Eco Media Film Fest 26 Event Recap

A letter from Festival Producer, Nika Wallach:

This past February, the Arts and Climate Collective’s Eco Media Festival returned to USC for the fourth year, dedicated to uplifting emerging student work related to themes of sustainability, climate change, and environmental justice. We are excited to share that this year’s festival was a huge success, building on past festivals to grow a vibrant space where filmmakers, artists, and audiences come together to explore the intersection of creativity and climate action.

My first introduction to the festival was as a student filmmaker submitting a project of my own. Working with collaborators from across USC —Angie Del Gaudio (USC Dornsife ‘28) and Sophia Thompson (USC Thornton ‘28)— we explored our backgrounds in classical ballet, modern dance, music, and film to create a cautionary tale told from the perspective of Mother Earth. At the time, I had no idea that simply submitting a film would open so many doors a year later. 

I was introduced to the Arts and Climate Collective by Arian Tomar (USC SCA ‘26), who is truly who we have to thank for the success of this year’s festival. As a student filmmaker, his work has been recognized three times at the festival, twice as a director of Canaries of the Coast and The Youth Climate Corps BC, and once as the producer of Hear Her. Driven by passion and commitment to environmental storytelling, Arian has now spearheaded production of two successful Eco Media Fests in his role as Festival Producer. After two years of service, his contribution has paid off, breaking records in both festival attendance and film submissions.

As Arian graduates and expands his work beyond USC, I am deeply honored to now be stepping into the role of Festival Producer for the 2027 Eco Media Festival. I am incredibly grateful that people like Arian, Monty Hughes (EMF Producer ‘24), and Nastasha Nutkiewicz (EMF Founder ‘22) have built such a strong foundation and look forward to continuing building this space where both art and climate action are celebrated. 

Playing with Food by Maia Orejudos

Event Description

This year, the Eco Media Festival welcomed over 80 attendees and celebrated environmental storytelling across film, media art, and live performance. 

The festival opened with an engaged panel featuring filmmakers and climate communicators Danny O’Malley, Laurel Tamayo, and Maksim Snow, who shared inspiring insights on storytelling and creative activism centered around the climate crisis. 

Danny O'Malley is an Emmy-, Grammy-, and James Beard-nominated filmmaker recognized for his work as a producer and director and co-founder of End of the Road Films. In 2024, his feature documentary Canary-chronicling the life and work of pioneering climate scientist Lonnie Thompson-was honored with the prestigious Jackson Wild Media Award for Best Feature. During the panel, Danny shared his experience making the film which included getting his crew up an 18,000 foot mountain! He emphasized the importance of the emotional impacts of storytelling and connecting with Lonnie through character-driven narrative while also incorporating climate science. 

Laurel Tamayo is an award-winning filmmaker and impact producer passionate about communicating the climate crisis through film & TV. She directed the short documentary called "Healing Lahaina," a deeply personal film covering her family's experience with the 2023 Lahaina wildfire, climate change, and community resilience. Through her experience making this film as well as her dedication to impact producing, Laurel shared the importance of purposeful storytelling that creates tangible impacts and action. 

Maksim Snow is a singer/songwriter, facilitator, mental health advocate, and climate communicator channeling his experiences living, loving, and coming into adulthood with the climate crisis in the background. Maksim’s portion of the panel emphasized the importance of processing the overwhelming issues of climate change through art and community.

To hear more of their insights, we encourage you to check out our recording of the panel here: https://youtu.be/QttcFRs4uQU

Following the panel, attendees moved outside the theater to explore our media art exhibition, featuring eight installations spanning from live music and photography exhibits to a four channel sound exhibition exploring how security systems and environmental forces interact with contested landscapes (Radiant Center by Hans Kuzmich). 

One highlight was Save Ourselves, the festival’s first live music performance performed by Syante. Written after the Los Angeles wildfires, the piece reflects on environmental collapse, human apathy, and climate urgency. It was incredible to hear it live mid-festival and was powerful in bringing a sense of togetherness in the celebration of art for festival attendees. 

The evening continued with our film screenings, presented across two curated blocks. This year we broadened our scope, featuring work from filmmakers all around the world. The festival received over 100 submissions (more than three times last year’s submissions) which is exciting as we try to grow the festival’s reach each year. A review panel of artists, filmmakers, and sustainability leaders carefully selected 16 films for screening, representing a wide range of styles and approaches to climate storytelling. 

The night concluded with a post-screening mixer, where filmmakers, students, and community members gathered over tacos to celebrate the work and form new creative connections.

Looking Ahead

The Eco Media Fest continues to grow as a platform uplifting student work in environmental storytelling and inspiring collaboration between student artists and community. 

