Helen Sun, a recent MFA in Producing graduate of the New York Film Academy, and fellow filmmaking student Laura Malatos, tied for the Sally Stovall Award for Creativity in the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest for their short film Throwaway Living. With a prize of $1,000, this top award will be shared with Bohdana Bihdan, a student filmmaker studying in Plymouth, England, who won for her film Ocean Monologue. The contest is a part of the Chicago-based One Earth Film Festival, currently in its 11th year.
About Helen Sun’s and Laura Malatos’ Throwaway Living
Throwaway Living is a 4-minute film that portrays a 1950s housewife praising the convenience of plastic products, such as disposable plates, plastic-wrapped sandwiches, and disposable diapers. The story takes a twist when she receives an ominous phone call from the future, warning her about plastic.
In their submission, Sun and Malatos explained, “Our short film ‘Throwaway Living’ is a farcical satire, inspired by real post-war advertisements that heavily pushed plastic as the new way of living. Looking back on them through the lens of today’s plastic pollution catastrophe, they are both absurd and frightening. We made this film to emphasize this tragically pivotal corporation-driven push while shining a light on the current plastic crisis. . . . But as with most of our work, we wanted to package this heavy topic into colorful entertainment and dark comedy to invite more people into this conversation.”
Throwaway Living will also receive an Environmental Action Award of $500 from Beyond Plastics. Each winner will also receive a matching gift of $500 to donate to a non-profit that aligns with the theme of their film. Sun and Malatos split their donation between the Plastic Pollution Coalition and Beyond Plastics.
The One Earth Young Filmmakers’ Content
The One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest invites students aged 8 to 25 to create a 3- to 8-minute environmental film that inspires action or change. Animated or stop-motion films must be at least 45 seconds long. The annual submission deadline is June 25. Starting in January 2025, a jury of 31 film and environmental experts will evaluate the submissions. Learn more about the jury and reserve tickets here. The call for entries for the 2025 contest will open soon on Film Freeway.
Reserve tickets at tinyurl.com/yfc24awards.
Over the past year, the One Earth Young Filmmakers Contest received 400 submissions from 55 countries and 36 U.S. states. Winners include representatives from Australia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Poland, and the United Kingdom. The Global Award Celebration will take place at 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 22, at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago or virtually anywhere in the world. A special screening will also be available for those in the Asia/Pacific region. Adam Joel of Aggressively Compassionate will host the event, introducing the winners before their films are premiered.
Submitting to Environmental Film Festivals
Film festivals with an environmental theme play a crucial role in raising awareness, fostering dialogue, and inspiring action on environmental issues. Here are a few film festivals where aspiring filmmakers can submit their environmental films to!
- Environmental Film Festival in DC (DCEFF)
- Wild & Scenic Film Festival in Nevada City, California
- Planet in Focus Environmental Film Festival in Toronto
- Colorado Environmental Film Festival (CEFF) in Golden, Colorado
- Frome International Climate Film Festival in Frome, England
- Environmental Film Festival Australia
- UK Green Film Festival
These festivals provide platforms for filmmakers to showcase their work on environmental topics and for audiences to engage with pressing ecological issues through the medium of film. Please note that this is not an all-encompassing list, and some festivals may have specific requirements for submission.
NYFA students can learn more about the film festival submission process by working with our Film Festival Department. To learn more about attending NYFA, request more information today!