Center
hosts about eight EFF events at AU and is deeply involved in creating and
planning them.
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21. Shooting in the Wild campaign (book and film) to reform wildlife filmmaking
practices: This ongoing campaign is inspired by my book Shooting in the Wild,
now in its second printing. In 2014, SOC produced a companion film (of the same
name) hosted by Alexandra Cousteau, directed and produced by Ed Beimfohr,
and produced and edited by Frank Fitzmaurice, which aired on public television
stations nationwide. The film was made possible by generous grants from the
Park Foundation, the Shared Earth Foundation, and the Norcross
Foundation. My new book, Confessions of a Wildlife Filmmaker, which is
highly critical of some major television networks, will be published in March
2015 to further this campaign.
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22. Filming in Costa Rica on carbon offsetting: During the spring semester of 2014
graduate students from AU’s School of International Service, Kogod School of
Business, and School of Public Affairs, participated in a practicum addressing
AU's commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2020. In an attempt to mitigate
carbon emissions from air travel, AU is paying farmers to protect their tropical
rainforests in a hotspot of biodiversity in Costa Rica's central volcanic mountain
range. Led by Chris O'Brien, AU's Director of Sustainability, and Dr. Kenneth
Conca, AU Professor and Program Director of Global Environmental Politics, the
SIS students traveled to Costa Rica to assess the environmental and social impacts
and effectiveness of AU's payments for these ecosystem services. Through
coordinated support from Larry Engel and Ken Conca, the group was also
joined by School of Communication graduate students Nick Zachar and Jazmin
Garcia, who documented the students as they interviewed local organizations and
landowners. This interdisciplinary project ultimately will provide AU with a
recommendation on whether to continue the current project in Costa Rica or to
look for alternative projects in the future.
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23. Potomac/Chesapeake Bay watershed (DC H2O): An interdisciplinary 1-credit
self-study course through the University College program was designed to study
water issues in Turkey. Professors Larry Engel and Kiho Kim (CAS) had
designed the course, but because of political turmoil in the region, the spring trip
was cancelled. However, Engel and Kim redesigned the course to study the
Potomac/Chesapeake Bay watershed, called DC H2O. Ten students are now
engaged in the project.
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24. Sponsorships of many film festivals, including the Environmental Film
Festival in DC, the BLUE Ocean Film Festival and Conference, the Jackson
Hole Wildlife Film Festival, the International Wildlife Film Festival, and the
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Blue Vision Summit. In addition to sponsorships, the Center also helps students
attend these festivals. For example, the Center paid for the expenses of five
students to attend the American Conservation Film Festival.
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25. LinkTV and our work with Earth Focus: Filmmaker Jamey Warner has done
excellent work as a producer, cinematographer, and editor of programs on climate
change, illegal wildlife trade, the changing geopolitics of the Arctic and
innovations in sustainable farming for Earth Focus, the prime time weekly
environmental program broadcast on both KCET (in California) and Link TV
(nationally). Earth Focus, headed by Raisa Scriabine, reaches over 5.1 million
actual viewers annually on both networks. Earth Focus is also streamed at
www.linktv.org/earthfocus.
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26. Three HD cameras for student use, thanks to the Norcross Foundation. Many
students have taken advantage of this equipment, including students in our
Classroom in the Wild programs.
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27. Discover the World of Communication summer program for high school
students under Sarah Menke-Fish’s leadership: The Center gave a $775
Scholarship to a 2014 MCPS Environmental Film Festival Winner to participate
in the Discover the World of Communication Program. The Center will continue
this support in 2015.
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28. Under Sarah Menke-Fish’s leadership, more than 350 students from
Montgomery County Public Schools, Howard County Public Schools and DC
Public Schools participated in five hands-on environmental film workshops held
in October, November, January and February 2014 at AU, AFI and on location at
select middle and high schools. Forty-five AU faculty, AU Alums, MFA and MA
candidates and Film and Media Arts students worked with the students to guide
them and support them with their filmmaking efforts.
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29. In the classroom, Professor and Associate Director Maggie Burnette Stogner
works with students to develop ideas and productions for nonprofit
environmental groups and for film competitions such as the Center’s Eco-Comedy
Video Competition. She invites guest speakers to share their experiences, such as
alum Ellen Tripler who produced the award winning Dying Green with support
from the Center. This extraordinary thesis film won a coveted Student
Academy award and a professional-level CINE Golden Eagle award, among
others.
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30. Professor Stogner continues to serve as an advisor to the Center and to the
Center’s award-winning students. She advises thesis and capstone projects, such
as Center Scholar Vanina Harel who recently received a grant of $2,000 from the
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Center. With the assistance of the Center and the support of faculty, students are
able to launch their careers in wildlife and environmental filmmaking. Professor
Stogner takes an active role in supporting students as they transition to
professional careers, providing letters of recommendations to key organizations
such as the National Geographic Society and Discovery, and to many
environmental associations.
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31. In October 2014, Professor Stogner moderated a Center for Environmental
Filmmaking panel, Behind the Scenes: The Making of America’s Wilderness,
for SOC’s Signature Series on Environmental Filmmaking. The panel included
National Park Service film producers Chuck Dunkerly, Erin Finicane (AU SOC
'13), and Sarah Gulick (AU SOC ’14). This well-established Center speaker
series showcases a wide range of significant films and filmmakers and the impact
they have on changing our world.
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32. Recent interviews and articles featuring the Center have appeared in Mother
Jones, National Public Radio, Washington Post, Global CEO, the Eagle, and other
publications, and can be found here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
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I thank Dean Jeff Rutenbeck and Prof. John Douglass for all their support. And I
thank Larry Engel, Sandy Cannon-Brown, Sarah Menke-Fish, and Maggie Burnette
Stogner—the four Associate Directors of the Center—for all they have done to
contribute to the depth and breadth of the Center’s programs.
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The Center for Environmental Filmmaking’s activities and programs are made
possible by the generosity of the following individuals, foundations, corporations, and
other organizations. I am honored to recognize them and to thank them for their support:
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Wallace Genetic Foundation, Frances & Benjamin Benenson Foundation,
Shared Earth Foundation, Park Foundation, Saint Paul Foundation, Turner
Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, Herbert W. Hoover Foundation, Ramsay
Merriam Fund, Henry Foundation, Mead Family Foundation, Norcross Wildlife
Foundation, Ernst & Young Ltd. Liability Partnership, Merrill G. & Emita E.
Hastings Foundation, T. Rowe Price Associates Foundation, and The Nature
Conservancy.
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Special thanks to Joan Murray, Bill Benenson, Caroline Gabel, Gil Ordway,
Caroline Ramsay Merriam, Elysabeth Kleinhans, Elizabeth Ruml, Lucy Waletzky,
Wool Henry, Angel Braestrup, Lacey Hoover, Colton Hoover Chase, Mark
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Butterworth, Betsy Mead, Diana Mead, Christelle Siohan, Sheila and Bill
Wasserman, Amy Panek, Lisa Peterfreund, Todd Robinson, Kristin Pauly, Leonard
Berman, John McMurray, Kay Summers, Whitney Hall and other generous
supporters.
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Center Report 2015