As the festival expands, we are excited to pursue new collaborations with schools across Southern California, community organizations, and local nonprofits to amplify the impact of these stories. 

Thank you to everyone who joined us this year - we hope to see you at the next Eco Media Festival!

Media Art:

클레어 기차 - Claire Ko

Save Ourselves - Syante

Segena Sol - David de Rozas 

Cypress - Ivy Ercoli

Radiant Center - Hans Kuzmich 

Rising Above the Melt - Avidha Raha

Playing with Food - Maia Orejudos

Kelp Dreams - Zeynep Abes & Ellie Schmidt 

Films: 

Debt Collector - Jesse Pinho

Bubbles - Star Akhom, Olivia Armstrong, Allen Marin, Emily Mishoe, Ashten Royse, Dani Oliver

Plastic Archipelago - Maximilien Rolland

Depth - Daria Mantsereva

Society of Fearless Grandmothers - Elia Bongiorno, Samuel Leveille, Karli Korszeniewski

Starwhale - Rose Philander

Hydra on the Horizon - Curran Seth

Embroidering the Abyss - Fikri Al Murtaky

How to Love in a Mass Extinction - Anya Jiménez

The Bear Beneath- Olivia Marie Hille

Kaalindi: An Urban Legend - Saloni Dhingra

The Hare and the Pheasant- Okki Poortvliet

Crossing the Divide - Talia Frank

Native - Matias Racca, Lucía Cortez

A Place for the Flock - Collin Snyder

Roper - August Koskoff, Chloe Heath, Rachel Ma

Film Fest 25 Event Recap

Photo by Mitchell Jung

Letter from Student Producer, Arian Tomar

For the last three years, I’ve grown alongside the Eco Film & Media Art Festival, a student-led festival dedicated to uplifting emerging student work related to themes of sustainability, climate change, and environmental justice.

Our inaugural festival in the fall of 2022 was my first introduction to the environmental action community at USC and it was also the first time my work had been screened in front of a large, live audience. I shared a tiny, two minute documentary I had made in high school and saw it on the same screen as stunning documentaries with resonant social impact campaigns. From that moment, I hoped I would get to give back to the community I had found in my first months at USC.

Last year, the festival was back for a second time and I screened The Youth Climate Corps BC, a short documentary showcasing how a nonprofit in British Columbia is taking on the climate crisis by paying youth a living wage to support climate action in their hometowns. This film was made in support of a new campaign to acquire provincial funding for Youth Climate Corps BC, creating a more stable source of funding for their impactful programs. I had little hope that anything would come of the film but I was excited to support an emerging leader in Canadian climate action. In April 2024, it was announced that the BC government would allocate $3,000,000 CAD to support the nonprofit.

This year, I was promoted from festival participant, to student producer of the Eco Film & Media Art Festival. I walk in the steps of students Natasha Nutkiewicz and Monty Hughes who have paved the way for student leadership and created an exciting platform that connects storytellers and artists and encourages greater engagement with environmental issues. I also got to support my good friend and engineer, Joshua Jacobs in making his first film which premiered at our festival this year. I’m exactly where I wanted to be three years ago when I was sitting in the audience, seeing my work on screen, getting to uplift student perspectives and create new community. None of this would be possible without the support of the Arts & Climate Collective team or your support as an audience member, student artist, and community member. 

Thanks for another tremendous festival and an awesome three years <3

Photo by Mitchell Jung

Event Description

Every spring, our team of student producers look forward to organizing our Annual Eco Film + Media Arts Festival. This year, over 120 attendees joined us at our biggest festival to date. We received over 30 projects for festival consideration, which led to the creation of a review panel of 14 artists, filmmakers, and sustainability community members who carefully selected our finalists. After much deliberation, 11 incredible films were selected and screened at one of our USC theaters.

Documentaries are a mainstay of the festival, and this year was no exception, with six of our eleven screened films falling into the nonfiction category. The documentary standout this year was Palmas by Aric Lopez, an interrogation of the palm tree that has defined much of Los Angeles’ public image. The documentary takes a street-level view of this environmental icon, exploring its origins and how it embodies a long history of displacement across Los Angeles.

Our five media art installations captivated audience members in our post-screening reception, where attendees could watch, touch, and engage with the various works. These installations took many forms and covered many topics, from Jake Nicastro’s treeptych of three short films on climate destruction and connection, to Siena Jarrin’s painting the Microscope, inspired by microscopic organisms.

The night ended with a mixer where filmmakers, students, and community members celebrated impactful art and developed new creative connections.

Our festival started as a platform for student filmmakers at USC, many of whom have never had their work screened or hosted publicly. This year, half of our filmmakers and media artists made their debut for a large, public audience. In a first for our Eco Film Fest, we sought out submissions from college students across Southern California — and even some more distant inter-collegiate collaborations. Next year, we hope to engage even more student filmmakers from across the country! 

Thanks again to all of our student artists who made this year’s festival our biggest yet:

New Animals – Ellie Schmidt

Fueling the Future – Liam Hoole

Anguilla Anguilla – Ari Williams

The Black Sphere – Miao Hao

The Jurupa Oak – Honor Dodd, Melina Durre, and Sam Fischer, Pitzer College

From Soil to Soul – Ankur Shah, Arizona State University-USC collaboration

Under the Overpass – James Delisio, UC San Diego

Not Their First Rodeo – Benjamin Fischer

Hear Her – Joshua Jacobs and Arian Tomar, Utrecht University-USC collaboration

Phosphenes – Dale McCallum (Password: McCallum2024)

Palmas – Aric Lopez

I accidentally stepped on a flower – Eneos Çarka (Password: luledelenestadium)

Treeptych – Jake Nicastro

My FLESH is on FIRE but At Least I Can Grill My Bacon! – Cameron Knauf

From the Water to the Roots – Morandi Wu

Microscope – Siena Jarrin, Occidental College

Photo by Jordan Clarke

You can read more about this year’s festival here:

• BlueDot Living (article) – Helping Student Filmmakers Turn Art Into Action

• USC Annenberg Media (article/radio) – Eco Film and Media Arts Festival spotlights environmental stories

Daily Trojan (article) – Artists show their green thumb at Eco Film Festival

2025 Earth Month Fest Recap

Photography by Dylan J. Locke Photography

April 8th, 2025 was our fourth annual Arts & Climate Collective Earth Month Festival! This was our biggest Earth Month Festival yet – a vibrant celebration of creativity, community, storytelling, and environmental justice. It showcased student artwork and projects that connect the arts and storytelling with environmental justice. The festival featured art activations, food tasting, produce giveaways, and a resource fair with local, student, and USC organizations. We were joined by over 350 attendees. With connections among remarkable people, incredible work, and awesome performances and activities, we had an amazing time and hope your experience was just as special.

Photography by Dylan J. Locke Photography

What are OUR highlights?

Our festival brought together student artists and activists showcasing their incredible work - including our very own ACC Cohort members Cameron Bloodgood, Yana Savitsky, Sophia Hammerle, Anik Panja & Ryan Rosendahl, Lawrence Herbert, Daniella Leon, Gwenan Walker, Alekhya Sengupta Banerjee, Angelina Rocchio, and the Student Coalition Against Labor Exploitation!

We also had award-winning murals created by Andy Johnson, Makena Parker, Kanie Ramos, Caroline Li, Brielle Lee, Nina Tomasevic!

We had a wide range of workshops & programs…

• LA Commons blessed us with the OAK TREE: Resistance, Resilience, and Home workshop!

• Queer & Ally Student Assembly served trade with a Gender-Affirming Clothing Swap!

• USC Arts in Action brought us together with the Mending Station with students from Roski and  Kaufman!

• The Performing Arts Committee showed us amazing youth work with the imPACt: Environmental Art Exhibition

If you didn't have a chance to visit the 30+ amazing organizations tabling at our Resource Fair, you can check them out in our Instagram highlights!

We're grateful for the participation of AltaSea, Architecture and Advocacy, CicLAvia, Clockshop, Cnidarian Evolutionary Ecology Lab, Commission on Voluntary Service & Action, Community Service Unlimited Inc., Environmental Student Assembly, Esperanza Community Housing, FPM Waste Management Dept., Gibson Climate Justice Lab, Hikes For Habitat, Joint Education Project, Legacy LA, Metabolic Studios, Move LA, NorthEast Trees, Peace Garden, SC Mappers, SC Outfitters, Student Committee of the President's Working Group on Sustainability, Streets for All, Test Plot, Tree People, USC Annenberg’s Center for Climate Journalism and Communication, USC Garden Club, USC Good Neighbors, USC Sea Grant, USC Student Basic Needs, USC Sustainability, USC Trojan Shop Local, USC Wrigley Institute for Environment and Sustainability, and of course for the delicious food from Bridgetown Roti, a Los Angeles Caribbean American restaurant, and Southern Girl Desserts!

You can also read Annenberg Media’s story about our event HERE!

From all of us at the Arts and Climate Collective, thank you for joining us at this year’s festival. We hope to see you again next year!